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Huge Undersea Wall Dating From 5000 BC Found in France

French marine archaeologists have discovered a massive undersea wall off the coast of Brittany, dating from around 5,000 BC.They think it could be from a stone age society whose disappearance under rising seas was the origin of a local sunken city myth.The 120-metre (394ft) wall - the biggest underwater construction ever found in France - was either a fish-trap or a dyke for protection against rising sea-levels, the archaeologists believe.When it was built on the Ile de Sein at Brittany's western tip, the wall would have been on the shore-line - between the high and low tide marks. Today it is under nine metres of water as the island has shrunk to a fraction of its former size.The wall is on average 20 metres wide and two metres high. At regular intervals divers found large granite standing stones - or monoliths - protruding above the wall in two parallel lines.It is believed these were originally placed on the bedrock and then the wall built around them out of slabs and smaller stones. If the fish-trap hypothesis is the right one, then the lines of protruding monoliths would have also supported a "net" made of sticks and branches to catch fish as the tide retreated.With an overall mass of 3,300 tonnes, the wall must have been the work of a substantial settled community. And to have lasted 7,000 years, it was clearly an extremely solid structure."It was built by a very structured society of hunter-gatherers, of a kind that became sedentary when resources permitted. That or it was made by one of the Neolithic populations that arrived here around 5,000 BC," said archaeologist Yvan Pailler.The monoliths that form the basis of the wall are similar to - but predate - the famous menhirs that dot the Brittany countryside and are associated with the Neolithic culture.According to Pailler, there could have been a transmission of know-how on extracting, cutting and transporting the stones between older Mesolithic hunter-gatherers and incoming Neolithic agriculturists.The wall was discovered after local geologist Yves Fouquet studied undersea depth charts drawn up using the latest radar technology. "Just off Sein I saw this 120-metre line blocking off an undersea valley. It couldn't be natural," he told Le Monde newspaper.Archaeologists made their first exploration in summer 2022, but had to wait till the following winter - when the seaweed had died back - before they could map the wall properly.In a paper in the International Journal of Nautical Archaeology, the writers conjecture that sites such as this may lie at the origin of local Breton legends of sunken cities. One such lost city - Ys - was believed to lie in the Bay of Douarnenez, just a few kilometres to the east."It is likely that the abandonment of a territory developed by a highly structured society has become deeply rooted in people's memories," the paper says."The submersion caused by the rapid rise in sea level, followed by the abandonment of fishing structures, protective works, and habitation sites, must have left a lasting impression."

12/11/2025 7:49:41 PM

Glow Up: A Fruit That Naturally Boosts Collagen!

A breakthrough study from researchers at the University of Otago, Faculty of Medicine - Christchurch Ōtautahi, has found that collagen production and skin renewal directly respond to the amount of vitamin C we eat.The study, published in the international Journal of Investigative Dermatology, shows that skin vitamin C levels are closely tied to levels of the vitamin in the blood (plasma) and can be boosted by increasing fruit intake.Carried out on two dozen healthy adults in both Aotearoa New Zealand and Germany, the study shows that boosting plasma levels by consuming two vitamin C-rich SunGold™ kiwifruit per day increases the amount of the vitamin in the skin, improving skin thickness (collagen production) and stimulating renewal and regeneration of the outer skin layer.Lead author, Professor Margreet Vissers from Mātai Hāora - Centre for Redox Biology and Medicine, within the Department of Pathology and Molecular Medicine, says the strength of the association between skin thickness and vitamin C intake is “compelling”.“We were surprised by the tight correlation between plasma vitamin C levels and those in the skin - this was much more marked than in any other organ we have investigated,” Professor Vissers says.“We are the first to demonstrate that vitamin C in the blood circulation penetrates all layers of the skin and is associated with improved skin function. I am very proud of my team and excited about what the data is telling us.”Professor Vissers says the study results suggest that beauty really does come from within, supporting your skin function from the inside-out by delivering vitamin C to the skin the way nature designed it - via the bloodstream.“We know that vitamin C is required for collagen production. This fact has inspired the addition of vitamin C to many skin cream formulations. However, vitamin C is highly water soluble and poorly absorbed through the outer skin barrier. Our study shows that the skin is extremely good at absorbing vitamin C from the blood circulation. Uptake into the outer epidermal skin layer also seems to be prioritised,” she says.Funded by New Zealand company Zespri International along with a University of Otago Research Grant, the study comprised two stages. The first stage established the association between plasma and skin vitamin C levels, using healthy skin tissue from patients undergoing elective surgical procedures at Te Whatu Ora Canterbury (with support from the Otago campus’s He Taonga Tapu - Canterbury Cancer Society Tissue Bank).The second stage involved a before-and-after, dietary vitamin C intervention study at two sites (in Christchurch and Germany), each with 12 healthy participants.“All were instructed to consume two Kiwi Gold kiwifruit daily - the equivalent of 250 micrograms of vitamin C - for eight weeks. We then collected skin samples before and after the intervention, with separate analyses allowing us to look at the skin basal layers in Christchurch and the outer dermal skin layer and skin function tests in Germany,” Professor Vissers explains.The German participants were recruited and tested by the SGS Institute Fresenius in Hamburg - their lab having the technical ability to collect the outer dermal skin layer (the blister “roof”). The Institute measured skin sample regeneration - including ultrasound tested measures of skin thickness, elasticity UV protection and renewal of epidermal cells - giving a complete picture of skin function.“The other really substantial finding showed a significant increase in the participants’ skin thickness levels, reflecting collagen production and an upsurge in the regeneration of their epidermal cells, in other words skin renewal,” Professor Vissers says.She says SunGold™ kiwifruit was chosen for the trial due to its proven high vitamin C levels, but it’s anticipated that other foods rich in vitamin C, particularly fresh fruit and vegetables such as citrus, berry fruit, capsicums and broccoli, would have similar beneficial effects.“We suggest that increasing your dietary vitamin C intake will result in effective vitamin C uptake into all compartments of the skin,” Professor Vissers says.“The important thing is to keep your plasma levels optimal, which we know can be easily achieved in a healthy person with a vitamin C intake of around 250mg per day. The body however does not store the vitamin, so we recommend 5+ a day, every day, with one of those five being a high vitamin C food, as a good habit to cultivate.”

12/10/2025 9:55:00 AM

Italy to open Europe's first marine sanctuary for dolphins

"We must develop a new model for managing dolphins in a natural but supervised environment," Carmelo Fanizza, head of the San Paolo Dolphin Refuge, told AFP.Located off the coast of Taranto in the southern Italian region of Puglia, the sanctuary still needs a final green light from the government.But the site will be ready by the end of this month and the first dolphins are expected to arrive "no later than May or June 2026", Fanizza said.Animal rights concerns have driven countries such as Canada and France to ban the capture of dolphins, porpoises and whales, while growing numbers of marine parks are shutting.That has created a burning question: what to do with the cetaceans, which can live for decades and have mostly only known life in captivity, so cannot be released into the wild?The San Paolo Dolphin Refuge got permission from the Italian government in 2023 to use a seven-hectare (2.5-acre) area in the Gulf of Taranto, near the island of San Paolo.The spot is "sheltered and protected from the sea, winds and prevailing ocean currents", said Fanizza, brushing off concerns the site was near the industrial coastal city of Taranto.The city is home to one of Europe's largest steelworks, which has been embroiled in a pollution scandal, but is currently operating at reduced capacity."Improvements have been made to the facilities, so that the quality of the breathable air, the water column and the sediments in the area currently pose no risk to animal health," Fanizza said.SanctuaryLocated around four kilometres (nearly 2.5 miles) off the coast, the facility has a main 1,600-square-metre (17,200-square-foot) enclosure, a smaller one for potential transfers and a veterinary one for quarantine cases.It has a floating laboratory, accommodation so staff can be on site overnight, and a food preparation area.It is also equipped with a video surveillance system -- both above and under water -- as well as a series of sensors at sea, which transmit data to a control room in Taranto.The sanctuary's construction has been largely paid for by Jonian Dolphin Conservation -- the research organisation behind the initiative -- with support from private donors and European public funds.The site's operating costs are estimated at between 350,000 and 500,000 euros ($408,000 and $584,000) per year.It could legally accommodate up to 17 dolphins, but "the number will absolutely not be that", said Fanizza, who stressed the importance of their well-being."Our goal at this stage is not to take in a large number of animals but to identify a group that, given its medical condition, behaviour and social structure, could be ideal for initiating such a project," he said.Muriel Arnal, head of French animal rights group One Voice, which has long campaigned for marine sanctuaries, told AFP that Europe currently has around 60 dolphins in captivity."Once you have a model that works well, you can replicate it," she said, adding that she hoped San Paolo would give a home to French dolphins too.

12/5/2025 12:36:00 PM

Ancient Carved Faces in Turkey Shed New Light on Neolithic Society

On the windswept hills overlooking Turkey’s vast southeastern plains, new archaeological discoveries are revealing how life might have looked 11,000 years ago when the world’s earliest communities began to emerge.The latest finds -- a stone figurine with stitched lips, carved stone faces and a black serpentinite bead with expressive faces on both sides -- offer clues about Neolithic beliefs and rituals.“The growing number of human sculptures can be read as a direct outcome of settled life,” Necmi Karul, the archaeologist leading the dig at Karahan Tepe, told AFP.“As communities became more sedentary, people gradually distanced themselves from nature and placed the human figure and the human experience at the centre of the universe,” he said, pointing to a human face carved onto a T-shaped pillar.The excavation is part of Turkey’s “Stone Hills” project, a government-backed initiative launched in 2020 across 12 sites in Sanliurfa province, which Culture Minister Nuri Ersoy has described as “the world’s Neolithic capital”.The project includes the UNESCO heritage site Gobekli Tepe -- “Potbelly Hill” in Turkish -- which is home to the oldest known megalithic structures in Upper Mesopotamia, where the late German archaeologist Klaus Schmidt began excavations in 1995.Explaining some of the new finds on display at Karahan Tepe’s visitor centre, Lee Clare of the German Archaeology Institute says they challenge long-held narratives about humanity’s shift from nomadic hunter-gatherer life to early settlements.“Every building we study gives us a small glimpse into someone’s life. Every layer we excavate brings us closer to an individual -- we can almost touch that person, through their bones. We’re gaining insights into their belief systems,” he said.The past five years have yielded “a wonderful amount of data coming out of all these new sites,” the archaeologist told AFP.But it was impossible to know everything. “We don’t have any written records, obviously, because it’s prehistory,” said Clare, who has worked at Gobekli Tepe since 2013.Identifying who the statues or figurines represented was probably impossible, given they dated back to “a period before writing, around 10,000 years ago”, said Karul, who is also leading the dig at Gobekli Tepe and coordinator of the Stone Hills project.“But as the number of such finds increases and as we learn more about the contexts in which they appear, we gain the opportunity to conduct statistical analyses and make meaningful comparisons.”The settlements began to appear after the last Ice Age, he said.“The changing environment created fertile conditions, allowing people to feed themselves without constantly going hunting. This, in turn, supported population growth and encouraged the development and expansion of permanent settlements in the area.”As communities started to settle, new social dynamics emerged, Clare said.“Once people produced surplus, they got rich and poor,” he said, indicating the first hints of social hierarchy.“What we see here is the beginning of that process. In many ways, we are on a slippery slope that leads toward the modern world.”As the excavations progress, they will transform understanding of the Neolithic, with each site earning its own place in scientific history, says Emre Guldogan of Istanbul University, lead archaeologist at the nearby Sefer Tepe site.“Karahan Tepe and the wider Stone Hills project show a highly organised society with its own symbolic world and belief structures” overturning earlier ideas of a “primitive” Neolithic world, he said.“These communities shared traits but also developed clear cultural differences,” he said.At Karahan Tepe, human symbolism is widely seen whereas in Gobekli Tepe, animal imagery is more dominant.Archaeologists say findings at both sites show each community depicting their living environments in different ways.“Each new discovery raises fresh questions aimed at understanding the people behind these creations,” Guldogan said.The recent archaeological discoveries have also broadened the appeal of a region known primarily as the place where Abraham once settled, a figure revered in Judaism, Christianity and Islam.“Before the excavations began at Karahan Tepe and other sites, the area mainly attracted religious tour groups, drawn largely by its association with the prophet Abraham,” tourist guide Yakup Bedlek said.“With the emergence of new archaeological zones, a more varied mix of tourists are visiting the region.”

12/4/2025 12:15:00 PM

Breast Cancer Doesn’t Wait, and You Shouldn’t Either

Postponing is one of the many vices of the human race. We put off everything, from confrontations to health checkups. Breast cancer is becoming an increasingly urgent issue. By 2050, an estimated 3.2 million new cases are expected worldwide, and 1.1 million women may die from the disease each year. Let’s stop running and start acting, shall we?Recognizing Early SignsIn an exclusive interview with MTV’s website, Dr. Ghassan Atallah explains that the most common early signs of breast cancer are painless lumps or areas of thickening in the breast that feel different from the surrounding tissue.“Women should perform a breast self-exam once a month, a few days after their periods. Postmenopausal women should choose the same day each month to check themselves,” he says.Dr. Atallah adds that women at average risk should start getting yearly mammograms at age 40. Women at higher risk, such as those with a strong family history of breast cancer, should begin yearly mammograms between the ages of 30 and 35, alternating with MRI scans every six months.“Young women should look out for new lumps or thickening that are usually painless, firm, and different from surrounding tissue. Changes in the size or shape of the breasts or nipples, and unusual nipple discharge, especially if bloody, should not be ignored,” he advises. “Swelling in the armpit or around the collarbone could indicate enlarged lymph nodes related to breast cancer.”Screening Recommendations and Effectiveness “Family history and genetics play a major role in breast cancer. Five to ten percent of cases are caused by inherited gene mutations, which in some cases can double or even multiply a woman’s lifetime risk,” he explains.“Current screening methods are reliable. Mammograms detect 85 to 90 percent of cases in older women and 75 to 85 percent overall, offering routine screening with a proven mortality benefit. Ultrasounds detect 70 to 85 percent of cases and are useful for women with dense breasts. MRIs are the most sensitive, detecting 90 to 95 percent of cases, especially in high-risk women,” he explains.Dr. Atallah urges anyone experiencing these symptoms to schedule a doctor’s visit promptly. “Men can also get breast cancer, although it is rare. It accounts for about one percent of all cases and usually occurs between the ages of 60 and 70,” he adds.He emphasizes that certain lifestyle changes can help reduce the risk of breast cancer: “Keeping a healthy weight, staying physically active, eating a balanced and nutritious diet, limiting red and processed meats and sugary or refined foods, and cutting back on alcohol and avoiding smoking can all lower your risk,” he says.Health issues sneak up when you least expect them to. They don’t wait for you, and neither should you. Your health is priceless. Pay attention, take action, and make yourself a priority.

10/29/2025 11:45:00 AM

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Huge Undersea Wall Dating From 5000 BC Found in France

French marine archaeologists have discovered a massive undersea wall off the coast of Brittany, dating from around 5,000 BC.They think it could be from a stone age society whose disappearance under rising seas was the origin of a local sunken city myth.The 120-metre (394ft) wall - the biggest underwater construction ever found in France - was either a fish-trap or a dyke for protection against rising sea-levels, the archaeologists believe.When it was built on the Ile de Sein at Brittany's western tip, the wall would have been on the shore-line - between the high and low tide marks. Today it is under nine metres of water as the island has shrunk to a fraction of its former size.The wall is on average 20 metres wide and two metres high. At regular intervals divers found large granite standing stones - or monoliths - protruding above the wall in two parallel lines.It is believed these were originally placed on the bedrock and then the wall built around them out of slabs and smaller stones. If the fish-trap hypothesis is the right one, then the lines of protruding monoliths would have also supported a "net" made of sticks and branches to catch fish as the tide retreated.With an overall mass of 3,300 tonnes, the wall must have been the work of a substantial settled community. And to have lasted 7,000 years, it was clearly an extremely solid structure."It was built by a very structured society of hunter-gatherers, of a kind that became sedentary when resources permitted. That or it was made by one of the Neolithic populations that arrived here around 5,000 BC," said archaeologist Yvan Pailler.The monoliths that form the basis of the wall are similar to - but predate - the famous menhirs that dot the Brittany countryside and are associated with the Neolithic culture.According to Pailler, there could have been a transmission of know-how on extracting, cutting and transporting the stones between older Mesolithic hunter-gatherers and incoming Neolithic agriculturists.The wall was discovered after local geologist Yves Fouquet studied undersea depth charts drawn up using the latest radar technology. "Just off Sein I saw this 120-metre line blocking off an undersea valley. It couldn't be natural," he told Le Monde newspaper.Archaeologists made their first exploration in summer 2022, but had to wait till the following winter - when the seaweed had died back - before they could map the wall properly.In a paper in the International Journal of Nautical Archaeology, the writers conjecture that sites such as this may lie at the origin of local Breton legends of sunken cities. One such lost city - Ys - was believed to lie in the Bay of Douarnenez, just a few kilometres to the east."It is likely that the abandonment of a territory developed by a highly structured society has become deeply rooted in people's memories," the paper says."The submersion caused by the rapid rise in sea level, followed by the abandonment of fishing structures, protective works, and habitation sites, must have left a lasting impression."

12/11/2025 7:49:41 PM

Glow Up: A Fruit That Naturally Boosts Collagen!

A breakthrough study from researchers at the University of Otago, Faculty of Medicine - Christchurch Ōtautahi, has found that collagen production and skin renewal directly respond to the amount of vitamin C we eat.The study, published in the international Journal of Investigative Dermatology, shows that skin vitamin C levels are closely tied to levels of the vitamin in the blood (plasma) and can be boosted by increasing fruit intake.Carried out on two dozen healthy adults in both Aotearoa New Zealand and Germany, the study shows that boosting plasma levels by consuming two vitamin C-rich SunGold™ kiwifruit per day increases the amount of the vitamin in the skin, improving skin thickness (collagen production) and stimulating renewal and regeneration of the outer skin layer.Lead author, Professor Margreet Vissers from Mātai Hāora - Centre for Redox Biology and Medicine, within the Department of Pathology and Molecular Medicine, says the strength of the association between skin thickness and vitamin C intake is “compelling”.“We were surprised by the tight correlation between plasma vitamin C levels and those in the skin - this was much more marked than in any other organ we have investigated,” Professor Vissers says.“We are the first to demonstrate that vitamin C in the blood circulation penetrates all layers of the skin and is associated with improved skin function. I am very proud of my team and excited about what the data is telling us.”Professor Vissers says the study results suggest that beauty really does come from within, supporting your skin function from the inside-out by delivering vitamin C to the skin the way nature designed it - via the bloodstream.“We know that vitamin C is required for collagen production. This fact has inspired the addition of vitamin C to many skin cream formulations. However, vitamin C is highly water soluble and poorly absorbed through the outer skin barrier. Our study shows that the skin is extremely good at absorbing vitamin C from the blood circulation. Uptake into the outer epidermal skin layer also seems to be prioritised,” she says.Funded by New Zealand company Zespri International along with a University of Otago Research Grant, the study comprised two stages. The first stage established the association between plasma and skin vitamin C levels, using healthy skin tissue from patients undergoing elective surgical procedures at Te Whatu Ora Canterbury (with support from the Otago campus’s He Taonga Tapu - Canterbury Cancer Society Tissue Bank).The second stage involved a before-and-after, dietary vitamin C intervention study at two sites (in Christchurch and Germany), each with 12 healthy participants.“All were instructed to consume two Kiwi Gold kiwifruit daily - the equivalent of 250 micrograms of vitamin C - for eight weeks. We then collected skin samples before and after the intervention, with separate analyses allowing us to look at the skin basal layers in Christchurch and the outer dermal skin layer and skin function tests in Germany,” Professor Vissers explains.The German participants were recruited and tested by the SGS Institute Fresenius in Hamburg - their lab having the technical ability to collect the outer dermal skin layer (the blister “roof”). The Institute measured skin sample regeneration - including ultrasound tested measures of skin thickness, elasticity UV protection and renewal of epidermal cells - giving a complete picture of skin function.“The other really substantial finding showed a significant increase in the participants’ skin thickness levels, reflecting collagen production and an upsurge in the regeneration of their epidermal cells, in other words skin renewal,” Professor Vissers says.She says SunGold™ kiwifruit was chosen for the trial due to its proven high vitamin C levels, but it’s anticipated that other foods rich in vitamin C, particularly fresh fruit and vegetables such as citrus, berry fruit, capsicums and broccoli, would have similar beneficial effects.“We suggest that increasing your dietary vitamin C intake will result in effective vitamin C uptake into all compartments of the skin,” Professor Vissers says.“The important thing is to keep your plasma levels optimal, which we know can be easily achieved in a healthy person with a vitamin C intake of around 250mg per day. The body however does not store the vitamin, so we recommend 5+ a day, every day, with one of those five being a high vitamin C food, as a good habit to cultivate.”

12/10/2025 9:55:00 AM

Italy to open Europe's first marine sanctuary for dolphins

"We must develop a new model for managing dolphins in a natural but supervised environment," Carmelo Fanizza, head of the San Paolo Dolphin Refuge, told AFP.Located off the coast of Taranto in the southern Italian region of Puglia, the sanctuary still needs a final green light from the government.But the site will be ready by the end of this month and the first dolphins are expected to arrive "no later than May or June 2026", Fanizza said.Animal rights concerns have driven countries such as Canada and France to ban the capture of dolphins, porpoises and whales, while growing numbers of marine parks are shutting.That has created a burning question: what to do with the cetaceans, which can live for decades and have mostly only known life in captivity, so cannot be released into the wild?The San Paolo Dolphin Refuge got permission from the Italian government in 2023 to use a seven-hectare (2.5-acre) area in the Gulf of Taranto, near the island of San Paolo.The spot is "sheltered and protected from the sea, winds and prevailing ocean currents", said Fanizza, brushing off concerns the site was near the industrial coastal city of Taranto.The city is home to one of Europe's largest steelworks, which has been embroiled in a pollution scandal, but is currently operating at reduced capacity."Improvements have been made to the facilities, so that the quality of the breathable air, the water column and the sediments in the area currently pose no risk to animal health," Fanizza said.SanctuaryLocated around four kilometres (nearly 2.5 miles) off the coast, the facility has a main 1,600-square-metre (17,200-square-foot) enclosure, a smaller one for potential transfers and a veterinary one for quarantine cases.It has a floating laboratory, accommodation so staff can be on site overnight, and a food preparation area.It is also equipped with a video surveillance system -- both above and under water -- as well as a series of sensors at sea, which transmit data to a control room in Taranto.The sanctuary's construction has been largely paid for by Jonian Dolphin Conservation -- the research organisation behind the initiative -- with support from private donors and European public funds.The site's operating costs are estimated at between 350,000 and 500,000 euros ($408,000 and $584,000) per year.It could legally accommodate up to 17 dolphins, but "the number will absolutely not be that", said Fanizza, who stressed the importance of their well-being."Our goal at this stage is not to take in a large number of animals but to identify a group that, given its medical condition, behaviour and social structure, could be ideal for initiating such a project," he said.Muriel Arnal, head of French animal rights group One Voice, which has long campaigned for marine sanctuaries, told AFP that Europe currently has around 60 dolphins in captivity."Once you have a model that works well, you can replicate it," she said, adding that she hoped San Paolo would give a home to French dolphins too.

12/5/2025 12:36:00 PM

Ancient Carved Faces in Turkey Shed New Light on Neolithic Society

On the windswept hills overlooking Turkey’s vast southeastern plains, new archaeological discoveries are revealing how life might have looked 11,000 years ago when the world’s earliest communities began to emerge.The latest finds -- a stone figurine with stitched lips, carved stone faces and a black serpentinite bead with expressive faces on both sides -- offer clues about Neolithic beliefs and rituals.“The growing number of human sculptures can be read as a direct outcome of settled life,” Necmi Karul, the archaeologist leading the dig at Karahan Tepe, told AFP.“As communities became more sedentary, people gradually distanced themselves from nature and placed the human figure and the human experience at the centre of the universe,” he said, pointing to a human face carved onto a T-shaped pillar.The excavation is part of Turkey’s “Stone Hills” project, a government-backed initiative launched in 2020 across 12 sites in Sanliurfa province, which Culture Minister Nuri Ersoy has described as “the world’s Neolithic capital”.The project includes the UNESCO heritage site Gobekli Tepe -- “Potbelly Hill” in Turkish -- which is home to the oldest known megalithic structures in Upper Mesopotamia, where the late German archaeologist Klaus Schmidt began excavations in 1995.Explaining some of the new finds on display at Karahan Tepe’s visitor centre, Lee Clare of the German Archaeology Institute says they challenge long-held narratives about humanity’s shift from nomadic hunter-gatherer life to early settlements.“Every building we study gives us a small glimpse into someone’s life. Every layer we excavate brings us closer to an individual -- we can almost touch that person, through their bones. We’re gaining insights into their belief systems,” he said.The past five years have yielded “a wonderful amount of data coming out of all these new sites,” the archaeologist told AFP.But it was impossible to know everything. “We don’t have any written records, obviously, because it’s prehistory,” said Clare, who has worked at Gobekli Tepe since 2013.Identifying who the statues or figurines represented was probably impossible, given they dated back to “a period before writing, around 10,000 years ago”, said Karul, who is also leading the dig at Gobekli Tepe and coordinator of the Stone Hills project.“But as the number of such finds increases and as we learn more about the contexts in which they appear, we gain the opportunity to conduct statistical analyses and make meaningful comparisons.”The settlements began to appear after the last Ice Age, he said.“The changing environment created fertile conditions, allowing people to feed themselves without constantly going hunting. This, in turn, supported population growth and encouraged the development and expansion of permanent settlements in the area.”As communities started to settle, new social dynamics emerged, Clare said.“Once people produced surplus, they got rich and poor,” he said, indicating the first hints of social hierarchy.“What we see here is the beginning of that process. In many ways, we are on a slippery slope that leads toward the modern world.”As the excavations progress, they will transform understanding of the Neolithic, with each site earning its own place in scientific history, says Emre Guldogan of Istanbul University, lead archaeologist at the nearby Sefer Tepe site.“Karahan Tepe and the wider Stone Hills project show a highly organised society with its own symbolic world and belief structures” overturning earlier ideas of a “primitive” Neolithic world, he said.“These communities shared traits but also developed clear cultural differences,” he said.At Karahan Tepe, human symbolism is widely seen whereas in Gobekli Tepe, animal imagery is more dominant.Archaeologists say findings at both sites show each community depicting their living environments in different ways.“Each new discovery raises fresh questions aimed at understanding the people behind these creations,” Guldogan said.The recent archaeological discoveries have also broadened the appeal of a region known primarily as the place where Abraham once settled, a figure revered in Judaism, Christianity and Islam.“Before the excavations began at Karahan Tepe and other sites, the area mainly attracted religious tour groups, drawn largely by its association with the prophet Abraham,” tourist guide Yakup Bedlek said.“With the emergence of new archaeological zones, a more varied mix of tourists are visiting the region.”

12/4/2025 12:15:00 PM

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