Göbeklitepe

Photo by Zhengan, distributed under a CC license.

Located 15 km away from the city of Sanliurfa, Southeastern Turkey Göbeklitepe is one of those discoveries which seems to defy the general understanding of how the human race evolved through time.

Typically the general consensus is that humans started building structures such as settlements and temples when they began switching from being hunter gatherers to farmers. 

In short  when humans became farmers they started domesticating animals and eventually started to pursuing newer en devours like  building temples and structures to be able to predict the season to improve the yield of their crops..

This sounds all very logical and sure does until  the Göbeklitepe site comes into focus. At first it looks like your typical ancient site with what you would expect from the handling massive stones to some exquisite stone sculptures until the very first results start showing up. Göbeklitepe  site older than  Egyptians and even the Sumerians. 

How old you ask ? The site itself has been dated to 10000 BC. Göbeklitepe has pushed the threshold of what ancient means by a country mile. So much so that its already being described as the World’s First Temple.

What makes the date really special is the fact that it is a well known fact that during that time humans were definitely hunter gatherers and not farmers.

Could the theory be wrong ? Could there have been farmers that settled down with their domesticated animals in such a distant time ? Short answer is no. Further research within the site has yielded a variety of animal bones which are clearly the non domesticated type.

What it does show though is that while some humans in certain parts of the world progressed from  hunting  to farming before they began to construct the ancient wonders we know about today, others also took the same challenges long before they gave up hunting. 

In conclusion one can only hope that Göbeklitepe site itself will reveal more of its secrets. 

On a larger scheme I am sure many are hoping that the archaeologists will start having a bit more of an open mind and also be willing to propose some alternative theories when the evidence leads to new possibilities.