"Skull cult" is the term archaeologists use for a set of widespread Neolithic practices in which human skulls were separated from the body after death — de-fleshed, sometimes carved or decorated, and then kept, buried apart, or displayed. It was not morbid to the people who did it. It was a way of keeping the dead present among the living: the head, seat of the face and of identity, treated as something too important to simply bury and forget. Sefertepe, with its room of gathered skulls, is one of the most striking recent additions to this story.
What was the Neolithic skull cult?
Across a broad arc of the Near East, roughly 12,000 to 8,000 years ago, a recurring pattern appears in the archaeology of death. Communities would commonly bury their dead, then later reopen the grave, remove the skull, and treat it separately from the rest of the body. What happened next varied from place to place — but the underlying idea, that the skull carried something the rest of the skeleton did not, was remarkably widespread. Archaeologists group these practices under the loose label "skull cult," while cautioning that it covers many different local customs rather than one single religion.
The body was returned to the earth. The head stayed with the living — kept, carried, and set in its place.
Göbekli Tepe: the carved skulls
The most famous evidence comes from Sefertepe's neighbour, Göbekli Tepe. In 2017, researchers reported three fragments of human crania bearing deliberate modifications never seen before in remains of this age: deep incisions carved with stone tools, running along the skull, and in one case a drilled perforation. The interpretation was that these skulls had been de-fleshed and then marked — the grooves perhaps to hold a cord, the perforation to let a skull hang and face forward when suspended. Whether the intent was to venerate ancestors or to display the dead in some other way, the finds gave the "skull cult" a vivid, physical form at the world's oldest known temple. How Sefertepe compares to Göbekli Tepe →
Çatalhöyük and the Levant: the plastered skulls
The practice was not confined to the Stone Hills. At the great Neolithic town of Çatalhöyük in central Anatolia, skulls were removed and, in some burials, an individual was interred cradling an ornamented skull beneath the floor of a house. Earlier and further south, in the Levant, communities at sites such as Jericho (Tell es-Sultan), Tell Aswad and Yiftahel took the idea furthest of all: they modelled faces directly onto human skulls in plaster, sometimes setting shells for eyes — the famous "plastered skulls." These are among the most haunting objects in all of prehistory, and they show the same instinct at work: to keep the face of the dead, remade, among the living.
Where Sefertepe fits
Sefertepe adds a distinct chapter. Here the emphasis is not (so far) on carved-and-suspended skulls or plastered faces, but on gathering and keeping: dozens of human skulls collected within a specially prepared room, alongside infant remains, with at least one skull reported set apart and facing east. The dead were not scattered or hidden; they were curated, arranged, and held inside built space. Set beside Sefertepe's separate tradition of carved stone faces, it suggests a community unusually focused on the head and the face — in bone and in stone alike. The full story of the skull room →
Frequently asked questions
What was the Neolithic skull cult?
A widespread set of practices in which skulls were separated from the body after death, de-fleshed, sometimes modified or decorated, and then kept or displayed — keeping the dead present among the living.
What is the evidence at Göbekli Tepe?
Three human skull fragments reported in 2017 with deliberate carved incisions and, in one, a drilled perforation — suggesting skulls were de-fleshed and possibly suspended or displayed.
What are plastered skulls?
Skulls with faces modelled onto them in plaster, known from Levantine sites such as Jericho, Tell Aswad and Yiftahel, and later practices at Çatalhöyük — an extreme form of keeping the face of the dead.
How does Sefertepe fit in?
Sefertepe shows skulls gathered and kept together within a prepared room, with infant remains and one skull reported facing east — a local expression of the wider Neolithic focus on the head. See the skull room →
Sources
- Gresky, Haelm & Clare (2017), Science Advances — "Modified human crania from Göbekli Tepe provide evidence for a new form of Neolithic skull cult."
- National Geographic — "Hints of Skull Cult Found at World's Oldest Temple."
- Çatalhöyük and Levantine plastered skulls (Jericho / Tell es-Sultan, Tell Aswad, Yiftahel) — Neolithic mortuary literature.
- The Community Garden — Sefertepe skull-room field notes (field-note level; some details await publication).
This page discusses human remains and ancient mortuary practice in a historical and archaeological context.