Andrew Curry on "The World's First Temple?"

Are there any astronomical implications here? With the creatures and circles, surely someone must see this possibility.

Perhaps this is the tower of Babel?

There is an article titled "The World's First Temple" by Sandra Scham in the November/December issue of Archaeology. This is published by The Archaeology Institute of America. Anyone can get a copy or subscribe.

What an incredible find; and thousands of kudos to the arch- aeologist who did more than "give it a glance". It's too bad that the peoples who built the temple(?) have to contend w/present day politicos/religions. Let science reign!

Wonderful; I am immeditly struck by what appears to be Mayan carvings on stela. Except for the "Dogan Myth" of the "Pale Fox". The stela of a long arm reaching from on high, and a fox. See images of the Dogan People from the Book "the Pale Fox". the images of the fox, the frist fallen angele is obviouse and important on Gobekeli Pillar. But is it the medium (rock), or is it the artist that creates the similarities in the images to the Mayan style. Are the designs on the top of the capped pillars structual or ornamental? If they are magical symbols, then the powers of observation are at play, and you will be able to see withhin the mind of the artist. {the rocks were carved by men. Men do not charge.) If the symbols are magical; a way for man to control his enviorment - ,you know, like science, it's the same thing. Understandable.

What a magnificent find; I had never heard of it, so I really enjoyed reading this brief interview and the accompanying article. That people in a pre-mechanical society could make such a stunning complex is just as extraordinary as the the building of other notable ancient wonders -- the Great Pyramids, the Great Wall, Stonehenge, and Macchu Piccu, to name but a small sampling -- absolutely made my jaw drop. Sure do hope Schmidt is able to preserve the site, not only for the decades' worth of exploration to come, but for posterity thereafter. Brilliant work by both the archeologist and the writer -- and a huge thanks to both!

Why do they think this is 11,000 years old? Carbon dating? This would make it much older than other ancient sites. Of course, creationists think the earth is less than 10,000 years old and evolutionists think all you need to create man is vast amounts of time. I don't think we know much about our origins or our history on the planet. Period.

Paleontological evidence suggest that our species has been on the planet for 200,000 years. In this perspective 11,000 years ago is relatively recent. Something happened then that made humans afraid of nature – as the fearful creatures carved upon these stones suggest. The repeated ritualistic burying of these stones may have been an attempt to master this fear. To no avail. The invention of agriculture grew out of the fear that nature would not provide. The creation of armies grew out of our fear of each other. The invention of writing grew out of our fear of forgetting. Technology grew out of our fear of being mastered by nature. Most of our time on this planet we have lived with nature not against it. We need to return to that time before these temples if we are to survive our fear.

The power of symbols on the stone age human mind is readily apparent at this magnificent site. Symbols are the origin of all concepts (as noted previously) embedded within the written word. We know the Chinese language of ideograms is derived from a common library of symbols, as were the Egyptian and Mayan glyphs. This sacred and mysterious use of common, organized symbols at Gobbekli Tepe undoubtedly represented elements in a particularly important story to those who were initiated into the mystery. The common, organized human effort to comprehend existence, and coexistence, through the laborious creation of huge, powerful, structures covered with common symbols is a tangible sign that modern humans had arrived. The makers of Gobekli Tepe may have been conquering their fears in the construction of this site, but in doing so they demonstrated their ability to conquer nature through the transformation of rocks into sculpture and the capturing life's images onto stone.

I was fortunate to visit this site in May (2008). No officials were there at the time, only the watchman (the land owner, I believe). He did a good job--not letting me into the excavation area. Darn. Nevertheless, was utterly captivated by what I saw. In the pictures for this article I can see inches of excavation progress from the last season of work. This is the site to watch developments. Thanks to Smithsonian Magazine for the article.

I am thankful for the archaeologists continuation of excavating this extraordinary find. I believe that the people who built the stone towers were terrified of the vile and scary creatures whose likeness they carved into the stone. I am looking forward to more answers as the work progresses.

What a fantastic discovery for me to "discover" via the MAIL newspaper this morning. I love stuff that shows us what was happening a long time ago. I find the fact that the area was so fertile and abounding with life very telling, the world has changed so much throughout the centuries that no one can presume anything from what we see today. I still love reading about all the remains of mammoths found in the Tundra, there must have been vast amounts of food available in their day to support such creatures. I hope much more detail is available for armchair archeologists like myself, not spoilt by too much conjecture about meanings because some folk learn one fact and when it is disproved later they do not realise and so hang on to wrong information ( a bit like the theory of Recapitulation). Keep digging!

The engineering, the masonry, the artistry! This site is too much for words. Congratulations to the archaeologist. Your article was very informative and the photographs were wonderful. I will be very interested to see further information as it becomes available. SOME of the comments were hilarious, though. How I have laughed! I suppose some of the commenters were just too excited to think, to spell check or to get their facts straight before writing. At least I hope it was just excitement...otherwise it seems that those who built these fabulous monuments might have come from a more "civilized" or at least a more intelligent culture than ours. Have we regressed?

Until I read a novel called The Genesis Secret, I wasn't aware Gobekli Tepe existed. Visiting this archaelogical site I was amazed to learn it was discovered over 10 years ago and found it fasinating! That it is thought to be the oldest archaelogical find is absolutely mind boggling. The photos of the temple are so thought inspiring, it leaves you with so many unanswered questions and a sense of timelessness. May Herr Schimdt and his band of fellow workers continue unimpeded for many years to come!

I'd just like to comment on the first comment here, the question of astronomical implications. Of course more or less any decent briccoleur will make that assumption right away, but - since no more than 5% of the site has been dug out yet, perhaps it would be a good idea to let the archaeologists do their bit first, and leave stone age astronomy, Garden of Eden, and such, for later.
I find, however, the debate on whether this discovery leads to an ideological origin of the "Neolithic Revolution" or not, extremely potent - and this is where the so-called archaeo - astronomers might present us with a couple of interesting ideas. I am looking forward to hearing anything about that. Good luck!

I doubt the theory that building sacred sites came before farming and domesticating animals for food. As Mr. Curry says in his article; it would take hundreds of settlers to build these things so they could not have hunted and gathered food for hundreds; there can only be one explanation; the settlers did not build them; but someone else, perhaps from outer space? And for some reason, (a falling out) or the settlers just did not like what was built; so they covered it up. Check out Zacharia Sitchen who translated the sumerian tablets. He has written many books, expertly researched, which has credible relevance, but is generally dismissed by academia. By the way, Mr. Curry, was your Dad named Clifford Curry and was your great grandfather George Curry, ex-governor of New Mexico? If so, I am related to you.