Arguably the most momentous archeological discovery of our time, Gobeklitepe is an amazingly bewildering place to visit. This 12,000 year-old-world wonder was designed a whopping 6,000 years BEFORE the Pyramids of Egypt or Stonehenge. Yes, that means it was developed and crafted by Neolithic, basically hunting/gathering cave people, who had not even cracked the code on how to make metal tools or pottery yet.
This image from the visitor’s center gives you an idea just how old it is when compared with other famous world ruins.
The site is believed to be the world’s oldest human built holy temple and standing above it kind of feels like standing under a sea of stars…it truly makes you feel small in the space and time continuum. Gobeklitepe, six miles from Urfa, was first rediscovered in 1963. However, excavations led by Klaus Schmidt did not begin until 1994. It is protected by a sweeping awning and costs 100 Lira to enter. ($5.45)
Some stones are blank while others are covered with carvings of animals…bulls, foxes and birds.
A snake…and a platypus looking creation. Both, looks like something I drew in kindergarten ?
Flesh eating vultures, believed to carry the spirits of the dead up to heavens.
A fox, that seems to be chuckling at the previous sketches. And what appears to be script underneath. But likely isn’t because you know, writing hadn’t been invented…yet.
Some were even 3D and clearly created by the more artistically gifted prehistoric people. At right, a scorpion and birds…but, no dinosaurs yet. ??
Within the site there were five concentric round “buildings” or areas.
The tallest pillars are around 16 feet (4.8 meters)
Wow! It’s truly beyond description to be in a place like this.
Looking 1000 feet down into the valley towards Syria. Although today the terrain is brown and lifeless, 12,000 years ago it was an absolute paradise…water flowing in lush green vegetation with plentiful animals to hunt. This is a big reason hunter gatherers of that day had flocked to the Fertile Crescent from Africa. It’s also why they likely stayed and began forming civilization through agriculture and the domestication of animals.
Gobeklitepe covers only 5% of the site as indicated by the red marker. Using ground penetrating radar, it has been charred that there are at least 16 other megalith rings remain buried across 22 acres. More info in this article by the Smithsonian Magazine.
The museum at the welcome center had a fantastic, and slightly chilling, A/V sound and light show on prehistoric man well worth checking out. Unfortunately we didn’t get to stay until the end because a slew of rambunctious middle schoolers came inside and went nuts towards the end of our viewing.
The massive covering of the first site. Archeologists could continue to pick away for hundreds of years and never unearth all that is beneath these lands.
Getting to Gobeklitepe is thankfully easy due to public bus accessibility. You catch it in front of the Sanliurfa Archeology Museum and it’s marked on Google as “Goblekli Tepe bus stop line O.”
This sign, which was taken from the internet, is now ripped and shredded…most likely by a spiteful taxi driver or tour guide. But the times we posted are accurate as of September 2022! The bus arrived punctually at 9:45 and cost 15 Liras/ticket $.82)
