The Karahantepe Statue: A Human Seated on a Leopard

The new Karahantepe statue shows a human seated on the back of a leopard. It stands 70 centimeters (28 inches) tall and is about 11,000 years old. Excavators found it in the 2026 season at Karahantepe, near Şanlıurfa in southeastern Turkey.

What is the new Karahantepe statue?

It is a composite statue, a single piece that joins a human figure and an animal. Culture and Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy announced the find on August 25, 2026. He called its style unlike anything met before.

The figure on top is described only as human. So some headlines say “man riding a leopard”, but nothing yet tells us the figure’s sex.

Is this the Karahantepe statue found in 2023?

No, this is a new find. The earlier statue is a seated human 2.3 meters (7.5 feet) tall, fixed to a bench, with its ribs and spine showing. A stone vulture sat on the front of that bench. The new statue is far smaller, and a leopard carries the figure.

Where was it found?

The statue lay where people left it about 11,000 years ago. It stood on a bench running along the wall of a round structure, 3 meters (10 feet) across, with a floor of flat stones. Digging at Karahantepe began in 2019, and this find belongs to the Heritage for the Future project. The site is one of the Taş Tepeler, the Stone Hills around Şanlıurfa.

Why does the Karahantepe statue matter?

Karahantepe already gave us a limestone statue of a human with a leopard on its back. The new piece flips that pose, because here the human sits on the animal. The flip is plain to see in the stone, but it does not prove that the meaning flipped too.

For now, the find adds a new scene to the art of the first builders. Animals are common in this art, yet a human placed directly on an animal is unusual.

What do we not know yet?

Nobody can yet say what the scene meant, or what happened in the small round building. Those answers depend on further study of the find and its setting. We also do not know yet where the statue will be shown, so ask us before your trip and we will check.

Can you see the Karahantepe statue?

You can see its older partner today. The statue of a human carrying a leopard stands in the Şanlıurfa Archaeology Museum, so start there. The hill itself is a working dig, and its visiting status can change, so we confirm it before your date.

Our Karahantepe tour pairs the site with Göbeklitepe. To choose between them, read Göbeklitepe vs Karahantepe. Tell us your dates, and we will plan the museum and the hills around them.