Culture and Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy said an 11,000-year-old composite sculpture depicting a human figure sitting on the back of a leopard has been discovered during excavations at Karahantepe, located in southeastern Türkiye's Şanlıurfa province.

In a social media post, Ersoy said the sculpture was unearthed as part of the Heritage for the Future Project’s 2026 excavation season. He described it as having a style not previously seen in similar finds.

The 70-centimeter-high (28-inch) sculpture depicts a human figure seated on a leopard and was found on a bench running along the wall of a 3-meter-diameter structure whose floor was paved with flat stones, according to Ersoy.

"I believe this discovery, which opens the door to new questions about the earliest periods of human history, will have a wide impact in the scientific community,” Ersoy said, thanking the General Directorate for Cultural Heritage and Museums, the excavation team, scientists and other field workers.