Gobeckli Tepe

G?bekli Tepe is notable for multiple reasons, but they all tie back in to its excessive ancientness. The construction at G?bekli Tepe dates back?almost 12,000 years, placing?it in a time period that is generally considered to be pre-civilization. It was built right around the same time that the last ice age ended. G?bekli Tepe then went on to be an active civilization for nearly three millennia?before being abandoned under mysterious circumstances.

? G?bekli Tepe is a site that practically begs for?archaeological study. The structures that make up the site are amazingly well preserved, allowing archaeologists to study them in something similar to their original state. Part of the reason for the?remarkable preservation of G?bekli Tepe is due to the climate in Turkey, but another major factor is the fact that many of the temple sites appear to have been backfilled?before being abandoned. This allowed the structures to remain protected from the elements as the centuries wore on, preserving their history for modern humans to discover.

? One of the best ways to comprehend just how ancient G?bekli Tepe is,?is to compare it to other things that are considered incredibly ancient. G?bekli Tepe predates Stonehenge, one of the most famous prehistoric construction feats in human history, by over 6,000 years. The site predates the era of Sumer, considered one of the earliest true civilizations, and the invention of writing, by a similar, 6,000-ish year margin. To really put things in perspective, there was about as much time between the construction of G?bekli Tepe and the construction of Stonehenge as there was between the construction of Stonehenge and today.

? The fact that G?bekli Tepe is so old isn’t the only significant thing about it. The skilled?architectural style?seen in the construction of its many “temples” is seriously impressive, and would be in any era. The combination of the site’s age and construction quality, however, is what makes it such an earth-shaking revelation for the archaeological world. The craftsmanship seen at G?bekli Tepe is thousands of years ahead of its time, and dates back to long before such construction should have been possible.

? The sheer effort required to construct G?bekli Tepe?made it a gigantic construction project even by modern standards. Hundreds of people would have been needed to erect the massive temples, and it would have taken them quite awhile, requiring the kind of social?stability that just wasn’t expected of human life at that time. It also would have required some serious organization, which shouldn’t have been possible without a sophisticated social structure already in place. Humankind may, unfortunately, never know who the brilliant minds?behind G?bekli Tepe actually were.

The potentially world-changing discovery of G?bekli Tepe actually first occurred back in the ‘60s, but nobody recognize it's significance at the time. In fact, it was wrongly assessed as being a “medieval cemetery,” and was subsequently ignored for half a century due to its apparent lack of potential. It was only when the site was “rediscovered” in 1994 that G?bekli Tepe’s true significance and most impressive traits -?like its age, size, and construction quality -?would be fully appreciated.

? Klaus Schmidt, a German archaeologist, was the individual who decided to give it another look. Analysis of the site has been going on ever since, but archaeologists remain baffled by it to a large degree.

? Most archaeologists believe that G?bekli Tepe was intended to be some sort of religious structure, although some also believe it may have been a burial site. This makes G?bekli Tepe the world’s oldest temple, a title it holds?by quite a large margin. That the very first religious construction in the world that we know of is such a massive and elaborate creation seems strange, and only adds to the mystique of the site. The further?study of G?bekli Tepe may teach us quite a bit about the origins of all human belief systems.

? At the center of the construction of the various temples in G?bekli Tepe are a series of massive pillars topped with heavy stone blocks. The pillars themselves weigh several?tons, with estimates ranging between 7 and 10 tons -?which would have made even bringing them to the?central location a Herculean task. That’s to say nothing of placing large stone blocks on top of them.

? The pillars, along with their top stones, that make up the temples of G?bekli Tepe might be hiding a design secret -?and it’s one that some archaeologists think they have cracked. Some of the stone blocks on top of the pillars have what appear to be human faces carved into them, leading some to theorize that the pillars are actually stylized depictions of human beings. And, if this is correct, then the covering of the?human form with depictions of animals might be a?clue into the belief system of the people who constructed G?bekli Tepe.

The stones that make up the G?bekli Tepe temples are impressive both in their size and in the way that they were put together. However, many of the stones have significant artistic value?as well. Most of the central pillars are decorated with elaborate drawings of animals, and some even have intricate animal statues carved right onto the pillar’s surface. Even this quality of art appears to be ahead of its time, and it is certainly a step up from more common cave paintings.

? At first, the site of G?bekli Tepe was thought to be a singular temple construction. However, over time, it has been discovered that the site is actually quite large and completely covered with temples. It seemed that everywhere archaeologists dug, another temple popped up. There are more than 20 individual?sites that have been uncovered, each of them constructed with a similar design, but with?slightly differing qualities.

? Some think that the large number of sites suggests some sort of trial-and-error process. On the other hand, the people who built the temples might have just felt the need to construct a couple dozen of them!

? Humanity was only able to leave behind a life of hunting and gathering for food when the last major ice age ended. Before that, food was too scarce to allow humans to live anything but a semi-nomadic lifestyle. That’s what makes the fact that?G?bekli Tepe?was constructed at the time of, or before, the end of the last ice age so remarkable. Mankind was almost certainly still hunting and gathering at that time, which means that a bunch of hunter - gatherers were somehow organized and stable enough to build the massive structures at G?bekli Tepe.

? The discovery of G?bekli Tepe has the potential to change much of our understanding of the dawn of civilization, and especially the role that agriculture played. It had previously been assumed that permanent human settlements first arose when humanity gained the ability to farm -?which allowed them to live a more stable life than hunting and gathering did. However, the construction of G?bekli Tepe predates the development of agricultural practices?by quite some time, suggesting that some humans had created permanent settlements long before they started farming.

? One of the most infamous?programs on the History Channel is Ancient Aliens -?a show that posits about different pieces of?“evidence” that prove aliens interfered in humanity’s past. For obvious reasons, G?bekli Tepe is a favorite topic for the Ancient Aliens crew to discuss. Since the construction at G?bekli Tepe is so far ahead of it's time, some would have you believe that the only possible answer to the mystery is that extraterrestrial beings had a hand in building it.

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