Göbekli Tepe
On a hill in south-east Türkiye, archaeologists found giant carved stone pillars set up thousands of years before farming began.
What was reported
Göbekli Tepe is a hilltop site near Şanlıurfa. Excavations led by Klaus Schmidt from 1995 uncovered circles of huge T-shaped stone pillars, some over 5 metres tall, carved with foxes, boars, snakes, vultures and human arms and hands.
The site is about 11,500 years old, older than Stonehenge by around 6,000 years, and was built by people who had not yet started farming. That overturned the idea that monuments came only after agriculture and settled towns.
Explanations offered
Archaeologists agree it was built by hunter-gatherers, using stone tools. What it was for is still debated: a ritual centre, a place for gatherings and feasts, or a settlement with special buildings. It shows that early people were capable of far more than once thought.
- When
- Built about 11,500 years ago
- Where
- Near Şanlıurfa, Türkiye
- Witnesses
- Archaeologists
- Status
- Partly explained
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