Since the first stone structures were unearthed at Karahantepe just six years ago, the site has continued to change the story of the people who lived in southeastern Anatolia in the Pre-Pottery Neolithic period (ca. 12,000 to 10,200 years ago). This year was no exception, thanks to a pair of unique discoveries.

The first is a stone monument known as a T-pillar that includes a carved human face. The second is a collection of artifacts that archaeologist Necmi Karul of Istanbul University believes represents the world’s oldest three-dimensional narrative. Both finds provide entirely new insights into how the region’s Neolithic people envisioned themselves, as well as rich evidence of symbolic thought, which is scant in the archaeological record of this period.

T-pillars have been unearthed at multiple sites in the region and have long been thought to represent human figures. Until now, however, none had been found with a three-dimensional face. The newly discovered 4.4-foot-tall pillar carved from bedrock dates to the ninth millennium b.c. and was found with three other T-pillars in a domestic space. “The discovery of a face at the top of the pillar supports the view that they symbolized humans,” says Karul.