Some of this material shows evidence of having been deliberately modified — fragments with cut marks or evidence of processing that suggests the bones were handled in specific ways after the death of the individual.

The interpretation of this scattered, modified human skeletal material is a topic of active research and debate.

One hypothesis, which connects to the vulture imagery discussed above, proposes that Göbekli Tepe was associated with mortuary practices involving the exposure of the dead — placing bodies on elevated platforms or in the open air where they would be processed by scavenging birds and other animals before the cleaned bones were collected and perhaps redistributed or kept in specific locations.

This practice, sometimes called “sky burial” or excarnation, was widespread in the Neolithic world and is well-documented at contemporary sites in Anatolia and the Levant.