Grike Havuz Ritual Platform
Grike Platform · Karababa Ritual Mound
Pre-Pottery Neolithic to Bronze (9500 BCE–2000 BCE)·PPN → Chalcolithic → EBA·🇹🇷 Şanlıurfa Province, Central District, Karababa Basin, Turkey
About
About Grike Havuz Ritual Platform
Grike Havuz Ritual Platform is the limestone-framed T-pillar pool edge at the karstic Havuz depression in the Karababa basin northeast of Şanlıurfa. Like Göbeklitepe's satellite karstic sites, it features PPN T-shaped pillars framing a seasonal pool with aurochs relief, sealed by Chalcolithic Halaf pits and EBA pastoral camps. Limited trenches confirm Late PPN ritual-pool architecture repurposed as a Chalcolithic water shrine — one of few south-central Anatolian PPN ritual pools outside the Göbekli–Karahan arc.
Why it mattersPPN ritual pool with T-pillars — Göbekli–Karahan periphery karstic Havuz model
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Pool as natural karst or modified PPN cistern ritual?
- 02T-pillar iconography — Göbekli import or local carving?
Theories
- 01Rosenberg Havuz ritual hydraulics — PPN water cult precursor
- 02Karababa PPN network — Göbekli satellite or independent?
Theories are interpretations, not findings. The seal above tells you how much scholarly weight the place carries.
History
How it came to be
- Built
- c.9500 BCE PPN ritual pool; Chalcolithic habitation 5500 BCE
- Period
- Pre-Pottery Neolithic to Bronze (9500 BCE–2000 BCE)
- Culture
- PPN → Chalcolithic → EBA
- Builders
- PPN ritual architects, Chalcolithic villagers, EBA pastoralists
- Purpose
- Ritual platform and karstic pool edge settlement at Grike Havuz — PPN ritual pool with T-shaped pillars (Göbekli periphery) in Karababa basin
- Abandoned
- c.2000 BCE EB seasonal use ends
- Rediscovered
- Surveyed 2002 Rosenberg; excavated 2010s Şanlıurfa Museum salvage
- Excavation
- Partially excavated
2002
Rosenberg documents T-pillars at Havuz karstic pool
2014
Şanlıurfa Museum trench exposes Halaf votive pits sealing PPN
2020
PPN–Chalcolithic ritual-pool sequence published
On the ground
Structures & features
37.3200° N · 38.9200° E · 560 m · 3 mapped features
T-Pillar Framed Pool Edge
ritualT-shaped limestone pillars framing karstic pool, PPN 9500 BCE with aurochs relief
37.3208° N · 38.9206° EChalcolithic Water Shrine Pits
ritualHalaf pits with votive figurines sealing PPN pool
37.3193° N · 38.9191° EKarstic Havuz Depression
natural featureKarstic pool basin 30 m diam seasonal water body centre
37.3211° N · 38.9207° E