Long before people built cities, smelted metal or fired clay pots, they raised circles of stone here.
In the hill country around Şanlıurfa, in the south-east of modern Türkiye and so in the north of Mesopotamia, lie Neolithic sacred sites some 11,000 to 12,000 years old. Archaeologists group them under the name Taş Tepeler, “stone hills”; the best known of them is Göbekli Tepe. They were built by communities who knew neither metal nor pottery, and yet raised mighty pillars and carved them with animals and symbols. On the Theosis journeys with Paul Skorpen, you visit these places in a small group.
Six places
UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2018
The mound has been explored since 1995, at first under the direction of the German archaeologist Klaus Schmidt. Excavations have uncovered round and oval enclosures, each with two large T-shaped pillars at its centre, surrounded by smaller pillars set into the encircling wall. Foxes, snakes, vultures and scorpions are carved into the limestone.
The sister site
Some 45 kilometres east of Göbekli Tepe lies the site often called its sister; it has been systematically excavated since 2019. Most striking is a chamber cut into the bedrock, from whose wall a human head emerges, surrounded by rock left standing like pillars.
Beneath the reservoir
Between 1983 and 1991, a team led by Harald Hauptmann investigated this settlement in the Euphrates valley before the Atatürk reservoir flooded it. At its centre stood a cult building set into the hillside, with T-pillars carved with arms and hands. Many of the finds can be seen today in the Şanlıurfa Archaeological Museum.
A scene in stone
Beneath a village in Şanlıurfa province that is still lived in, archaeologists came upon a Neolithic communal building. A relief survives on its encircling stone bench, showing human figures together with big cats and a bull. It is among the earliest known images to bring people and animals together in a single scene.
High above the plain
Just a few kilometres from Karahan Tepe, this smaller sacred site sits at around 700 metres in the Tek Tek mountains. It was discovered in 2014; from its hilltop you can see almost the whole Harran plain. Basins cut into the rock and tools of flint and obsidian tell of the lives of its builders.
The city of Abraham
Known in antiquity as Edessa, the city is familiar to Jews, Christians and Muslims as a place of Abraham. In its old town lies Balıklıgöl, the pool of the sacred carp: according to tradition, this is where God turned the fire into which King Nimrod had Abraham thrown into water, and the wood into fish. Close by, a near life-size Neolithic stone figure was found in 1993.
9-day Göbekli Tepe & Taş Tepeler intensive
Can you hear the ancient whispers of a distant land? Of a people long forgotten – and yet, with the rediscovery of their temples, close to us once more.
We guide you through the timeless landscape of our ancestors – safely and comfortably, with room to reconnect with our oldest roots. In restless times, this journey helps you find your way back to timeless wisdom and a sense of direction.
Travelling with Taş Tepeler Travel means personal care and a relaxed pace. We stay at the 400-year-old boutique hotel Elçi Konağı in the heart of Şanlıurfa, the city of the prophets. From there we can walk to the birthplace of Abraham, the archaeological museum and the spice and carpet markets. Şanlıurfa lies at the centre of the twelve Tepes, and from here we make day trips to the temple sites.
Getting thereYou make your own way to Istanbul and back. We take care of the connecting flight from Istanbul to Şanlıurfa and back.
PriceAutumn 2026: €3,200 per person in a double room · single room + €250 · Spring 2027: €3,500 per person in a double room · single room + €400
Nine days in a small group
Paul Skorpen accompanies you to the stone hills, with time for the places themselves, for silence, and for the teaching that opens up there.
Further information: tastepelertravels.com
