Göbekli Tepe in southeastern Turkey was built around 9500 BCE — before farming, writing, or the wheel, and roughly 6,000 years before Stonehenge.

Archaeology (Göbekli Tepe, UNESCO)

HistoryScience

Why it matters

The idea in context

Its carved stone pillars, some over five metres tall and decorated with foxes, scorpions and vultures, were raised by hunter-gatherers who had no metal tools and no pottery. It overturned a long-held assumption: that people had to settle and farm before they could build monuments. Here, it seems, the temple may have come first — and the village followed.

Türkçe

Aynı kart, başka bir dilde.

Şanlıurfa yakınlarındaki Göbekli Tepe, MÖ 9500 dolaylarında inşa edildi; tarımdan, yazıdan ve tekerlekten önce, Stonehenge’den de yaklaşık 6.000 yıl daha eskidir.

Kimi beş metreyi aşan, tilki, akrep ve akbaba kabartmalarıyla bezeli taş sütunları, ne madeni alet ne de çömlek bilen avcı-toplayıcılar dikti. Bu buluş köklü bir varsayımı tersine çevirdi: İnsanların anıt dikebilmek için önce yerleşip çiftçilik yapması gerektiği fikrini. Anlaşılan burada önce tapınak yükseldi; köy sonra geldi.

Source trail

Read beyond the card.

Göbekli Tepe, UNESCO World Heritage List (2018); excavations led by Klaus Schmidt, German Archaeological Institute. Dated to c. 9600–8200 BCE.

Background reading: Göbekli TepeAttribution and context are revised when stronger evidence appears. Corrections are welcome through the editorial page.
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