11,000-year-old sculpture of person on leopard found in Turkey

An extraordinary 11,000-year-old sculpture has been unearthed in Turkey, depicting a human figure riding a leopard. The discovery was announced by Mehmet Nuri Ersoy, Turkey's Minister of Culture and Tourism, via social media. The artifact, standing about 70 centimeters tall, uniquely combines human and animal forms in a style previously unknown to researchers.

Found at the Karahantepe excavation site in the country's southeast, the sculpture was discovered in its original placement atop a bench along the wall of a roughly three-meter-diameter structure. Minister Ersoy described it as a "unique 11,000-year-old sculpture."

“

In Karahantepe we have brought to light a unique 11,000-year-old sculpture.

The Karahantepe site is central to ongoing archaeological work investigating the Neolithic period in the Upper Mesopotamia region. This area encompasses highlands and plains in northwestern Iraq, northeastern Syria, and southeastern Turkey. Ersoy expressed optimism that this find "opens the door to new questions about the earliest periods of human history" and will generate significant interest within the scientific community.

Located approximately 50 kilometers from Şanliurfa, Karahantepe was first identified in 1997, with systematic excavations commencing in September 2019. Alongside Göbeklitepe, another significant nearby Neolithic site, Karahantepe is recognized as one of the world's oldest known Neolithic settlements. Göbeklitepe, situated about 18 kilometers from Şanlıurfa, has also provided crucial insights into the societies of the early Neolithic era. Karahantepe gained further prominence in 2023 with the discovery of a nearly 2.5-meter-tall human statue, then considered the largest of its kind from that period.

“

I believe that this discovery, which opens the door to new questions about the earliest periods of human history, will cause a wide echo in the scientific world.