Turkey contains Göbekli Tepe, a UNESCO-listed prehistoric archaeological site in southeastern Anatolia.
The site lies near Şanlıurfa and contains monumental T-shaped limestone pillars arranged in circular or oval enclosures. Archaeologists date its earliest major construction to around 9600 BCE, making it one of the oldest known examples of monumental architecture. The builders lived before the widespread development of cities and writing.
Göbekli Tepe is especially important because it challenges older assumptions that organized monumental construction began only after farming and permanent urban settlement. Researchers continue to debate the site’s precise ritual, social, and economic functions, so its interpretation is not completely settled.
It is sometimes confused with nearby Neolithic sites such as Nevalı Çori, also in southeastern Turkey. Göbekli Tepe was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2018 and is associated with the broader archaeological landscape around Şanlıurfa.