Prehistoric Anatolia

Traces of a settlement dating back about 6,000 years have been found during excavations at Değirmenler Mound in the eastern province of Erzurum.

Starting on July 1, the two-month excavation in the area has uncovered settlement layers, human and animal bones, and ceramics, which are being analyzed.

People who migrated from Siberia formed the Göbeklitepe, and those in Göbeklitepe migrated in five other ways to spread to the world, said experts about the 12,000-year-old Neolithic archaeological site in the southwestern province of Şanlıurfa.

Göbeklitepe, thousands of years old Neolithic archaeological site in the southeastern province of Şanlıurfa, may lure as many as 5 million foreign tourists in the next five years, Culture and Tourism Minister Nuri Ersoy has said.

The excavation works in Göbeklitepe, a 12-000-year-old Neolithic archaeological site in the southeastern province of Şanlıurfa, may continue for decades, an expert has said.

"The site unearthed until today is not even 10 percent of all the complex that is still underground," Necmi Karul, a member of the Göbeklitepe Science Board, told Demirören News Agency.

Göbeklitepe, a 12,000-year-old Neolithic archaeological site in southeastern province of Şanlıurfa, may have been made by aliens, the city's mayor says.

"The statues in Göbeklitepe depict something other than humans. They seem to be coming from somewhere else. They remind me of aliens," Zeynel Abidin Beyazgül told daily Milliyet on April 25.

Archaeological excavations carried out in a cave in the Dikili district of İzmir have unearthed 14,000-year-old stone tools and bones from the Late Paleolithic (Epipalaeolithic) period.

Turkish and German scientists, who carried out the works in the area, revealed that the cave was also used as a cult center dedicated to the mother goddess Kybele.

Discovery Channel, one of the best-known documentary channels in the world, has begun filming documentaries on history in important places of the southeastern province of Şanlıurfa, particularly Göbeklitepe, which is considered the "zero point of history."

Colorful hot air balloons took off at the famous ancient site of Göbeklitepe in southeastern Turkey's Şanlıurfa province, kicking off the new season.

The tours organized with hot air balloons take off at sunrise three days a week near the world's oldest temple which 200,000 tourists visited last year only.

Historical artifacts unearthed at the archeological site of Karahantepe in the southeastern province of Şanlıurfa, considered one of the important settlements of the Neolithic period, reveal the artistic talents of the people who resided there some 11,000 years ago.

The Culture and Tourism Ministry and the Turkish Tourism Development and Promotion Agency (TGA) have introduced the Stone Hills, which host the first examples of settled life and social communities in the world, at an event held at the Şanlıurfa Museum.

The opening ceremony of the "Karahantepe and Neolithic Man" exhibition was also held during the event.