Göbekli Tepe << GOH bee klee teh pee >> is a prehistoric site in southeastern Turkey . Archaeologists believe that the Stone Age inhabitants of the region constructed Göbekli Tepe and used it as a gathering place and ritual center. Archaeologists determined that the earliest structures were built at the site around 12,000 years ago, before people began settling in villages and growing food. About 7,000 years older than Stonehenge and other well-known ritual sites, Göbekli Tepe is sometimes called the world’s first temple.
Göbekli Tepe is situated on top of a ridge about 330 feet (100 meters) above the surrounding Harran plain about 6 miles (10 kilometers) northeast of Urfa. The name comes from the shape of the ridge and is Turkish for potbellied hill. The site was discovered in 1963. From 1995 through 2014, the site was investigated by archaeologist Klaus Schmidt of the German Archaeological Institute in Berlin. Archaeologists continue to work at the site today.
Göbekli Tepe consists of a sequence of oval buildings made up of large, T-shaped pillars, connected by walls of smaller stones. Archaeologists have determined that the site went through several phases of use over time. The earliest phase began around 9000 B.C. At that time, people in the region were living in small settled or semisettled communities and were not yet making pottery . Skeletal remains of wild animals, including gazelle, wild boar, deer, and wild sheep, have been found at the site. But remains of domesticated animals and plants are absent from the site at this phase of its use. This lack of remains of domesticated animals and plants shows that people in the region were hunters who had not developed farming.
The small buildings of the early phase had walls composed of stones joined by clay mortar. Limestone pillars supported a roof that reached as high as 16 feet (5 meters) above the floor. The pillars are broad and flat. They are topped with horizontal crosspieces in a T-shaped arrangement. Some of the pillars are carved with what look like arms and hands on the sides. These carvings may have represented people or deities in humanlike form. Other pillars have carvings of animals, including foxes, snakes, scorpions, and boars.
Each of the buildings from the early phase had been intentionally filled in, possibly before the next structure was built nearby. The next phase at Göbekli Tepe began about 7500 B.C., when similar buildings were constructed on a smaller scale and were more rectangular in shape. Although many of the buildings have yet to be investigated, many of the buildings examined so far lack carvings on supporting pillars. The importance of the site faded after about 7000 B.C., and Göbekli Tepe was eventually abandoned.
Many archaeologists believe that the primary purpose of the site was for ritual. They have found little evidence that people lived at Göbekli Tepe. Built on top of an impressive ridge, Göbekli Tepe would have stood out from the surrounding plains, but access to water would have been difficult for any inhabitants. The large and elaborate buildings are not similar to houses found elsewhere in the region from the time. Scholars generally believed that such ritual buildings are found only when people live in fully settled farming communities. However, Göbekli Tepe predates farming in the region.
