Gobekli Tepe

The World’s First Temple?

Certainly

The oldest know example of monumental architecture

Certainly The oldest know example of monumental architecture The first structure human beings put together that was bigger and more complicated than a hut.

So far as we know, nothing like it existed anywhere else in the world.

Gobekli Tepe is old,

Gobekli Tepe is old, very old.

Gobekli Tepe was built some 11,000 to 12,000 years ago.

Gobekli Tepe was built some 11,000 to 12,000 years ago. 10,000 to 9,000 years BC or BCE

Gobekli Tepe is

Gobekli Tepe is 6,000 to 7,000 years older than Stonehenge

Gobekli Tepe is

Gobekli Tepe is 6,000 to 7,000 years older than the Pyramids of Giza

Gobekli Tepe is

Gobekli Tepe is 6,000 to 7,000 years older than the invention of writing.

In fact, more time passed between the building of Gobekli Tepe and the invention of writing than has gone by since the invention of writing and today.

Gobekli Tepe was created thousands of years before the appearance of human towns and cities.

Gobekli Tepe is located in modern-day Turkey

In Turkish, Gobekli Tepe means “hill of the navel” or “belly hill”.

The individual who brought Gobekli Tepe to the attention of the world is

Klaus Schmidt

A German Archaeologist

In the 1960s, archaeologists from the University of Chicago had surveyed Gobekli Tepe and concluded the site was of little interest. They believed the pieces of limestone found there simply to be gravestones from a relatively recent time, not from some prehistoric period.

Schmidt came across the field notes that the University of Chicago archaelogists had made and decided to check out the site.

He found large numbers of flint chips on the ground--clear indication that scores (even hundreds) of people had worked there deep in the past. This meant that the limestone slabs were much older than what the University of Chicago folks thought.

The next year Schmidt began a systematic excavation of the Gobekli Tepe site.

Schmidt uncovered a ring of stone T-shaped pillars.

These pillars are big.

Tallest are 18 feet high and weight 16 tons.

The stones were quarried from the surrounding limestone hills.

The stones were quarried from the surrounding limestone hills. Archaeologists have found a pillar that was not completely dug out.

The surfaces of these pillars at Gobekli Tepe are decorated with a menagerie of animals

Gobekli Tepe

In following years, Schmidt and his team found a second and a third circle of stones.

And then more.

And then more. Surveys in 2003 revealed at least 20 rings

For reasons yet unknown, the rings seem to have regularly lost their power.

For reasons yet unknown, the rings seem to have regularly lost their power. Every few decades people buried the pillars and put up new stones—a second smaller ring inside the first, sometimes a third.

For reasons yet unknown, the rings seem to have regularly lost their power. Every few decades people buried the pillars and put up new stones—a second smaller ring inside the first, sometimes a third. Then, the whole thing would be filled in with debris and entirely new circles created nearby.

For reasons yet unknown, the rings seem to have regularly lost their power. Every few decades people buried the pillars and put up new stones—a second smaller ring inside the first, sometimes a third. Then, the whole thing would be filled in with debris and entirely new circles created nearby. This went gone on for centuries.

Strangely, the people at Gobekli Tepe got steadily worse at ring building.

The earliest rings are the largest and the most sophisticated.

Strangely, the people at Gobekli Tepe got steadily worse at ring building. The earliest rings are the largest and the most sophisticated. Whole thing seems to have come to a halt around 8,200 B.C.

Less than 10% of the Gobekli Tepe site has been uncovered.

Archaeologists are still excavating Gobekli Tepe and debating its meaning.

The Balikli Gol Man

Earliest known life-size sculpture

The Balikli Gol Man Earliest known life-size sculpture Dates to, at least, 8000 B.C.

The Balikli Gol Man Earliest known life-size sculpture Dates to, at least, 8000 B.C. Discovered nine miles from Gobekli Tepe

The Balikli Gol Man