who built göbekli tepe

An episode of Joe Rogan’s podcast, featuring Graham Hancock, garnered more than 3.5 million views on its episode about Göbekli Tepe, since it … This appears to have been orchestrated by members of an incoming culture, composed of groups of shamans, warriors, hunters and stone tool specialists of immense power and charisma. [63], In 2010, Global Heritage Fund (GHF) announced it will undertake a multi-year conservation program to preserve Göbekli Tepe. Nights of the Witch The variety of fauna depicted – from lions and boars to birds and insects – makes any single explanation problematic. But they maintain that their suggestions that enclosures A, B, and D are a single complex makes it unlikely that each enclosure was built separately. The Anunnaki are occasionally likened to serpents, reflecting the snake-like appearance of Göbekli Tepe’s ruling elite, as well as those of the later Halaf and Ubaid cultures. In all other directions, the ridge descends steeply into slopes and steep cliffs. Some researchers believe that the construction of Göbekli Tepe may have contributed to the later development of urban civilization, or, as excavator Klaus Schmidt put it, "First came the temple, then the city."[54]. ", "Göbekli Tepe: A Neolithic Site in Southwestern Anatolia", "World's Oldest Monument to Receive a Multi-Million Dollar Investment", "Göbekli Tepe: Nomination for Inclusion on the World Heritage List", "Turkey: Conservation, not excavation, focus in Gobeklitepe", "Establishing a Radiocarbon Sequence for Göbekli Tepe. With Stone Age tools. But how did a hill not… When the site was first surveyed by archaeologists from Istanbul, it was thought to be little more than an abandoned Medieval cemetery. ", "Göbekli Tepe: The World's First Temple? Göbekli Tepe follows a geometric pattern. Zeitschrift für Orient-Archäologie. Göbekli Tepe is considered the world’s first temple. The horizontal stone slab on top is thought by Schmidt to symbolize shoulders, which suggests that the figures were left headless. [citation needed], Archaeologists estimate that up to 500 persons were required to extract the heavy pillars from local quarries and move them 100–500 meters (330–1,640 ft) to the site. [6], In 1994, German archaeologist Klaus Schmidt, who had previously been working at Nevalı Çori, was looking for another site to excavate. The oldest layers at the site suggest construction began more than 12,000 years ago. The several adjoining rectangular, doorless and windowless rooms have floors of polished lime reminiscent of Roman terrazzo floors. Göbekli Tepe (Turkish: [gœbecˈli teˈpe],[1] "Potbelly Hill"),[2] also known as Girê Mirazan or Xirabreşkê (Kurdish),[3] is an archaeological site in the Southeastern Anatolia Region of Turkey approximately 15 km (9 mi) as the crow flies or 30 km (19 mi) by car, northeast of the city of Şanlıurfa. 4. Two taller pillars stand facing one another at the centre of each circle. The Swiderians believed also that birds were symbols of astral flight, and that this was the manner in which the shaman could reach the sky world. It is the only relief found in this cave. Göbekli Tepe may very well be the very first thing human beings every built. Everything suggests the Swiderians possessed a sophisticated cosmology gained in part from their cousins, the Solutreans of Central and Western Europe, who were themselves related to the Eastern Gravettian peoples. Less than ten years ago, Professor Klaus Schmidt and his team made one of the most important archaeological discoveries of our century. [30], At this early stage of the site's history, circular compounds or temene first appear. If so, then does it suggest that the strange appearance of both the Watchers and the Anunnaki, with their serpent-like faces, might in part be down to them being Neanderthal-human hybrids? [49] It is apparent that the animal and other images give no indication of organized violence, i.e. Local tradition asserts that Bingöl was also the source of the fourth river of Paradise, the Pison, while ancient writers record that the true source of the Tigris was in the same region. A Preview to Genesis of the Gods By Andrew Collins* Göbekli Tepe is a name that will be familiar to anyone interested in the ancient mysteries subject. Loincloths appear on the lower half of a few pillars. When and where was it discovered? According to the book of Genesis this was located at the source of the four rivers of Paradise. Its floor has been carefully hewn out of the bedrock and smoothed, reminiscent of the terrazzo floors of the younger complexes at Göbekli Tepe. There are four 10-metre-long (33 ft) and 20-centimetre-wide (7.9 in) channels on the southern part of the plateau, interpreted as the remains of an ancient quarry from which rectangular blocks were taken. All across Europe, and into Southwest Asia, accounts exist of supernatural foxes and wolves that have attempted to endanger the sky pillar supporting the starry canopy, an act that if achieved would have brought about the destruction of the world. The site itself comprises around 200 limestone pillars, situated in … In the north, the plateau is connected to a neighbouring mountain range by a narrow promontory. Yet it seems unlikely that those who came up with a plan to counter the innate fear of another cataclysm (something that visionary and writer Barbara Hand Clow so aptly calls catastrophobia) were the indigenous population. Göbekli Tepe: Southeast‐Hollow. The authors suggest that enclosures A, B, and D are all one complex, and within this complex there is a "hierarchy" with enclosure D at the top. Standing stones erected in the north-northwestern sections of the walls in two key enclosures at Göbekli Tepe bore large holes that framed the setting of Deneb each night, highlighting the star’s significance to the Göbekli builders, and showing the precise direction in which the shaman should access the sky world. Since its discovery, however, surface surveys have shown that several hills in the greater area also have 'T'-shaped stone pillars (e.g. At the western edge of the hill, a lionlike figure was found. Structures identified with the succeeding period, Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA), have been dated to the 10th millennium BCE. Geophysical surveys indicate that there are 16 more, enclosing up to eight pillars each, amounting to nearly 200 pillars in all. They are fitted into sockets that were hewn out of the local bedrock. On top of the ridge there is considerable evidence of human impact, in addition to the construction of the tell. 6000-4100 BC. The tell includes two phases of use, believed to be of a social or ritual nature by site discoverer and excavator Klaus Schmidt,[6] dating back to the 10th–8th millennium BCE. [14], The site was first noted in a survey conducted by Istanbul University and the University of Chicago in 1963. He presumed shamanic practices and suggested that the T-shaped pillars represent human forms, perhaps ancestors, whereas he saw a fully articulated belief in deities as not developing until later, in Mesopotamia, that was associated with extensive temples and palaces. [36] Radiocarbon dating places the construction of these early circles in the range of 9600 to 8800 BCE. ", "Which came first, monumental building projects or farming? Another possible point in favor of people from a larger area congregating at Göbekli Tepe is presented by raw material sourcing of the obsidian found onsite [read more here – external link]. In around 10,500 BC I believe that Swiderian groups moved south from the East European Plain into eastern Anatolia. Carbon dating suggests that (for reasons unknown) the enclosures were backfilled during the Stone Age. This phase saw the builders erect large concentric stone circles and place numerous massive t-shaped stone pillars, which average six meters in height, with a weight of around 10 tons. Their elites, who would appear to have belonged to specific family groups, artificially deformed their already elongated heads, not only to denote their status in society, but also quite possibly to mimic the perceived appearance of great ancestors, seen to have possessed extremely long heads and faces. They range from 10 to 30 metres in diameter. Ein Forschungsbericht zum präkeramischen Neolithikum Obermesopotamiens". Were they the true founders of civilization? State of Research and New Data", "Israeli Archaeologists Find Hidden Pattern at 'World's Oldest Temple' Göbekli Tepe", "Geometry and Architectural Planning at Göbekli Tepe, Turkey", "New Pre-Pottery Neolithic sites and cult centres in the Urfa Region", "Turkey: Archeological dig reshaping human history", "Karahan Tepe: A new cultural centre in the Urfa area in Turkey", "A small-scale cult centre in southeast Turkey: Harbetsuvan Tepesi", "New pre-pottery neolithic settlements from Viranşehir District", "Concrete poured on Turkish World Heritage site", "Construction around site of Göbeklitepe stirs debate", "So Fair a House: Göbekli Tepe and the Identification of Temples in the Pre-Pottery Neolithic of the Near East", http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history-archaeology/gobekli-tepe.html, http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2011/06/gobekli-tepe/mann-text, "Animals in the symbolic world of Pre-Pottery Neolithic Göbekli Tepe, south-eastern Turkey: a preliminary assessment, "Göbekli Tepe, Southeastern Turkey. It sits smack in the middle of the fertile crescent, where earliest humans began the agricultural revolution. Die ältesten Monumente der Menschheit.". Also, an older layer at Gobekli features some related sculptures portraying animals on human heads.[41]. It is a story told in his book Beneath the Pyramids (2009). [dubious – discuss] The inhabitants are presumed to have been hunters and gatherers who nevertheless lived in villages for at least part of the year. These are the questions I ask in new book Göbekli Tepe: Genesis of the Gods, in which I provide compelling evidence that the myths of the Watchers of the book of Enoch and the Anunnaki of Mesopotamian myth and legend are memories of the Göbekli builders and their impact on the rise of civilization. So, to finally answer the question of who built Göbekli Tepe: Stone Age people coming from a radius of roughly 200km around the site. Comments on 14C-Dates from Göbekli Tepe. [46], Schmidt also interpreted the site in connection with the initial stages of the Neolithic. [38] Layer II is assigned to Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (PPNB). The answer is the Swiderians, whose mining operations in Poland’s Swietokrzyskie (Holy Cross) Mountains are among the earliest evidence of organized mining activities anywhere in the world. Third, the idea that each enclosure was built and functioned individually seems less likely—at least in planning and their early stages—given their findings. [26] The authors of the paper discuss the implications of their findings. Here they gained control of the regional trade in the black volcanic glass known as obsidian at places like Bingöl Mountain in the Armenian Highlands and Nemrut Dağ an extinct volcano close to the shores of Lake Van, Turkey’s largest inland sea. Why on earth was Göbekli Tepe built? That means that Gobekli Tepe isn’t just older than written language. “Göbekli Tepe is an archaeological wonder,” Prof. Gopher explains. In the north, the plateau is connected to a neighbouring mountain range by a narrow promontory. The site was deliberately backfilled sometime after 8000 BCE: the buildings were buried under debris, mostly flint gravel, stone tools, and animal bones. 12–25. Continuing the naming pattern, it is called "complex E". More pressingly, why did its builders bury their creation at the end of its useful life? Göbekli Tepe is on a flat and barren plateau, with buildings fanning in all directions. It was excavated by the German Archaeological Institute and has been submerged by the Atatürk Dam since 1992. In Europe the bird most commonly associated with these beliefs and practices was the swan, while in Southwest Asia it was the vulture, a primary symbol of death and transformation in the early Neolithic age. "[61] It is not known why every few decades the existing pillars were buried to be replaced by new stones as part of a smaller, concentric ring inside the older one. Do they pertain to the manner in which Göbekli Tepe was built to curtail the catastrophobia rife among the indigenous peoples of the region in the wake of the Younger Dryas impact event? So who were these people? The new study focused on enclosures B,C, and D, which are known to be slightly older than A. Yet, Gobekli Tepe was a pre-agricultural society; it was built before people in the region started farming. Ian Hodder of Stanford University said, "Göbekli Tepe changes everything. A pair decorated with fierce-looking lions is the rationale for the name "lion pillar building" by which their enclosure is known. Its stone enclosures served, most likely, as womb chambers, places where the shaman entered into a primal state, like that experienced before birth, after passing between the enclosures’ twin central pillars. [59] So far none of the smaller sites are as old as the lowest Level III of Göbekli Tepe,[48] but are contemporary with the younger Level II (mostly rectangular buildings, though Harbetsuvan is circular). Klaus Schmidt's view was that Göbekli Tepe is a stone-age mountain sanctuary. Everything points toward Bingöl Mountain being not only the “birthplace” of the Anunnaki, but also the site of the mountain of Paradise, and the place of descent of the Watchers in the book of Enoch. In 3,300 BC, around the beginning of the tell whose builders are unknown terrazzo floors neighbouring... Is considered the World 's first Temple '' archaeology of cult at Neolithic! The several adjoining rectangular, doorless and windowless rooms have floors of polished lime reminiscent of the rock of... Cave paintings elsewhere sculpts a model of Göbekli Tepe is the author of more than a younger. It sits smack in the United Kingdom since then, the ridge there is considerable evidence of writing. 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