Bahattin ÇELİK

Süheyla İrem MUTLU

Semih MUTLU

The aim of this article is to date the relief of a lion found in the Soğmatar cult area in the central district of Şanlıurfa. The draft of this lion relief found in the cult area is quite large and is generally seen as a portal lion dated to BC 1. thousand. It differs from other drafts from the area with its high relief technique and it was made of limestone instead of basalt stone. The Soğmatar cult area is located in an area called Tektek Mountains which 60 km southeast of Şanlıurfa. It is located 40 km northeast of the Harran archaeological site. The Soğmatar cult area is now part of a village settlement called Yağmurlu. The cult area was built in a region with limestone rocks. It is said by the locals that the Soğmatar cult area was used to be the only source of water in the area. The dimensions of the draft of the lion relief, which is the subject of our article, are about 3,35m x 3,60m and it was made of limestone. It is located on the west side of the cult area on the slope of a rocky hill overlooking the east. The draft of the lion relief is found inside the quarry. In this paper, since the lion relief was not fully detailed, it is called as draft. Because of the large size of the draft of the lion relief and the ceramic finds from the Soğmatar Cult area from the BC 1. thousand, the relief should be dated to BC 9.-7.thousand.

Key Words: Early Iron Age, Şanlıurfa, Soğmatar, Portal Lion, Relief, Querry