It looks like you're using an Ad Blocker.
Please white-list or disable AboveTopSecret.com in your ad-blocking tool.
Some features of ATS will be disabled while you continue to use an ad-blocker.
one of the most startling archaeological discoveries of our time: massive carved stones about 11,000 years old, crafted and arranged by prehistoric people who had not yet developed metal tools or even pottery. The megaliths predate Stonehenge by some 6,000 years. The place is called Gobekli Tepe, and Schmidt, a German archaeologist who has been working here more than a decade, is convinced it's the site of the world's oldest temple. Read more: www.smithsonianmag.com...
The site of Gobekli Tepe is simple enough to describe. The oblong stones, unearthed by the shepherd, turned out to be the flat tops of awesome, T-shaped megaliths. Imagine carved and slender versions of the stones of Avebury or Stonehenge. Most of these standing stones are inscribed with bizarre and delicate images - mainly of boars and ducks, of hunting and game. Sinuous serpents are another common motif. Some of the megaliths show crayfish or lions.
Few humanoid forms have surfaced at Göbekli Tepe but include a relief of a naked woman, posed frontally in a crouched position, that Schmidt likens to the Venus acceuillante figures found in Neolithic north Africa; and of at least one decapitated corpse surrounded by vultures. Some of the pillars, namely the T-shaped ones, have carved arms, which may indicate that they represent stylized humans (or anthropomorphic gods). Another example is decorated with human hands in what could be interpreted as a prayer gesture, with a simple stole or surplice engraved above; this may be intended to represent a temple priest
Originally posted by Iamonlyhuman
reply to post by ladyinwaiting
It's not surprising that you haven't heard of this before. For some reason, this dig, one of the most important in history in my opinion, has not been publicized very well at all.
Originally posted by Iamonlyhuman
This temple was deliberately buried about 8,000 years ago with earth. Why? There are so many questions here...
Originally posted by serbsta
- The people of Gobekli Tepe could have been defeated by an enemy who then could have proceeded to bury any important monuments of the former people instead of destroying them as a sign of respect.
Just some reasonable reasons I came up with from the top of my head. I doubt burying a temple/monument was an uncommon practice in ancient times.
Originally posted by davo2012
I think the reason it gets so little attention is similar to why no one entertains ideas of the Sphynx being older than 4,500 years. That reason being that the three BIG monotheistic religions (Judaism, Christianity and Islam) all tell us that the world is only 6000 years old. That and it means re-thinking many scientific notions that have been held as "gospel" (pun totally intended) for many years. The idea that the ice age ended 10,000 years ago, humans started hunting and gathering and then mysteriously, 6,000 years ago, the first culture, Sumer, popped up out of no where.
But thank you OP for bringing this topic back into peoples consciousness. We need to remember.
~ djusdjus ~ posted on 22-2-2010 @ 01:46
... No religion says that the earth is 6000 years old. Some religious figures have speculated
it to be so, but ultimately, it has been dropped except by Young Earth Creationists who
take everything in the bible literally. Misanthropic is a good term to describe that
thinking. The idea of the earth being 6000 based on various chronologies using the biblical
texts as compiled by the council of Nicea some 1700 years ago is indeed erroneous and
readily provable as so unless of course you are dealing with people who utterly refuse
any logic or rationality in their thinking at all! lol
This date is arrived at by speculation and conjecture within the churches,
temples and mosques of the theists who believe so.[...]
Originally posted by sapien82
its a shame that for some reason the world doesnt want to recognise the fact that we are much smarter than we give ourselves credit for !
Originally posted by mutantgeniusGraham Hancock has been trying to prove that civilised man is much more ancient than modern archeologists would have us believe.
In regards to humans trying to map the earth through these structures it is quite possible, but I think they had an understanding of the size and structure of the Earth already, even more accurate than what we have today.