9,000-Year-Old Workshop Uncovered in Turkey

DIYARBAKIR PROVINCE, TURKEY—According to a Türkiye Today report, green malachite and copper has been uncovered in a 9,000-year-old workshop in a Neolithic settlement in southeastern Turkey. Culture and Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy said that the pieces of raw and worked malachite, copper beads, and other copper objects were found in the workshop, which has a stone-paved work area. Six postholes were found around the edges of the area, suggesting that it may have been covered by a canopy. “The discovery shows that the mining tradition here continued for about 2,000 years and that specialized production activities took place in specific work areas,” Ersoy said. For more on this era of Anatolia, go to “Tales from the Neolithic,” one of ARCHAEOLOGY’s Top 10 Discoveries of 2025.