Excavations at the site of a settlement mound near Hacilar in Burdur province, Turkey, revealed a 5000-year-old seal. The site is known for its Neolithic remains of houses made of wood and daub or mud-brick.

According to the archaeologists conducting excavations at the Hacılar Büyük Höyük (the Great Mound of Pilgrims) site the find indicates that some form of a sign language was common in communication in the time of its creation. The archaeological expedition, led by Gülsün Umurtak, the department head of archaeology at Istanbul University’s Literature Faculty, working at Hacilar since 2011 is the first one to continue the work at the site after it was discovered by British archaeologist James Mellaart who conducted four brief excavations there between 1957-1960.
(after Daily Sabah)