Why Japan’s Princess Akiko Visited Taş Tepeler
When a member of Japan’s Imperial Family travels quietly to southeastern Turkey for an archaeological ceremony, the world should pay attention.
In 2025, Princess Akiko of Mikasa visited Şanlıurfa to help inaugurate a new phase of excavations at Ayanlar Höyük, one of the emerging sites within the wider Taş Tepeler Project. Her visit was focused, scientific and symbolic, strengthening Japan’s cultural and academic ties with Turkey.
Taş Tepeler and Göbeklitepe are no longer only archaeological sites. They are the center of a global conversation about where human civilization began, how belief systems were born and why a remote landscape in southeastern Turkey matters to the world.
What Is Taş Tepeler?
Taş Tepeler means “Stone Hills” in Turkish and refers to a large Neolithic project centered around Şanlıurfa. It covers a group of prehistoric sites dated to roughly 11,000 to 12,000 years ago. Göbeklitepe and Karahantepe are the most famous, but the region also includes Sefertepe, Sayburç, Çakmaktepe, Harbetsuvan and Ayanlar Höyük along with several others still being studied.
Together, these locations form what many experts now call one of the earliest known ritual landscapes in the world.
This sacred landscape is not a single excavation. It is a long-term archaeological initiative involving researchers from Turkey, Japan and many other countries. For anyone interested in the story of humanity, it has become one of the most important places on Earth.
Göbeklitepe: The Temple That Changed History
Before Göbeklitepe was uncovered, history books suggested that people settled down, began farming and then built temples. Göbeklitepe overturned this idea completely.
High above the plains near Şanlıurfa, hunter-gatherer communities came together to build enormous circular structures using T-shaped limestone pillars weighing up to 20 tons. These pillars are carved with powerful animals and abstract symbols that still speak across twelve thousand years.
What we see today is only a small part of the complex. Geophysical surveys indicate that more than twenty additional stone enclosures remain underground. The little that has been excavated already changed our understanding of prehistory. It is natural to wonder what will happen when the rest of Taş Tepeler is fully revealed.
A Network of Sacred Hills
For many years Göbeklitepe was seen as unique and isolated. As the Taş Tepeler Project expanded, this view began to shift. It is now clear that Göbeklitepe was part of a broader network of sacred hills sharing similar architecture, symbols and ritual traditions.
Across the region archaeologists find:
• T-shaped pillars
• Circular or oval ritual rooms
• Carved animals including foxes, snakes and birds
• Abstract symbols whose meanings are still being explored
These discoveries point to a cultural zone rather than a single temple site. Early communities moved through this landscape for rituals, storytelling and ceremonies that strengthened their shared identity. The wider region formed a symbolic world spread across the stone hills.
Sacred Symbols of the Neolithic Ritual Landscape: The Earliest Language of Belief
One of the most striking aspects of Taş Tepeler is its symbolic language. The carvings on the pillars at Göbeklitepe, Karahantepe and other sites represent some of the earliest known expressions of imagination and belief.
The Vulture and the World of Spirits
On the famous Vulture Stone at Göbeklitepe, a large bird stands above symbols, animals and a headless human figure. In ancient Near Eastern art, vultures are often associated with the sky, death and the journey of the soul.
Many researchers believe the vulture represents the lifting of the human spirit from the earthly world to a higher realm, echoing themes that appear later across the ancient Near East.
The Fox: Guardian of the Night
Foxes appear repeatedly on Taş Tepeler pillars, especially in Karahantepe and Göbeklitepe. They often appear on the narrow sides of the pillars, almost like guardians.
The fox may have symbolized alertness, protection of sacred space or a clan totem. Its repeated presence shows that animals were not decoration but part of a symbolic system.
Serpents and the Power of Transformation
Snakes and serpent-like forms appear frequently across this early Neolithic landscape. In many ancient cultures, serpents symbolize danger, protection, the underworld and the continuous cycle of life and death.
At Göbeklitepe and neighboring sites, these carvings may have marked boundaries between worlds or represented powerful forces of transformation that early communities both feared and respected.
The Headless Human Figure
Scholars have identified headless human forms on Pillar 43 and other stones. These may relate to rituals surrounding death, ancestors or spiritual change.
Instead of realistic portraits, the Taş Tepeler culture expressed human experience with simplified bodies, strong postures and symbolic elements. This suggests complex ideas about identity and the journey between worlds.
The “Bags of the Gods”
At the top of Pillar 43 are three small rectangular shapes with curved handles. They resemble modern handbags but are deeply symbolic. Similar shapes appear thousands of years later in Sumerian temples, Assyrian reliefs and even Mesoamerican art. Yet the examples at Göbeklitepe are the earliest anywhere.
Possible meanings include:
• Seeds or the cycle of life
• Ritual toolkits
• Cosmic symbols such as the horizon or sky
• Transmission of sacred knowledge
The presence of this motif at Taş Tepeler shows that symbolic thinking was highly developed long before writing or cities.
The Human Emerging from the Stone
At Karahantepe, one of the most remarkable finds is a life-sized human figure carved as if emerging from the wall. This suggests ideas of rebirth, transformation and the connection between humans and stone.
Foxes, vultures, snakes and the mysterious bags form a symbolic world that helps us understand the early imagination of humanity.
The Japanese Connection
Japan and Turkey share a long history of friendship and cultural cooperation. Japanese archaeologists have taken part in many Anatolian projects, and there is strong interest in ancient sacred landscapes among Japanese travelers and scholars.
Princess Akiko’s visit to Ayanlar Höyük fits naturally into this tradition. Her background in art history and cultural heritage made her presence in Şanlıurfa meaningful.
Her visit highlighted key points:
• Taş Tepeler is a heritage of all humanity
• The project depends on cooperation between Turkish and international teams
• Japanese audiences feel a natural connection to sacred landscapes and deep history
For many people in Japan, learning that a member of the Imperial Family visited Taş Tepeler makes the region more familiar and intriguing.
New Discoveries Beneath the Soil
Taş Tepeler is still at the beginning of its story. Only a fraction of the stones, pillars and ritual spaces have been excavated.
At Karahantepe, discoveries include:
• A special room filled with carved human heads
• The life-sized figure emerging from the wall
• New pillar arrangements and animal carvings
At Ayanlar Höyük and other sites archaeologists are only beginning to uncover the ground. Each season brings new questions and new symbols.
A Living Record of Human Origins
Imagine the year 9600 BCE. Groups of people walk under the starlit sky toward a hill lined with stone pillars. They are not coming to trade goods. They are coming for rituals, storytelling and the renewing of community bonds.
They observed the sky, honored their dead and carved their hopes and fears into stone. Thousands of years later those stones still stand at Göbeklitepe, Karahantepe and the other Taş Tepeler sites. Many more lie beneath the soil waiting to be found.
Princess Akiko’s visit reminded the world that this landscape is a living archive of our shared origins.
Why Taş Tepeler Matters for Travelers Today
A visit to Taş Tepeler is not a simple sightseeing trip. It is an encounter with some of the earliest known ritual architecture on Earth.
Travelers can:
• Stand beside pillars carved more than eleven thousand years ago
• Walk through some of the earliest ritual landscapes in human history• Reflect on symbols that connect ancient Anatolia with later civilizations
• Experience the silence of the hills where imagination took monumental form
Taş Tepeler turns history into something alive.
Follow the Path of the Japanese Princess
Explore Anatolia’s Ancient Anatolia Tours are created for travelers who want to explore the sacred East of Turkey with depth and respect. Our itineraries include:
• Göbeklitepe
• Karahantepe
• Ayanlar Höyük
• Soğmatar
• Harran
• Mount Nemrut
• Mardin
• Van Lake and Akdamar Church
We work with our licensed ground operator, Experience Anatolia Tours (TÜRSAB License No. 10762). Our team specializes in cultural, archaeological and sacred history journeys.
If you would like to follow the path of Princess Akiko and explore Taş Tepeler with expert regional guides, explore our Private Eastern Turkey Tours, designed by local experts and built around real routes across Şanlıurfa, the heart of the Taş Tepeler region.
Begin Your Journey Into Turkey’s Sacred East
Explore Anatolia curates deeply immersive journeys into the sacred landscapes of Eastern Turkey. With over twenty years of regional expertise and direct on-the-ground operations, our team offers guests a rare opportunity to experience the world’s earliest ritual sites with knowledge, respect and precision.
Discover our signature journeys below:
• Ancient Anatolia Tours: Sacred East of Anatolia, Göbeklitepe and Taş Tepeler routes designed for travelers seeking archaeological depth
• Biblical Turkey Tours: Seven Churches of Revelation and St. Paul journeys across Anatolia
For travelers seeking a deeper and fully customized route across the region, explore our Private Eastern Turkey Tours, designed by local experts and built around real travel routes across Şanlıurfa and the wider Taş Tepeler landscape.
• Contact Our Team to Begin Planning Your Journey
• Watch Real Traveler Experiences on Our YouTube Channel
Taş Tepeler: Where Humanity Began
Taş Tepeler stands today as one of the most profound archaeological landscapes on Earth, a place where humanity’s earliest shared beliefs took shape. As excavations continue and new discoveries emerge from beneath the soil, this quiet region may reveal stories older than cities, older than writing, older than agriculture itself.
Princess Akiko’s visit reminded the world that Taş Tepeler is not simply a Turkish heritage site. It is a landscape that belongs to all of humanity.
A journey here is not just a visit.
It is a return to the beginning of our story.
