In 2014 and 2019 I visited from Şanlıurfa. Conditions have improved, though excavations are still going on and not everything I'd like to see was open to visitors.

In december 2019 I read another site could claim to be the oldest, according to the article it was some 1000 years earlier. It did not look as large, however.

Quoting from Wikipedia: "Göbekli Tepe (Turkish: [ɡøbe̞kli te̞pɛ], "Potbelly Hill") is an archaeological site at the top of a mountain ridge in the Southeastern Anatolia Region of Turkey, approximately 6 km (4 mi) northeast of the town of Şanlıurfa. The tell has a height of 15 m (49 ft) and is about 300 m (984 ft) in diameter. It is approximately 760 m (2,493 ft) above sea level. It has been excavated by a German archaeological team that was under the direction of Klaus Schmidt from 1996 until his death in 2014. The tell includes two phases of ritual use dating back to the 10th-8th millennium BCE. During the first phase (Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA)), circles of massive T-shaped stone pillars were erected. More than 200 pillars in about 20 circles are currently known through geophysical surveys. Each pillar has a height of up to 6 m (20 ft) and a weight of up to 20 tons. They are fitted into sockets that were hewn out of the bedrock. In the second phase (Pre-pottery Neolithic B (PPNB)), the erected pillars are smaller and stood in rectangular rooms with floors of polished lime. The site was abandoned after the PPNB-period. Younger structures date to classical times. The function of the structures is not yet clear. Excavator Klaus Schmidt believed that they are early neolithic sanctuaries."

In 2014 I was disappointed because between the temporary roof structure few of the pillars were visible. When I returned in 2019 a new roof covered several of the major “buildings”, and though one could not get close to pillars the general impression was much better. Excavations continue, elsewhere another roof covered an area that was out of bounds then, but as I hope to return, one day that mat provide new surprises. In Urfa itself the museum contains loads of objects from the excavations, and should be visited. I group the 2019 pictures according to the letter given to the “building”. As so often I sometimes took very many pictures of details.
I group the 2019 pictures according to the letter given to the “building”. As so often I sometimes took very many pictures of details. I circumambulated the central buildings a few times, the light would change and I later focussed more on details. Of identifiable structures I moved pictures of my earlier visit to the 2019 building-related subgalleries. I had changed the colour of stone to too neutral, the 2019 colours are much better. Texts I borrow from a document “Nomination for Inclusion on the World Heritage List. Nomination Document. 2017”I found on the internet.