The Gobekli Tepe in Turkey was built by prehistoric people six thousand years before Stonehenge, and it reshapes the story of human culture.
When German archaeologist Klaus Schmidt began excavating on a hilltop in Turkey 25 years ago, he was convinced that the construction he had found was extraordinary and unique.
The Gobeckley Tepe is formed on a limestone plateau near Urfa. It is a Turkish word used in the sense of 'pot hill'. At this point Schmidt found more than twenty circular stone courtyards.
The largest of these courtyards was twenty meters high, with a 5.5 meter high pillar in the middle. These carved stone pillars have terrifying, stylish human images, they are hand-stitched and have stripes in the mold of a fox. These poles weigh up to 10 tons.
At a time when animals were not man-made or pottery was not invented - that is, when metal tools were not even in sight, so much carving and erection of pillars must have been a huge technical challenge. These structures are 11,000 years old or even earlier. This is one of the oldest structures in human history, built for a purpose other than shelter.
Schmidt came to a significant conclusion after a decade of work. When I met them in Urfa in 2007 (working with the German Archaeological Institute), Schmidt said that Gobeckley Tape could help rewrite the story of human civilization by explaining why humans started farming and settled in permanent settlements.
Looking at the stone tools and other evidence found by Schmidt and his colleagues, it appears that the circular enclosure was built by hunter-gatherer humans. Millions of animal bones found in the area belong to wild species, and no evidence of grain or other plants has been found.
These hunter-gatherers may have come here 11,500 years ago to carve T-shaped pillars on the Gobeckli tape with stone tools. Schmidt thought they must have used the limestone plateau as a mine.
Carving and carrying these pillars may have been a daunting task, but it will not be as difficult as it seems. The pillars are carved with layers of natural limestone found on the hill. The hard stones or even wooden tools found at that time can be used to carve on a relatively soft surface of limestone.
The limestone sections on the hill are horizontal strips 0.6 m to 1.5 m thick, so archaeologists excavating the site may have thought that ancient artisans may have had to cut off the excess on both sides of it, or put some hands down. The carving of the pillars was completed so that they could be carried to the top of the hill a few meters away with the help of ropes, ropes and abundant manpower.
The small and nomadic gangs scattered in the region may have been inspired by their faith to participate in these hill projects. At the time, Schmidt thought that there would be a big party and then the gangs would disperse again. Schmidt argued that the site was a place of worship, perhaps for burial or other rites related to death, but was not used as a colony.
This is a very big claim. Archaeologists have long believed that mixed cultures and organized religions originated when human societies began to thrive and animals began to be humanized, that is, when the Neolithic transition took place. With the availability of food, it became possible for people to use more resources for rituals and monuments.
The discovery of compositions in the Goebbels tape reversed that chronology, Schmidt told me. The stone tools found at the site date back to pre-Neolithic times. The site was first excavated, but no evidence of crops or livestock has been found in more than 25 years. Schmidt doesn't think anyone was living in the place full time. It was a hillside cathedral, he said.
If his statement is true, then it must be said that mixed law and social organization originated before human colonies and agriculture. Collective nomadic gangs had to come together to carve and move these giant pillars, so after a thousand years of art, people were motivated to take the next step: they started holding large gatherings regularly, people needed to be able to predict food supply, and they depended on crops and livestock. This shows that religion and religion gave rise to the Neolithic Revolution.
The next day I went to the top of the hill with Schmidt before dawn. He was accompanied by a team of German archaeologists and local village workers. I was stunned to see the pillars of that place.
It is estimated that these T-shaped pillars may have been carved out of stone by stone man 11,500 years ago.
After Schmidt published a report on the Goebeckli tapes, it was widely discussed in the small universe of neolithic archaeologists. But still, the place seemed to be somewhat forgotten. The excavation site was temporarily covered with rusty roofs, and there were potholes and dirt roads to reach the top of the hill.
When Schmidt presented his findings on the site and its pillars in the mid-2000s, his colleagues and journalists were stunned. This is the birthplace of religion. The German magazine Der Spiegel compared the fertile grasslands of the Goebeckley Tape to the Garden of Eden.
Soon people from all over the world started coming to see the Goebeckli tapes. Over the course of a decade, the appearance of this mountain has completely changed. The Yadavi in nearby Syria disrupted tourism in the region in 2012, but before that many tourists were coming here out of curiosity. Some have called it the world's first temple.
In the last five years, this hilltop has been changing again. Now there are better roads, car-parking facilities and accommodation for tourists from all over the world. Sophisticated fabric-and-steel type sheds were installed in 2017 to replace the rusted sheets that were placed as a protective shield around the central memorial. The Shanlurfa Archeology and Mosaic Museum, built in 2015 in Central Urfa, is one of the largest museums in Turkey. The museum houses a full-sized replica of the largest courtyard in the Gobeckley Tape and its T-shaped pillars. So people can see these pillars up close and observe the carvings.
The Goebeckli Tape was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2018. Turkish tourism officials have declared 2019 the year of the ‘Gobekli Tepe’ and placed the site at the center of their global outreach campaign.
Jens Natroff began working at the site as a student in the 2000s. He is now working with a German archaeological institute. 'It was a remote place on a hill, I still remember it. Now that has completely changed, 'says Notroff. Schmidt did not get to see today's Gobekli Tape, a major tourist attraction from the dusty hills.
He passed away in 2014. But their discoveries sparked a global interest in neolithic transitions. Schmidt's initial understanding of the site has been reversed in recent years due to new details and the scrutiny of previous excavations.
Stone objects found in the excavation of Gobelki tape
Excavations are now as deep as ever in Schmidt's lifetime. A team led by Lee Claire, a researcher at the German Archaeological Survey, excavated the site several meters deep. "We had a rare opportunity to explore the lowest layers and the deposits there," says Claire.
Whatever Claire and her colleagues found there, the story of prehistoric times is likely to be rewritten. These researchers found evidence of homes and year-round settlements. Evidence suggests that there was not only a distant temple to visit on special occasions, but also a living village with large special buildings.
Researchers also found canals and ponds to collect rainwater. This was the key evidence of human settlement on this dry hilltop. The excavations uncovered thousands of grinding tools for cooking and beer production.
"The Goebeckley Tepe is still a unique, special site, but the new discoveries here are in line with the insights you learn from excavations elsewhere," says Claire. "It was a full-fledged human settlement with permanent occupations. It changed our perception of the place."
Meanwhile, Turkish archaeologists working in the rocky villages around Urfa have unearthed dozens of similar T-shaped columns. The period of these compositions also revolves around the Goebeckli tape.
"This is not a unique temple," says Barbara Horges, a researcher at the Austrian Archaeological Survey. Horges, who is not involved in the latest research here, is an expert on the Neolithic period. "It just makes the story more interesting and exciting." The area could be called the "Pyramid of Southeast Turkey," said Mehmet Nuri Ersoy, Turkey's Minister of Culture and Tourism.
Gobeckley Tepe was previously thought to be a centuries-old construction project that led to an agricultural transition. However, Claire and others now feel that the site is an attempt by hunter-gatherer gangs to embrace their endangered lifestyles as the world around them changes. Evidence has also been found that people in the surrounding area are experimenting with animal husbandry and harvesting. The people on 'Pot Hill', however, must be resisting these experiments.
The stone carvings of this place are an important sign. Detailed carvings of foxes, leopards, snakes and vultures can be seen on the pillars and walls of the Gobekli tape. "These are not just pictures, they are narratives. These narratives must have played a very important role in keeping the contemporary groups together and creating a shared identity," says Claire.
When I first visited this place 15 years ago, I felt like I saw something very far away.
The Gobekli tape was built some 6,000 years before Stonehenge, and it is impossible to get an accurate understanding of the carvings.
This circular architecture of the Gobelki tape reveals new information about the early years of human civilization.
This is also one of the reasons for the enormous attractiveness of the Goebbels tape. Most people may not have heard of the place a decade ago, but now thousands of tourists visit. Researchers are trying to understand why these structures were originally built. With each new discovery, our perception of this place and of human civilization is changing.
"The new work is not about crushing Clocks Schmidt's hypotheses, but about standing on his shoulders and starting new research," says Horges. "In my opinion, this has led to tremendous knowledge. Its meaning is changing, but in the end, that's what science is all about."
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