Here’s what you’ll learn when you read this story:A stone seal found at the archaeological site of Tadım Fortress in Türkiye reveals how Neolithic people lived 7,500 years ago. Tadım Fortress has been revealing such relics of a surprisingly advanced Neolithic civilization in the Elazim region of eastern Türkiye. A 7,500-year-old stone seal recently unearthed at the site predates the kingdom of Urartu, which is already known for having had complex and organized social structures, but the seal reflects that they had already begun to take shape millennia before the rise of Urartu. It is the only stone seal found so far, but another seal locally known as ‘cec damga muhru’ was found to have been used in the trading of grain, reinforcing evidence of a structured society and economy. Findings including the stone seal are now undergoing analysis and preservation at the Elazig Archaeology and Ethnography Museum.