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Göbekli Tepe: Temples From 10,000 B.C.

Turkey would have to fail from within and a certain radical element does exist internally. Currently they have the best military in the ME (exception being Israel). The Turkish military if they wanted to could annihilate ISIS's conventional forces overnight. Currently they are to worried about Kurdish independence - autonomy to act against ISIS. They continue to fight a war against the Kurds in their own country and have recently stepped up the violence against the Turkish Kurds.

https://www.culturalsurvival.org/pu...al-quarterly/turkey/kurdish-repression-turkey
 
I have to agree, especially about the "quite hard to believe" bit. Those carvings, alone, seem to have more than a touch of the Glozel about them, for some reason. You know, strangely anachronistic and not quite fitting.

I'd love for it all to be true, though! :)

Glozel? This is the first time I think I've ever heard of it. Anyone got any recommendations on websites or books to check out about it?
 
Turkish Government Funds Documentary Claiming Göbekli Tepe Was Built by Abraham’s Father and Destroyed by Abraham
1/10/2017

Remember how fringe writers including Andrew Collins and Graham Hancock have heavily implied that the ancient Turkish site of Göbekli Tepe had been constructed by a lost civilization related to or identical with the Nephilim and/or Atlantis? Well, it turns out that the Turkish government has done them one better by funding a documentary that claims the ancient temple site to be the work of the patriarch Abraham’s idol-worshiping father Telah, according to an account from the Turkish Hürriyet Daily News newspaper, the country’s oldest and most respected English-language news source.

Göbekli Tepe dates back at least 12,000 years, which would, by most religious chronologies, make it far too old be associated with Abraham, who is usually placed around 1800 BCE. Of course, if you are a religious fundamentalist, you probably don’t accept modern dating techniques.

The documentary was produced and funded by the Diyarbakir provincial governor’s office, the Turkish Development Ministry, and the Turkish Radio and Television Corporation, the nation’s public broadcaster.

According to a translation produced by Hürriyet Daily News, the narrator of the program describes the site and says the following: “Who can tell us that it was not Aser [Terah], father of Prophet Abraham, who built the statues in Göbeklitepe? Or can we claim that the temple where the idols that Prophet Abraham broke was not Göbeklitepe?” The documentary identified one broken pillar, featuring a sculpture of a fox, as the specific idol broken by the hand of Abraham himself.

The claim refers back to an Islamic tale, found in the Qur’an (21:51-71), and based on earlier Jewish folklore that Abraham’s father made idols which the young patriarch smashed in his zeal for monotheism. In the Qur’anic account, Abraham has a conflict with the people of Ur, in which they vouch for the efficacy of their idols. To prove them wrong, “in the people’s absence he went into the temple where the idols stood, and he brake them all in pieces, except the biggest of them; that they might lay the blame upon that” (21:58, trans. George Sale). The people of Ur then try to burn Abraham alive for his desecration, but God saves him from the flames. ...

http://www.jasoncolavito.com/blog/t...t-by-abrahams-father-and-destroyed-by-abraham
 
I believe in Abraham but what does that have to do with Göbekli Tepe? That is the question.
 
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I believe in Abraham but what does that have to do with Göbekli Tepe? That is the question.
Well, it does what it says on the tin... (maybe!)
 
home.bt.com/news/world-news/a-comet-strike-hit-earth-in-10950-bc-and-an-ice-age-began-ancient-carvings-show-11364174810267
Link is dead. Below is the full text of the MIA 2017 news item.


A comet strike hit Earth in 10950 BC and an ice age began, ancient carvings show
Computer software was used to match carvings of animals to patterns of stars and pinpoint the event.

Ancient symbols carved into stone at an archaeological site in Turkey tell the story of a devastating comet impact that triggered a mini ice age more than 13,000 years ago, scientists believe.

Evidence from the carvings, made on a pillar known as the Vulture Stone, suggests that a swarm of comet fragments hit the Earth in around 11000 BC.

One image of a headless man is thought to symbolise human disaster and extensive loss of life.

The site is at Gobekli Tepe in southern Turkey, which experts now believe may have been an ancient observatory.

Computer software was used to match carvings of animals – interpreted as astronomical symbols – to patterns of stars and pinpoint the event to 10950 BC.

Other evidence for the impact from a Greenland ice core suggests roughly the same time frame.

The cataclysm ushered in a cold climate lasting 1,000 years and is likely to have resulted from the break-up of a giant comet in the inner solar system.

Lead researcher Dr Martin Sweatman, from the University of Edinburgh’s School of Engineering, said: “It appears Gobekli Tepe was, among other things, an observatory for monitoring the night sky.

“One of its pillars seems to have served as a memorial to this devastating event – probably the worst day in history since the end of the Ice Age.”

The carvings appear to have remained important to the people of Gobekli Tepe for millennia, indicating an event that had a very serious and long-lasting impact, said the scientists whose findings are published in the journal Mediterranean Archaeology and Archaeometry.

A number of the pillar symbols suggest that long-term changes in the Earth’s rotational axis were recorded by the early astronomers using an early form of writing.

The discovery also supports the theory that Earth experiences times when comet strikes are more likely, due to the planet’s orbit intersecting with rings of cometary fragments.

SALVAGED FROM THE WAYBACK MACHINE:
https://web.archive.org/web/2017042...ge-began-ancient-carvings-show-11364174810267
 
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Ancient stone carvings confirm how comet struck Earth in 10,950BC, sparking the rise of civilisations
Sarah Knapton, Science Editor
21 April 2017 • 11:25am

Ancient stone carvings confirm that a comet struck the Earth around 11,000BC, a devastating event which wiped out woolly mammoths and sparked the rise of civilisations.

Experts at the University of Edinburgh analysed mysterious symbols carved onto stone pillars at Gobekli Tepe in southern Turkey, to find out if they could be linked to constellations.
The markings suggest that a swarm of comet fragments hit Earth at the exact same time that a mini-ice age struck, changing the entire course of human history.
Scientists have speculated for decades that a comet could be behind the sudden fall in temperature during a period known as the Younger Dryas. But recently the theory appeared to have been debunked by new dating of meteor craters in North America where the comet is thought to have struck.

However, when engineers studied animal carvings made on a pillar – known as the vulture stone – at Gobekli Tepe they discovered that the creatures were actually astronomical symbols which represented constellations and the comet.
The idea had been originally put forward by author Graham Hancock in his book Magicians of the Gods.

Using a computer programme to show where the constellations would have appeared above Turkey thousands of years ago, they were able to pinpoint the comet strike to 10,950BC, the exact time the Younger Dryas begins according to ice core data from Greenland.
The Younger Dryas is viewed as a crucial period for humanity, as it roughly coincides with the emergence of agriculture and the first Neolithic civilisations.

Before the strike, vast areas of wild wheat and barley had allowed nomadic hunters in the Middle East to establish permanent base camps. But the difficult climate conditions following the impact forced communities to come together and work out new ways of maintaining the crops, through watering and selective breeding. Thus farming began, allowing the rise of the first towns.

Edinburgh researchers said the carvings appear to have remained important to the people of Gobekli Tepe for millennia, suggesting that the event and cold climate that followed likely had a very serious impact.

etc...
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/...gs-confirm-comet-struck-earth-10950bc-wiping/

The astronomers Clube and Napier wrote two books on this ancient comet strike. I've posted about it a few times, somewhere on FTMB! eg,
http://forum.forteantimes.com/index.php?threads/comets.2782/page-3#post-968989

NOTE: Further discussion of this story can be found (and / or pursued) at:
Younger Dryas Impact Hypothesis
https://forums.forteana.org/index.php?threads/younger-dryas-impact-hypothesis.67028/
 
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Some new findings at the site - skulls carved postmortem, presumably for ritual / cultic reasons ...
Carved Human Skulls Reveal Cultic Rituals at Mysterious Site in Turkey

Fragments of three carved human skulls have been uncovered at a mysterious ritual site in Turkey.

No one knows what rituals were performed at the site, which was constructed 11,000 years ago during the Stone Age in an impressive display of handiwork: The site contains several stone rings, which are decorated with elaborately carved animals and punctuated with pillars up to 13 feet (4 meters) tall. There are no signs that anyone lived at the site, which is called Göbekli Tepe, nor are there signs of formal graves. But archaeologists have uncovered 691 human bone fragments mixed into the soil there.

"It's a fantastic place," said Julia Gresky, a paleopathologist and bioarchaeologist at the German Archaeological Institute in Berlin.

Now, Göbekli Tepe has become a little bit more fantastic with the discovery of skull fragments carved with long, deliberate lines from the forehead to the back of the head. These discoveries reveal the existence of a "skull cult" in ancient eastern Anatolia, Gresky told Live Science. The ritual markings on these skulls are unlike those seen in any other civilization, though.

"I tried to compare to other known skeletal investigations from other sites, but there was nothing," Gresky said. ...

FULL STORY (with photos): https://www.livescience.com/59643-carved-human-skulls-found-cultic-site.html

PHOTO GALLERY: https://www.livescience.com/59644-photos-carved-human-skulls.html
 
The blog of the archaeologists working there is pretty interesting reading:

https://tepetelegrams.wordpress.com/
This weblog is meant to give an insight into ongoing excavations and archaeological research at the Pre-Pottery Neolithic site of Göbekli Tepe in southeastern Turkey. Notes on recent field work and short contributions by staff members of the research project will address some of the questions and topics often brought up regarding the monumental structures unearthed at Göbekli Tepe.

The Göbekli Tepe Research Project is an interdisciplinary long-term project addressing the role of early monumentality in the origins of food production, social hierarchisation and belief systems as well as questions of early subsistence strategies and faunal developments in Neolithic Anatolia, Turkey. Excavations and archaeological research in the frame of this project are conducted by the Orient and Istanbul Departments of the German Archaeological Institute (DAI – external link) in close cooperation with the Şanlıurfa Haleplibahçe Museum [external link]. The archaeobiological part of the project is conducted by the Institute of Palaeoanatomy, Domestication Research and the History of Veterinary Medicine, Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich [external link].

We are grateful to the General Directorate of Cultural Assets and Museums of the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism [external link] for their kind permission and support to excavate this important site. Scientific work at Göbekli Tepe is funded by the German Archaeological Institute (DAI) and the German Research Foundation
 
I note that multiple instances of the symbol known as the "Assyrian bucket" (or handbag/purse) can be seen at Göbekli Tepe, surely making that the earliest known depiction of that enigmatic artifact.

http://www.ancient-origins.net/arti...n-ancient-carvings-across-cultures-and-021191

Wiki suggests it could have been a symbol of purification. Elsewhere it has been speculated that it symbolised creation. Whatever it was, it sure had some potency to have been depicted in artwork spanning several millennia.
 
I'm not buying any demonstrable connection between the symbology on Gobekli Tepe's Pillar 43 (the Vulture Stone) and Babylonian / Neo-Assyrian symbolism circa 9,000 - 10,000 years later.

The Gobekli Tepe figures don't match the later 'handbag' (or, probably more appropriate, 'basket' or 'bucket') figures. The rectilinear 'body' of the figure extends beyond the connection with the 'handle' on one side, and there is no graphical indication of a joint between the two primary pieces.

The Pillar 43 figures are not associated with human-like figures, and they're not being carried. Instead, each is associated with a different animal figure. They may well represent pens or enclosures for these different animals.
 
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I note that multiple instances of the symbol known as the "Assyrian bucket" (or handbag/purse) can be seen at Göbekli Tepe, surely making that the earliest known depiction of that enigmatic artifact.

http://www.ancient-origins.net/arti...n-ancient-carvings-across-cultures-and-021191

Wiki suggests it could have been a symbol of purification. Elsewhere it has been speculated that it symbolised creation. Whatever it was, it sure had some potency to have been depicted in artwork spanning several millennia.
This is a very interesting find.
 
I'm not buying any demonstrable connection between the symbology on Gobekli Tepe's Pillar 43 (the Vulture Stone) and Babylonian / Neo-Assyrian symbolism circa 9,000 - 10,000 years later.

The Gobekli Tepe figures don't match the later 'handbag' (or, probably more appropriate, 'basket' or 'bucket') figures. The rectilinear 'body' of the figure extends beyond the connection with the 'handle' on one side, and there is no graphical indication of a joint between the two primary pieces.

The Pillar 43 figures are not associated with human-like figures, and they're not being carried. Instead, each is associated with a different animal figure. They may well represent pans or enclosures for these different animals.

Obviously we should be cautious about suggesting such links (or doing a Hancock, as I believe it's referred to), but to the casual observer the symbols do look very similar.
As over 90% of Göbekli Tepe is still to be uncovered, perhaps the symbol will turn up again?
 
Some remarkably similar depictions of the "handbag" from thousands of miles and thousands of years apart:

1) Göbekli Tepe approx 10,000 BC
2) Assyrian carving 1st millennium BC
3) Olmec relief 1st millennium BC
4) Afghan artefact c. 3rd century BC
5) "Handbag of Shiva", India, c. 1,000 AD.
6) Indonesian carving late medieval?

Gobekli tepe 43.jpg

Handbag2.jpg

Handbag4.jpg

Handbag1.jpg

handbag5.jpg

Handbag3.jpg
 
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Side question, how many different ways can a handbag be made?
And how many of these are convergent of forms that have no underlining origin? In other words, are we looking at something that was a simple tool that arose many times independently and shows up which has no special properties? And is it compounded by there only being a small number of simple shapes? Pockets didn't show up until the 13th century, you need something to carry your stuff in.
 
Side question, how many different ways can a handbag be made?
And how many of these are convergent of forms that have no underlining origin? In other words, are we looking at something that was a simple tool that arose many times independently and shows up which has no special properties? And is it compounded by there only being a small number of simple shapes? Pockets didn't show up until the 13th century, you need something to carry your stuff in.

All fair points which could help explain the commonality of design.
It is more though the association of such a mundane artefact with depictions of deities, in widely different cultures, geographic locations and across several millennia, that I find remarkable.
 
All fair points which could help explain the commonality of design.
It is more though the association of such a mundane artefact with depictions of deities, in widely different cultures, geographic locations and across several millennia, that I find remarkable.
There are gods depicted with trowels, with farming implements, and birthing stools.
A handbag, if that's what they are, would be much more general purpose, and gods tend to resemble the people designing them
A farming God being depicted with a basket for seed, for example, isn't too surprising.
 
The Göbekli Tepe site it consists primarily of x4 T shaped monoliths (weighing in at 10 tons with some perhaps as much as 40+ tons). These groups of monoliths are surrounded by a circular stone wall. Each monolith has carvings on it. Most carvings are of animals: boars, scorpions, foxes, etc. Some of the animals are native to the area, some aren’t. To date ~ 20 such structures have been unearthed and they all have the same pattern. Although much remains to be uncovered as the dig’s far from complete. It’s safe to assume the structures are of a religious – ritualistic significance.

I don’t go for theories that the Göbekli Tepe site contains any lost secrets.

The biggest significance of the Göbekli Tepe site is it’s age, with the earliest structures dating to ~10.000 BC.
 
The Göbekli Tepe site it consists primarily of x4 T shaped monoliths (weighing in at 10 tons with some perhaps as much as 40+ tons). These groups of monoliths are surrounded by a circular stone wall. Each monolith has carvings on it. Most carvings are of animals: boars, scorpions, foxes, etc. Some of the animals are native to the area, some aren’t. To date ~ 20 such structures have been unearthed and they all have the same pattern. Although much remains to be uncovered as the dig’s far from complete. It’s safe to assume the structures are of a religious – ritualistic significance.

I don’t go for theories that the Göbekli Tepe site contains any lost secrets.

The biggest significance of the Göbekli Tepe site is it’s age, with the earliest structures dating to ~10.000 BC.
I'd make the point that as far as religious or ritualistic use goes it doesn't mean in the same sense as it does today.
Stonehenge is another site that was use religious or ritualistic ceremonies which also tied into pragmatic functions.
There are some similar sites to Gobekli, as well as villages that share the pillars and are older of I remember right, but none as large as the site.
 
The standard approach in hand-waving about surface resemblances among the various depictions of 'handbags' is to focus on images of Neo-Assyrian deities (typically minor demi-gods or genies) with whom the handheld figures most obviously represent hand-carried bags or buckets.

These Neo-Assyrian figures certainly mirror the mystery 'bag' or 'bucket' trope such hand-wavers wish to highlight.

However, there's no reason to assume the appearances of similar objects worldwide necessarily represent a universal correlation - particularly given the all-too-common form of an object that has a handle attached.

The Neo-Assyrian exemplar has a name - bandaddu ('bucket'). It is almost always shown being held by a demi-god or djinn who is also raising a cone-like object (mullilu) in the other hand. The Neo-Assyrian version is strongly associated with purification or protection, as evidenced by 'mullilu' meaning 'purifier'. There's even some textual reference to these items and their use in Neo-Assyrian inscriptions.

This rather specific Neo-Assyrian ritual or mythic involvement of a 'bucket' dates from circa 8 to 9 millennia after Göbekli Tepe and after multiple waves of advancing and receding Mesopotamian dominance by different cultures.

No one seems to mention that there were pounder / grinder / tamping tools that have a similar appearance.

I suspect the Pillar 43 figures from Göbekli Tepe depict something like (e.g.) pens, weirs, or other enclosures associated with each of the different animal figures carved alongside each of them. Alternatively, the 3 figures may signify something correlating the 3 animals with time of year (as suggested by the probably astronomical figures carved on the pillar's midsection directly beneath them).
 
I'd make the point that as far as religious or ritualistic use goes it doesn't mean in the same sense as it does today.
Stonehenge is another site that was use religious or ritualistic ceremonies which also tied into pragmatic functions.
There are some similar sites to Gobekli, as well as villages that share the pillars and are older of I remember right, but none as large as the site.
As pertaining specially to the Gobekli Tepe site the exact nature of the religious - ritualistic significance is unknown and only theoretical in nature. What specific sense of significance as you referring too?
Could you kindly share the data concerning other similar older sites?
 
... I don’t go for theories that the Göbekli Tepe site contains any lost secrets.

The biggest significance of the Göbekli Tepe site is it’s age, with the earliest structures dating to ~10.000 BC.

I don't know whether these count as 'lost secrets' per se, but there are two other aspects of Göbekli Tepe that I feel are more significant than the fact of its age:

- The apparent fact this monumental site was erected and maintained by people whose subsistence was still based on hunting and gathering; and ...

- The apparent fact the site was deliberately (re-?)buried, rather than destroyed, in the end.

Further excavations and analyses may change our view of what the site represents, to be sure. However, as it stands now I find it tantalizing evidence that some socio-cultural aspects of 'civilization' pre-date, or were at least gestating, prior to the widespread adoption of agriculture and fixed settlements.
 
I don't know whether these count as 'lost secrets' per se, but there are two other aspects of Göbekli Tepe that I feel are more significant than the fact of its age:

- The apparent fact this monumental site was erected and maintained by people whose subsistence was still based on hunting and gathering; and ...

- The apparent fact the site was deliberately (re-?)buried, rather than destroyed, in the end.

Further excavations and analyses may change our view of what the site represents, to be sure. However, as it stands now I find it tantalizing evidence that some socio-cultural aspects of 'civilization' pre-date, or were at least gestating, prior to the widespread adoption of agriculture and fixed settlements.

When I speak of lost secrets I don't mean to imply that undiscovered discoveries might still be brought to light. Many unanswered questions remain. From what I understand > 90 % of the site has yet to be unearthed. I meant it in the mystical or occult sense (lets not dig to deep, pls excuse the pun).

True no signs of farming or animal husbandry have been found. So we must assume that the structures were constructed by a hunter - gatherer culture (which in itself is amazing). Particularly since such groups aren't expected to gather in the numbers needed to construct such a site.
 
As pertaining specially to the Gobekli Tepe site the exact nature of the religious - ritualistic significance is unknown and only theoretical in nature. What specific sense of significance as you referring too?
I'm sorry, I don't exactly understand the phrasing of your question. My meaning was simply that what we in the modern day look at as seperate areas of thought, religion and practical matters, weren't separated out in history and prehistory. Saying something was ritualistic or religious in use doesn't necessarily mean religious worship like you would see at a modern church for example.
Stonehenge as my example is a site where there ritualistic rituals and practices carried out and also served as a calendar for mapping the seasons.

Could you kindly share the data concerning other similar older sites?
https://tepetelegrams.wordpress.com...-distribution-of-sites-with-t-shaped-pillars/
That's a decent resource.
An issue of Actual Archaeology magazine dedicated to Gobekli Tepe brought up earlier semi permanent villages that boasted the t pillars, but most of what I am able to find online is centered on Gobekli Tepe itself.
There are a number of sites that have been identified, as mentioned in the article, that have not been examined for various reasons yet. Due to their smaller size and simpler stone work I would believe they are older than Gobekli.
 
When I speak of lost secrets I don't mean to imply that undiscovered discoveries might still be brought to light. Many unanswered questions remain. From what I understand > 90 % of the site has yet to be unearthed. I meant it in the mystical or occult sense (lets not dig to deep, pls excuse the pun).

True no signs of farming or animal husbandry have been found. So we must assume that the structures were constructed by a hunter - gatherer culture (which in itself is amazing). Particularly since such groups aren't expected to gather in the numbers needed to construct such a site.
It was pointed out on an article about the site that while no signs of domestication or husbandry have been fou d it doesn't mean they weren't happening. Early efforts of domestication don't leave many traces to be found. Though if there were, the success of other areas seem to coincide with the end of the sites use.
There are signs of simple seed spreading, it wouldn't have provided much reliable food. But enough to support the single dwelling that's been found along with hunting.
 
It was pointed out on an article about the site that while no signs of domestication or husbandry have been fou d it doesn't mean they weren't happening. Early efforts of domestication don't leave many traces to be found. Though if there were, the success of other areas seem to coincide with the end of the sites use.
There are signs of simple seed spreading, it wouldn't have provided much reliable food. But enough to support the single dwelling that's been found along with hunting.

I thought animal bones (geese, deer, goat) were found at the site?
Many of the animal depictions however are not of animals traditionally associated with husbandry (scorpion, vulture, lizard, fox, big-toothed cat). As several depictions seem to show the animals in aggressive pose, with teeth bared, could they have been intended as a canis canem style warning to stay away?
 
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