Göbekli Tepe, upset archeology, history rewritten

Every so often happens. It happens that an archaeological discovery can undermine the timeline of the evolution of civilization in ancient history. It's happening now, in Turkey, on some hills called Göbekli Tepe near the Harran plain, near the Syrian border. The discovery is a complex of temples that date back to even thousands of years before the Great Pyramid, around 11,500 years ago, 6000 years before Stonehenge take shape. And, surprisingly, between 3000 and 1500 years before Çatalhöyük, considered one of the oldest settlements in history.

Göbekli Tepe is a particular site, especially as it is the dedication that the German archaeologist Klaus Schmidt has placed his work in the last twelve years. The ancient civilization that built the ruins at Gobekli Tepe was described as "the Rome of 'Ice Age', a housing estate inhabited by hunter-gatherers with a refined culture, religious, architectural and social. The site was initially examined by 'University of Chicago and from' University of Istanbul in the 60s. After visiting the site, which was only a "hit and run" on what the anthropologists look like an abandoned cemetery dating to the Middle Ages, Schmidt arrived in 1994, convinced that in that place there was more than an old cemetery. "Only man could have created a hill like this," Schmidt claimed "It 's clear that this is a huge site dating back to the Stone Age." You can find terraces, stone circles, six feet tall pillars in the shape of "T" and monoliths. And to make matters worse, radar surveys have shown are concealed under the ground at least 15 other monumental ruins.

Up to now have been brought to light some of the 50 pillars of the complex, one of which, according to dating, would represent the work of monumental art world's oldest. On one of the pillars you can see the abstract symbols, but in fact the whole site is covered with bas-reliefs and sculptures of animals and plants. Wild boars, bulls, lions, foxes, leopards, you can find everything in Göbekli Tepe. There are also depictions of human beings, sculpture semi-humanoids without faces.

Schmidt's argument is that cooperation between hunters and the formation of this center of worship are born to religious needs. The temple has been the focus of the city, was built around it all. This is not the "traditional" urban settlement of a few houses, we are talking about a city made and finished, with time, specialized laboratories, homes. This discovery is slowly revolutionizing the world of archeology. As stated by Ian Hodder, of the archaeological program at Stanford University "Many people think it will change everything. Change all the cards on the table. All our theories were wrong. "

Theories on the "Neolithic revolution" have always said that between 10 and 12 thousand years ago, farmers and ranchers have begun to build villages, cities, specialized jobs, writing, and everything we know about ancient civilizations. But one of the highlights of the old theories is that the city is born before or after the places of worship. But now it seems that religion had appeared before organized and civilized life in urban centers, rather, that it has nearly been the prime mover for the creation of cities. The site of Gobekli Tepe also seems to show that in that region, agriculture was born, as well as domestic architecture.

The genetic mapping of wheat seems to show that in this area have been, for the first time in history, cultivated cereals. Even the first pigs farmed here seems to have originated about 10,000 years ago. On site were discovered more than 100,000 animal bones, slaughtered and cooked on site. Among the animals have been found gazelles (about 60% of total bone examined thus far), sheep, wild boar and red deer, along with dozens of bird bones. All these were wild animals, which shows the nature of the population of hunters. The problem of dissemination of this discovery is quite bizarre: it is the absence of evidence that can demonstrate unequivocally its age, as you might think. The problem is the presence of too many tests.

"The problem with this discovery," says John Schwartz of the University Hopking "is that it is unique." There are indeed other monumental sites were found from the time of Göbekli Tepe, anywhere in the world. He has always believed in fact that at that period man lived in caves, painting them with scenes of hunting or building to limit some rough stone shelter. Even after the period in which Göbekli Tepe was at its zenith, for about 1500 years, there seem to be very little evidence of buildings even comparable to those found in the turkish site. The walls of Jericho, now considered the oldest monumental structure of the story of 'man, are probably born more than a millennium after Göbekli Tepe.

This is a discovery that could call into question the timeline on the evolution of human civilization. Until now it has been brought to light only 5% of the site, and work relentlessly, so much so that on site there are 3 different teams of archeologists. Excavations at Tepe Göbekli proceed slowly, given the climate of the region: the summer temperatures are prohibitive, during winter the rains do not allow the excavations, and the period for archaeological activity is represented by two months during the spring and two in the fall.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/233844/page/1

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history-archaeology/gobekli-tepe.html?c=y&page=2

http://www.ditadifulmine.com/2010/02/gobekli-tepe-archeologia-sconvolta.html

http://www.archaeology.org/0811/abstracts/turkey.html

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