Gobekli Tepe is an amazing find! Archaeology not being my strong interest I’m amazed I found this story. In the years to come, hopefully, much will be divulged about ancient man. At this pint I find it quite audacious to refer to the find as a temple. Man’s insecurities must always find a way to justify his religious beliefs. While accepting the reported age of the find I do see in the photos that the pillars and the circles of carefully placed stones surrounding them were placed at different times, and not to bury the site, as the carvings of the people that made them would not have them covered. It appears to me that the pillars stood alone until they were protected by the inhabitants at a later date, and then ultimately buried. I also find it very hard to believe that hunter-gatherers would willingly take the time to erect such structures, but I’m not 12,000 years old so what do I know? And Bas-Relief just popping up as an art format that time. The large carvings of the crocodile, boar or man is one thing but to level off whole areas of a pillar just to show a fox is quite another. The whole scenario leaves me with wonder. How did they move such massive stones? What tools did they use to excavate them, to carve them?

This is in response to Jay Eye on March 1,2012. You mean Urfa (real name Edessa, Urfa is the name given to the city by the Turks who are not the original inhabitants of that area) that's right, but you might not know that Edessa is of Macedonian origin, the name was given by Alexander the Great. The original name which is known of today's Urfa is "Orhai", but out of this Urfa was only a small city in the surrounding of today's Harran wich is only 45 km far away. The name for Harran is known to be not changed in the last 4000 year's (originally Harranu) Out of this the history in this area seems to be very complex. For ex. the first turkish tribes has appeared 3000 years ago in Anatolia. The Hitit's, the Assyrian etc. but what was in the origin ? It has to be imagined that after the stone age where the Human beeing has lived in the mountain area of the East-Taurus, that they have must moved by the climate change. But it is up today not known who were the first inhabitants. If it's assumed that they where the Assyrians it would be again wrong. From the date oh Göbekli Tepe up to the Assyrians is an important period of 8000 years ! which can't be explained so simple.

I like to add a suggestion to the many others for the use of these fabulous structures. I my opinion they are simply too monumental to be used as housing and there is no religious symbols or altars or anything else associated with temples, and shamans usually perform their business in a tent or on the ground. I would instead like to suggest that the building served a practical secular purpose. There were possible groupings between these communities akin to tribes, and tribal eldest would need a place to meet on a regular place to settle disputes, make laws regulating the interaction between the tribes, decide on legislation and dispense justice. A modern equivalent would be the Icelandic "Althing" which happens to be the oldest functional parliamentary institution in the world. Besides the above functions, the meetings were also major social events where people from all over Iceland came together and lived in temporary camps. All this would explain the lack of large mounts of bones, cookery utensils etc necessary for a settled community. The ornamentation was, well, ornamentation, illustrating the daily life of a hunter society. The worlds oldest parliament?

I have been fascinated by this find since I first read of it.

The baa relief animals are of special interest to me because I have a book* with bas relief figures from the Inca highlands (Chimor) of almost 10,000 years later, and they are not as sophisticated, in my opinion, as those found on Potbelly Hill.....Are there any thoughts on other non-West Asian sites with similar bas relief figures?

*Treasures of the Incas, The Glories of Inca and Pre-Columbian South America, by Jeffrey Quilter,
2005 ISBN 978-1-4351-2723-4

In 2009 my son and I visited this site and also the museum in Urfa where some of the artifacts are preserved. Last week there was a National Geographic special about the site and the extent of the new escavation is quite revealing of what was only speculation when we were there. More work will only reveal more answers and probably more questions to be answered.

The geogaphy is fascinating. the hill itself is elevated over a valley and the known climate history is that this area was quite fertile after the end of the ice age about 15,000 BC, but there was a later climate shift that led to the near desert climate that exists today.

I think you should all spent an hour or two studying Assyriology and the Assyrians of the Ancient Near East before writing such articles that claim this discovery to be a 'temple' without providing solid evidence. Yes it's a great discovery but please do your research on Urfa (real name Edessa, Urfa is the name given to the city by the Turks who are not the original inhabitants of that area) and Edessa (also know as Urhai in the Assyrian Aramaic language) was the 1st known Christian city during the time of Jonah when the Assyrians (and Ninevites) converted to Christianity. Using this data as a starting point will guide you on your way of understanding the people of that region during that era. Maybe then you will mention the name of these 'prehistoric people' in your article and pay some respect to their achievements. Peace

This is in response to Joe on Dec. 13.. "people like this" wow there is a great deal of judgement in your comment.. I can appreciate your discomfort and I am certainly not saying I am in agreement with the post you are talking about yet I value what it adds to the conversation. May I ask why you fear your children's exposure to contrasting ideas? I would urge you to appreciate the growth that is born out of contrast and trust your children's ability to discern what is truth for them. And perhaps their brilliant, individual take on something will inspire someone else and so on and so on in this beautiful co-creative dance we are participating in. Personally, I feel our public schools are more concerned with churning out people who follow orders and believe everything that is presented to them rather than encouraging original thought. What will it take for our scientists to embrace this discovery and the implications that the history of man on Earth is much longer and more varied than previously acknowledged? What might we learn or remember that will assist us is solving the great challenges we face today? I thank you for prompting me to ask these questions.

I wonder if there is a way to help the financial side of the excavations in order to complete the exposition of the site for a later and I guess much larger time for analisys?.

If there is such an innitiative, I would like to take part of it, if possible.

Greater coverage and more academic interests may help for this purpose.

The comment by Bruce Horton (March 6, 2011) is a good example of what science is up against. People like this send their kids to school with your kids, and insist that what they believe is put out in front of your kids as coequal to science.

I believe there are many great sites yet to be discovered, over the thousand of years many site we lost and buried, just look at the great cities of South America that are buried.

Who knows what great treasures are hiding from us, with satellites and deep ground ultra sound detection, we are just scratching the surface of our history!

Not being an archaeologist I can't give answers, only bring questions. First: why is the largest portion of the column on the top? Any natural carved pillar gets smaller on top. These actually extend beyond the pillar. If I were going to build a bridge this would be what I'd do. If the "ceiling" or roof were natural materials like wood, they would be long gone. Could an analysis of the rubble and sand show signs of wood fibre?
Second: Just last night I watched a program about the unearthing of a ship wreck in the Black Sea on the other side of Turkey.The possible changes, catastrophic or slow, connected to the Black Sea and the peoples nearby may be related to this structure.
Third: The sophistication of many of the carvings on the pillars don't remind me of the work of a hunter-gatherer culture that only moves from place to place, never building, carving only amulets to hold or wear around the neck with necklaces of shells and beads. They seem abstract due to a fullness of technique and a long history of sculptural art and building history rather than to an ignorance. Where are the stone carvings that could predate these ones? Were all the previous carved structures made from wood and so disappeared?
Fourth: The animals they sculpt may be wild but they don't scare you to look at them. Nor do the animals painted many thousands of years earlier around 33,000 years, in caves all around Europe. Humans that can do art at those levels and for so many thousands of years, are perfectly capable of painting and sculpting gargoyle "fear" creatures, grimacing faces, pain, agonizing death scenes. The idea that this site was built to placate terrifying gods doesn't seem right here.
I'd give anything to actually make the trip to see these signs of our race, when we built more than we destroyed.

Absolutely amazing discovery, what disturbs me is we immediatelly want to label it something like a "temple" when we have no idea what it really is. Questions like why would it not just be abandoned instead of being covered up,almost like leaving it for when someone returns later.

Nothing springs from nothing, the people, the skills, the material needed would take time to accrue. What prompted its building at a time when primitive man needed all of his time and energy just to survive as a hunter gatherer, what would cause them to stop, learn skills, and build such a monument?
This could not be the builders first building, it appears too sophisticated, where were earlier models?

One thought that occurred to me is that when people had no use for a construction, from the colliseum in rome to the Sphinx, they simply left them, the didn't cover them up, many times they reused the building material. Maybe this was built by someone not a local, someone who didn't want it either discovered or reused, who when they were through with it found burying it quite appropriate.

So many questions, so few real answers, I look forward to reading more about amazing find, we should not jump to conclusions.

Mike

A great find, yes. I think we need to leave the bible out of this dig and this discussion of the dig, except to say that this dig is perhaps further evidence that the human race did not begin in the garden of eden. It is for us here and now a step farther back in human history, and it closes a little bit more the gap in the record between neolithic humans and those responsible for Lascaux and the other painted caves.

Another commenter suggested that space men built Gobleki Tepe. I think this is nuts. I think that believing that space men did it reveals a disbelief in the ingenuity and vast imagination of human beings. We as a race have done incredible things when rightly inspired. One person with the right idea at the right time can alter a society.

This is a great find and I hope in time it is all unearthed and revealed. Even so unless the builders documented this in some sort of way that is readable we will never know for sure the how and whys of this place. Educated guesses sometimes seem like they might be right. I don't think I would necessarily call this place a temple just yet when it so much resembles what may be a Chieftains Spa or just a tribal hang out! Good luck working with this the rest of the way which will continue i'm sure for years.

Geographical and historical records found in the Bible, though often challenged, have invariably proven to be accurate and correct. Therefore the Bible description of people before the flood may well explain who built Göbekli Tepe. According to the book of Genesis, disobedient materialized angels fathered took human females and fathered (hybrid) offspring. These 'fellers' had extraordinary capabilities and dominated over other humans. Perhaps this could explain some of the mystery connected with this amazing site... or add more to it!

I was intreged by the pictures I saw of this dig,my first impresion was and still is that this is a pre Noahs flood remains asit has been buried by flood waters and all wood material washed away.all the world was compleatly changed by all the worlds water roaring over the landskape.the earth was cut in two by the huge comet that past Mars and sucked all the water off of the planet and on comming around to Earth it took 40 days to close on Earth raining all this time then smashing into the Earth cutting half the Earth off from what is now the south pole to Alaska,some of which remains under Alaska today.most of the debrey blasted into the sky created the Moon and near all the water and material fell back to the Earth and changed the entire landskape and creating the ociens and burying the old world.The old world just peeks out in some places.

I think that the true nature of this site and others like it around the world will be shrouded in mystery for some time to come.The beliefs or assumptions that we have about ancient beliefs and what motivated mankind to build such structures is very limited and is largely based upon what the academia has taught us as being acceptable.We may just be in for a surprise if the truth about these things is ever revealed.I find it hard to believe that these monolithic structures where built only to appease the gods unless there was some serious impetus inspiring or helping these people to do so,something beyond fear of a bad hunt of what lies beyond death.Why would men involved in hunting and gathering suddenly feel compelled to build such buildings with no prior knowledge of skills to do so?

is there a site where i can see better more detailed photos of this site. if so please email the site to me thank you

the fact that this site is the oldest discovered to date .should open our eyes and minds to the fact that this site may help us to find just how much knowledge we have lost over the last 12000 years.just like the pyramids we still have no idea how they were built. i hope that in my lifetime we rediscover all the knowledge we have lost over the years.

when the articles (perhaps not this) say on a stele vultures are hoovering over a scorpion, they are actually also hovering over a dead vulture (that is on the same panel) my interpretation was , vultures do also eat dead vultures, (theres a dead vulture there on the upper pane) and in the end they even eat scorpions. since i am quite sure of either, but have no such info and have never seen it confirmed, my impression is at least part of the original intention was to educate youth about well nature, and obviously , since that is so widespread, about the sky burrial as well. interestingly i would infer that the starts of agriculture are being made when this site is erected, and that it may even be an expression to confront the first agricultural dogma (that may well have been part of a 'diplomatic' oral tribal tradition in the region) that agriculture would make for a 'greater culture'. an argument i would guess comes up quite naturally on so to say 'tribal elder' level. in fact more recent iniatives of 'civillisation' like eg. the christian mission featured still the very same argument prominently.

It looks to me that this is the first example of a university. 11,000 years later the good professor Schmidt has no reference to a people who would seem mentally deficient to people of this age. I see the alligator heading downward with a great grin. It seems to me that the meaning is you are returning back to a lower sun but don't be fearful. I do agree with the professor that the people lost interest due to (it looks like) limited weathering on the stones. To me it is obvious that a Da Vinchi like sculpter had been born and the people buried the art work for posterity. As a final point I say imagine a village area of some 5000 people whom are autistic in a sense. 5.8 million years to get to the moon.

My understanding of the carbon dating method is that it is used to date objects that have once been alive. I would be interested in finding out how the stone pillars came to be dated as being 11,000 years old. That date is quite close to the time of the end of the last Ice Age.

I would like to comment on Armando Busick's comment (November 15/08. His remark about the fear of nature being caused by "something" intrigued me. Perhaps that "something" was planetary-wide catastrophes that accompanied the end of the last Ice Age about 12,00 years ago.

In modern times, the terror generated by a single tsunami is enough to make believers out of people. Imagine then if you will, the terror that would ensue if the whole planet were to be racked by earthquakes, volcanoes , massive flooding, raging firestorms, hurricanes, mudslides, tornadoes etc., all going on at the same time.

These manifestations of a world gone mad would be more than enough to engender a fear of nature that would last through the ages. The animal carvings could then be seen as representating the terrifying forces of nature.

My own feeling about the place favours the idea that this was where ancestors were honoured, and where memories of times past were recalled in story and song.

Perhaps Gobekli Tepe was erected by survivors of a terrifying cataclysmic event. Consequently, there would be a lot of food for vultures and scavengers of every kind. But then, gradually, as conditions settled down and normalized, agriculture and animal husbandry would take over from the need to hunt. Still, for a long time afterward, people would continue to make pilgrimages to the site to give thanks, or to gain inspiration and insight from oracles, priests or priestesses.

The alternate view that I have is that the site might have been built during the period of the Ice Age and somehow survived the violent ending of that Age.

The theory that building sacred sites came before farming and domesticating animals for food may find support also from deeper analysis of other cult sites already known, but not considered under this light usually. Think of Macchu Pichu and Tiahuanaco in South America, or the Giza Sphinx in Egypt, whose real age is unknown to our present day scientists, and whose symbolical meaning is subject to many debates among the laymen, but no so for those acquainted with the so called traditional knowledge (in the sense described by Rene Guenon). Present day geographical features may differ greatly from those found at a given place 10 or 20 thousand years ago, as Satellite observations have shown without reasonable doubt, so rivers and deserts have disappeared or appeared in such not so long spans of time.I wanted to find how the sphinx found at this turkish site looked like, but I was unsuccessfulso far.

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.

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!

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!

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?

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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 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!

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.

Perhaps this is the tower of Babel?

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