Göbeklitepe and Pre Pottery Neolithic Tour - 5 Days

Fantastic theme. Southeastern Turkey is basically ground zero for the Neolithic Revolution, and 5 days is perfect if you focus tightly on Pre-Pottery Neolithic (PPN A & B) sites.

Below is a serious, archaeology-driven 5-day itinerary, designed for people who care about context, stratigraphy, and chronology, not just photo stops.

 5 - Days Pre-Pottery Neolithic Tour

Southeastern Turkey (c. 10,500–7,000 BCE)

Core regions: Şanlıurfa – Mardin – Diyarbakır – Batman

Day 1 – Şanlıurfa | The Birth of Monumental Architecture

Theme: PPNA ritual centers

Sites

• Göbekli Tepe (PPNA, c. 9600–8200 BCE)

 

• Enclosure D (T-pillars, animal reliefs)
• Discussion: hunter-gatherers + monumentality
• Şanlıurfa Archaeology Museum
• Göbekli Tepe finds
• Neolithic Urfa Man statue
• Balıklıgöl Area (contextual stop)
• Long-term sacred landscape continuity

Overnight: Şanlıurfa

Focus topics:

• Symbolism before agriculture
• Ritual vs settlement debate

Day 2 – Karahantepe & Taş Tepeler Project

Theme: Expanding the Göbekli paradigm

Sites

• Karahantepe (PPNA)
• In-situ pillars emerging from bedrock
• Human head sculptures
• Evidence of permanent architectural planning
• Sayburç Reliefs (early PPN)
• Narrative stone reliefs (human–animal interaction)
• Çakmaktepe (external visit if permitted)
• Settlement evidence vs ritual space

Overnight: Şanlıurfa

Focus topics:

• Taş Tepeler cultural network
• Regional planning & shared iconography

Day 3 – Şanlıurfa → Mardin | Early Settled Life

Theme: Transition from ritual to domestic life

Sites

• Boncuklu Tarla (PPNB, c. 10,000 BCE)
• Early village layout
• Communal buildings
• Beads, tools, and domestic structures
• Mardin Museum
• Neolithic tools and regional continuity

Overnight: Mardin

Focus topics:

• Sedentism before farming
• Social organization in early villages

3.5 hrs drive

Day 4 – Mardin → Diyarbakır | Early Agriculture

Theme: The Neolithic household

Sites

• Çayönü Tepesi (PPNB)
• Grill-plan buildings
• Skull building (ancestor cult)
• Evidence of early domestication
• Diyarbakır Museum
• Lithics, bone tools, subsistence evidence

Overnight: Diyarbakır

Focus topics:

• From foraging to farming
• Bioarchaeological evidence

4 hrs drive

Day 5 – Diyarbakır → Batman | Final PPN Horizons

Theme: River valleys & burial practices

Sites

• Körtik Tepe (PPNA–PPNB)
• Elaborate grave goods
• Stone vessels
• Early social stratification
• Hasankeyf Area (contextual stop)
• Long-term settlement continuity along the Tigris

Tour ends: Batman or Diyarbakır

Focus topics:

• Mortuary practices
• Social differentiation in early Neolithic societies

2.5 hrs

Chronological Snapshot

SitePeriod Göbekli Tepe PPNA Karahantepe PPNA Sayburç Early

PPN Boncuklu Tarla PPNB Çayönü PPNB Körtik Tepe PPNA–PPNB