Şanlıurfa Province, Turkey
During the 10th-9th millennia BC, in a time before the invention of metal tools or even pottery, the inhabitants of Göbekli Tepe would erect numerous megalithic structures that would prove to be one of the most impressive and confounding examples of human ingenuity in history.
Klaus Schmidt, whose archeological team it was that discovered the site, believes it to be the world’s oldest temple. The monuments at Göbekli Tepe are mostly large circular enclosures ranging from 30 to 100 feet in diameter which contain distinctive T-shaped pillars adorned with carvings of wild animals and abstract depictions of the human form. These enclosures are thought to have been used as the site for rituals, presumably funeralistic in nature. The largest of the T-shaped pillars is estimated to weigh around 50 tons, while the entire site measures 1,000 feet wide and rises 50 feet at its maximum height.
Fundamentally, the sheer existence of the site challenges what is currently known about the capabilities of the wandering hunter-gatherers of the time. For instance, the estimated size of the force needed to build the site greatly outnumbers the size of a single band of hunter-gatherers, furthermore, the ability to obtain the resources needed to sustain such a large number simply was not within the capabilities of the hunter-gatherer.
Stranger still is the fact that the inhabitants of Göbekli Tepe deliberately buried the site before leaving. Placing tools and sculptures at the foot of the T-pillars before burial with a fill material that consisted of limestone, pieces of flint tools, and human and animal bone fragments. Why any group would build such a monumental structure only to deliberately bury it for all time remains just a sample of the questions that Göbekli Tepe leaves us with.
Visit
Guided tours of Göbekli Tepe are available through many travel companies. The site is 12 kilometers from Sanliurfa, which serves as the best place to stay. There is an entrance fee of 36TL for the site which includes the shuttle bus from the main entrance to the monument. Alternatively, there is the one-kilometer-long path to the site you are welcome to walk at your leisure. For an additional 6TL (42TL combined) you can watch a short documentary on the history of the site. The tour around Göbekli Tepe follows a wooden walkway and visitors are required to remain on this path at all times.
Göbekli Tepe, Göbeklitepe A B C Tapınak alanı, Örencik Mahallesi, Haliliye, Şanlıurfa, Southeastern Anatolia Region, Turkey
Sources:
wikipedia.org
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