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Researchers report the first two intact burials identified at Göbeklitepe, dating to about 8,700–8,000 BCE. Comparing them with 928 scattered human bone fragments suggests that erosion and slope movement carried many remains from ordinary graves into monumental buildings, while evidence of deliberate treatment on some skulls points to varied burial practices.
Researchers studying two intact burials at Göbeklitepe in southeastern Türkiye say erosion and movement down the mound may explain why hundreds of human bone fragments were found inside the site’s monumental buildings. The graves date to the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B period, about 8,700 to 8,000 BCE, and provide evidence that many scattered bones may have originated in ordinary burials elsewhere on the settlement.
The study, published in PLOS One, examined the newly identified burials and compared their remains with 928 human bone fragments recovered across Göbeklitepe. Researchers found similarities in how the bones had fractured and been altered after burial. They propose that remains from graves on higher parts of the mound were carried downhill as soil and debris shifted through erosion and slope slides, eventually mixing with deposits inside monumental buildings.
One burial was in a pit beneath the plaster floor of a rectangular building. It held remains from at least three people: a woman aged 35 or older, a man aged 20 to 30, and a girl aged 11 to 14. Some bones may belong to a fourth person. Their skulls were grouped together, while other bones formed separate clusters; small bones from hands and feet were also present, which researchers say is consistent with complete bodies or limbs having initially been placed in the pit.
The second grave contained a young adult, probably a woman aged 20 to 30, placed on her left side in a flexed position and facing east. Much of the skeleton remained in place, though it was heavily fragmented. Researchers found no cut marks, heat damage or ochre on bones from the first burial. They recorded rodent gnawing and fractures that occurred after death, while mineral deposits, soil pressure and animal activity contributed to damage in the second burial.
How Bones Reached the Buildings
The findings offer a physical explanation for why human remains appear scattered through Göbeklitepe’s monumental buildings. If many fragments began in graves higher on the mound, their presence in the buildings does not by itself show that people placed bones there as part of a single, organized ritual. The proposed path—from burial, to erosion and slope movement, to mixing in building deposits—also helps explain why people of different ages and sexes appear together among isolated remains.
The interpretation matters because earlier work had raised questions about distinctive treatment of the dead at the site. The new comparison suggests that much of the scattered assemblage could have another origin, while leaving room for special practices in some cases. It separates evidence for unusual treatment of certain remains from the broader pattern of loose bones across the mound.
Burials Beneath Neolithic Floors
Göbeklitepe is an early Neolithic settlement in Türkiye known for monumental buildings. Excavations began in 1995, and researchers have recovered human remains from across the site. The new burials are the first two intact examples reported there, according to the study’s authors; the scattered remains had previously complicated efforts to understand how people buried or otherwise treated the dead.
Some earlier findings point to deliberate handling: certain skulls have deep cuts, and cranial remains are overrepresented, with 408 skull fragments compared with 283 fragments from other parts of the skeleton. The fragments are spread across roughly 3,000 square meters and several meters of deposits. Those observations support the possibility that some individuals received special post-death treatment, but they do not establish that all scattered bones came from the same practice.
What the Bone Evidence Cannot Settle
The proposed erosion pathway is an explanation for many of the fragments, not proof of the origin of every bone at Göbeklitepe. The study does not rule out other burial customs or explain fully how particular bones, including skulls with deep cuts, were treated. The timing and purpose of those practices remain unsettled.
Further bone analysis and direct dating are needed to clarify when different mortuary practices took place. The available report does not establish a single burial custom for all people at the site, nor does it identify the original grave location of each loose fragment.
Further Dating and Bone Studies
Researchers say additional study of the human remains and direct dating could help determine when the burials and other forms of treatment occurred. Such work may also help distinguish bones moved by erosion from remains deliberately placed or modified after death. No specific timetable for those analyses is given in the report.
Key Questions
How old are the two burials?
They date to the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B period, between about 8,700 and 8,000 BCE.
How many people were found in the first burial?
The pit contained remains from at least three people: an older adult woman, an adult man and a girl. Some bones may represent a fourth person.
Why were bones scattered inside Göbeklitepe’s buildings?
The researchers propose that erosion and slope slides carried remains from ordinary graves on higher parts of the mound into deposits within the buildings. They say this may explain many of the scattered fragments.
Does the study rule out ritual treatment of the dead?
No. Some skulls show signs of deliberate modification, and the study does not rule out other burial customs. It suggests that scattered bones need not all reflect one unusual burial practice.
What research is still needed?
The authors point to further bone studies and direct dating to establish when different practices occurred and clarify the origins of the remains.
Source: hn
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