7,500 year-old settlement found in Turkey’s Domuztepe Mound
Archaeologists work on the settlement found in Domuztepe Mound, Kahramanmaraş, southern Turkey, Sept. 7, 2021. (AA Photo)


A settlement and silo thought to date back 7,500 years have been unearthed during the latest excavations at Domuztepe Mound in the Türkoğlu district of southern Turkey’s Kahramanmaraş province.

The archaeological digs at the site have been continuing under the leadership of associate professor Halil Tekin of Hacettepe University's Faculty of Letters and Archaeology Department in coordination with the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.

Speaking to Anadolu Agency (AA), Tekin said that during this year's excavations they came across important structures belonging to the pre-Sumerians, the pioneer group of the ancient Mesopotamian Sumer civilization.

A close-up of an archaeologist's hand in Domuztepe Mound, Kahramanmaraş, southern Turkey, Sept. 7, 2021. (AA Photo)

Noting that the team has asserted the pre-Sumerians lived in Anatolia since the day they started the excavations, Tekin said that the objects recently unearthed in the mound support their thesis.

The team uncovered 20 square meters (215 square feet) of the village settlement in the excavation area during their work, Takin said, adding that they then discovered the silo, which has a diameter of 3 meters (nearly 10 feet).

More details about the settlement will be revealed in the ongoing excavations, Tekin assured. "This is a concrete settlement dating back 7,500 years, which we define as the pre-Sumerian period. We have proven that a tribe of the pre-Sumerians may have lived here and led a settled life," he added.