CENTER OF THE HISTORY:GÖBEKLİ TEPE

How far back can human history go? Where exactly is our past? In this post, I will tell you about the Göbeklitepe, where we can call it as a "Center of History". This is known as a place that changes the knowledge and thoughts about history.

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INTRODUCTION

When we examine the history of humanity, the most common phenomenon we will see is continuous improvement. This continuous development, in its simplest form, is shown by chronologically separating prehistoric and posthistorical periods into specific ages. History, as you know, begins with the invention of writing. The previous period of the invention of writing is prehistoric besides it is called the postmodern period, which covers since the invention of writing to present-day. Humanity has shown a very serious development in the process of invention of the writing. It is absolutely inconceivable that there has not been a serious development in this process, which ended with a significant leap like an invention of writing. We can see that invention of writing as one of the most important leaps of mankind.

The whole development of mankind has been realized due to the needs of mankind. The writing is also an important necessity and the writing has caused the subsequent historical process to develop faster. Such that; who invented the writing and used the writing in the later period, are communicating with us today. This communication does allow us to have much more information about post-historic periods. However, it is not so easy to have knowledge of prehistoric. The information we have about prehistoric is just the interpretation of the findings we have made from research and excavations so far.

Every new finding and discovery, we acquire, may be of a questioning nature to the accuracy of what we have already known. This is due to the fact that history examines a retrospective process. History is divided into periods in the framework of information we have gained in the past. It is possible that the new information, we have acquired these days, may change the time intervals of these periods.

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Where is Göbekli Tepe?

Upper Mesopotamia, depicted as a fertile crescent, is the most fabled settlement of human history. The region is located in Urfa and Harran region of southeastern Turkey. The area is in a position to see the Harran plain. It lies in a mountainous area 2.5 km east of Örencik (Karaharebe) village, which is connected to the center of Şanlıurfa. It is a center of faith belonging to the Neolithic term. The biggest difference compared to the Neolithic term; the settlements are in a position overlooking a long elevation that is not in the waters, valleys or ovens but limits the Harran Plain in the north. It is built on a mound of limestone rocks 200-300 meters high.

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Sanliurfa has become a city that hosts the birth and development of civilization throughout history of science, faith, art, law and literature. Şanlıurfa is located on the southern skirts of the northern part of the Arabic platform and the middle part of the Southeast Taurus, which is in plain view. Göbeklitepe, located on the Tek Tek Mountains, is a part of the geography known as "Fertile Crescent" by Mesopotamia, which is fed with the Euphrates and Dicle rivers. Fertile Crescent; the first writing in history, the bureaucracy and the emergence of the state, is the starting point of civilization. Fertile Crescent is used to express the half-moon-shaped geography located in the southeastern Mediterranean, including Anatolia and Mesopotamia, where agriculture can be done without irrigation. It is a region where mankind passes from hunter-gatherer to settled agrarian society, the animal domesticated and Mesopotamian culture is born with favorable living conditions.

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Each stel in Göbeklitepe weighs at least 40-50 tons and is 4 to 6 meters long. Besides these, it is even more interesting; these limestones are probably brought to this point from 2 km away.

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The History of Göbekli Tepe

Göbeklitepe excavation work started by taking the ojaly stone found in 1994 when Mahmut Kılıç drove a field with a terrapin to the museum. The excavations are being carried out jointly with Şanlıurfa and the German Archaeological Institute in Berlin. Klaus Schmidt, who came to the region in 1994, began to dig in 1995 and achieved fruitful results. According to Schmidt, the region was known but not recognized up to that time. The excavation area is not a hidden area in the middle of the valley, but rather a point of domination at the highest peak. In fact, the Çayönü excavations that started in 1964 and the Nevali Çori Stone Age in 1978 had clues about what should be considered from scratch, but could not be interpreted and understood.

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While Prof. Schmidt excavates in the Euphrates valley, he begins to examine reports on the mounds. It is interesting that Göbeklitepe Höyük is at the top of a mountain. The mounds are generally found in plains, and over the centuries, the structure grows up and becomes a mound by stacking layers of ruins. At the top of the mountain where there is no water source around it, the theory that such a large mound should have formed does not fit.The area covered by Göbeklitepe mound is approximately 90 acres and is an incredibly large area for the mound. When Schmidt becomes aware of the disagreement in the theory, he goes to see Göbeklitepe and draw attention to the absence of any tile breaks. The abundance of stones he saw around, the scraps left after the digging (chipping), sharp-cut chisel stones also gave clues about where stone sculptures were made.

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Neolithic Period and Göbekli Tepe

There has been a rapid increase in human population and in areas suitable for cultivation. And as a result of this, small settlement units of several hundred people started to be seen in this period.These developments is regarded as the first step of civilization connected with urbanization. In this period when 60 small settlement units were going to grow up and urbanize religious beliefs and temples, art, architecture, and craft specialization, is thought to have emerged as the result of social organization. Immediately after the Ice Age, the emerging Göbekli Tepe's, It is understood that the Neolithic Period belongs to the Early Period, that is to say, the pottery not- bowl period. It is known that Göbeklitepe's was built before the first known settlement. İs five thousand years older than the oldest temple constructions.

Göbekli Tepe, changed the point of view about the Neolithic period as follows:

• The fact that the hunter and gatherer communities are not deprived of their primitive and faith is sign that a rich religious religion has a had
• It has been proven that magnificent and complex temples were built before the settled life and agricultural production.
• Ritual, purpose temples, has been built, at more than before five thousand years.
• Religious beliefs have enabled people to move along with religious feelings and have triggered of communal living transition.
• The first Neolithic settlements were built according to the location of the temples.

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In classical history science, it was argued that the great transformation of mankind began with the discovery of the agriculture in the 10th millennium BC. Agriculture brought settled life, and settled life also brought culture, and "civilization" as well.

The Sumerian Civilization, known as the first civilization and thought to be the first community with the capacity to build stone structures, is known to have emerged in 4000 BC. How did Sumerians build structures of this magnitude 7000 years ago, when mankind *yet to an old era of learned to connect sharp stones to the tip of arrows and harpoon, how were constructions constructed in this size?* The findings of Göbekli Tepe made, even these questions meaningless. Because the temples found in Şanlıurfa were 7000 years old from Stonehenge and 7500 years older than the pyramids. Göbekli Tepe is one of the greatest discoveries in the world of archeology. It is the first example to show that the hunter-gatherer communities thought to have not passed into the city life were building temples. It is surprising that temples are built at an advanced level, which requires architecture. The temples enriched with animist figures reflecting the pre-historic human beliefs have made Göbekli Tepe one of the most important discoveries of archeology history.

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As a result, urbanization is a revolutionary invention in the history of civilization. Professor Klaus Schmidt; "The temple came first, then the city came" saying it has brought a new opening in the history of early civilization. Continuing excavations in Göbeklitepe have been the scene of an unexpected discovery. Professor Klaus Schmidt discovered surface open structures in the region. The non-residential constructions were carrying religious and ritualistic purposes. The fact that the constructions belonged to 12 thousand years ago was revealed by the investigations made with carbon 14 method. According to geomagnetic research, the community of structures consisting of twenty temples is made according to a certain plan. It is a circular structure consisting of stones stitched in the center (twin T shaped) and surrounding stones and walls. These stones consist of limestone carved with flint. Each planted stone being weighed 40-50 tons and, is 4 to 6 meters in length, it is even more interesting that they have been brought to this spot from 2 km distance away.

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Göbekli Tepe consists of three layers. The first layer is the filling stone and the soil. Circular structures made of stitched stones in T shape are located on the second and third layers. The circular structure of the third layer is estimated to extend to 11 thousand BC because it contains older structures than the second layer. The third layer, the oldest layer, belongs to the Neolithic A and B periods before the pottery. It reflects the characteristics of collective communities that lived during this period. While the geological structure of the area where the Göbeklitepe is built consists of basalt and limestone, it is calling attention with the first layer in which the structure is buried is composed of soft soil. The presence of stone tools and bone remnants not belonging to the locality in this soil layer indicates that Göbeklitepe was consciously covered with soil, not by natural means.

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GÖBEKLİ TEPE AND IT’S ASTONISHING FACTS

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The Excavation Area That Stunned Archaeologists

The Guardian's headline on April 23, 2008, was describing the effect of the event on people and scientists very well. The National Geographic researcher who was examining the huge sculptures in "Göbekli Tepe" was expressing his amazement with these sentences: 'Building these temples by people who have lived thousands of years ago looks like building the Empire States with toy bricks by a 3-year-old child.'

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The History Is Being Rewriting

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According to Professor Giulio Magli of the Polytechnic University of Italy; Göbekli Tepe which was built according to Sirius star, also destroyed a taboo known until today and was proved that the cities were built according to the temple area, not the agricultural area. This temple reveals that the first people did not live a primitive life devoid of religious belief, on the contrary, reveals that they have a belief, build temples and use a rich symbolism.

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Mysterious Shape: Stone Ring

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We can see that the temples are built in the form of the circle which known as the first, the perfect, the most beautiful geometrical form and believed to be that all other geometrical forms are derived from it. The circle is seen in many cultures and is also used as a symbol of God. When epidemic diseases are seen in North India, people were drawing a large circle around the city and they were believing that this ritual protects them from diseases and evil. The stone rings greater than 1 meter in a diameter were found on Göbekli Tepe, but it is not known exactly what it means. Schmidt likened the stone ring which seen in the following photo to the spirit hole and thought that the stone ring was the gate through which the souls could pass through this hole and go to different dimensions.

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Magnificent Sacred Field

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Until nowadays in the excavations at Göbekli Tepe, bone fragments of game animals found but no human bone was found. This shows that Göbekli Tepe is not used as a monumental grave. In the same way, depending on the absence of water edge and flat settlement, it was understood that there is no village settlement; with the found of ritual remains the result was that Göbekli Tepe being a magnificent mountain sacred field.

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Ritual of Sacrifices With Feast

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As a result of the sculpting of a single limestone in the excavation area; 7 large limestone vessels with capacities up to 240 liters of liquid obtained. In chemical analyzes, there were found traces of cereal-based fermented beverages. It is revealed that Göbekli Tepe was a place where both worship and rituals were performed, also all kinds of banquets are given to visitors, religious ceremonies were performed that includes sacrifices to God on certain days.

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A Creepy Discovery: Carved Skulls

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The German Paleopathologist Julia Gresky says that, the fragments of three skulls found at Göbekli Tepe are the first known carved skulls in the world. ‎It was understood that, these people' skins was stripped from their body first and then the holes opened on their skull for hanging with the hook from these holes. According to Gresky, at that time, people either was hanging the skulls for remember their ancestors or display their enemies. Somehow, it was believed "The power of the dead people have passed on to the living people".

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Göbekli Tepe and The Sky Burial Ritual

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At that time there was no tradition of grave, the bodies of deceased people were chopping up and all of these were offering to feed on carrion-eaters (or scavengers) such as vultures. Thus, it was believed that the souls of dead people which were eaten by the scavenger birds were rised into the sky with the rise of birds. For example, it was portrayed upon carved on stones while the birds of scavengers such as the vultures were eating dead people. This method is still applied in some regions of Tibet.

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A History That Buried In The Ground

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Exactly 1000 years after Göbekli Tepe's construction, it has been covered over by carried tons of soil. It is impossible to understand why that these magnificent temples, which are very troublesome to make, are buried with a huge labor again. There are also those who claim that these structures are made up to reaching future generations like a “time capsule” without any spoiling. Maybe they have aimed that their messages could reach to the future generations by creating a stone "time capsule".

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As Famous As the Egyptian Pyramids!

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The mystery of Göbekli Tepe is so impressive that the international interest continues to increase day by day. A British daily newspaper The Guardian has announced that the region will soon become as famous as the 'Egyptian Pyramids'. ‎ It is a positive improvement that Göbekli Tepe has been included in UNESCO's tentative list of world heritage in 2011. In the future, Göbekli Tepe will be more talked about and discussed. Everyone living in Turkey must have been aware that Göbekli Tepe is very important for the country. While Göbekli Tepe is now open to the public, I invite those who want to explore the history and the lives of people who have lived in the past, to Şanlıurfa...

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CONCLUSION

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Human history is full of events and periods that no one could even come to mind. Göbekli Tepe is a place where we can see the fact that the oldest people have the most striking and inconceivable way of life. Many religious rituals and cultures in the early periods although they have evolved, have a significant effect on the point of where modern people are located today and where they come from. Today, when we think about we can send the vehicle into the orbit of Mars, we can realize that how we have actually experienced such a history-filled period in the pages of history. At present, many archaeologists, anthropologists, and historians around the world see Göbekli Tepe as the apple of their eye; it seems like it will be like this for a long time.

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REFERENCES

_{[1]. Gobekli Tepe: The World’s First Temple?
[2]. Göbekli Tepe and the Identification of Temples in the Pre-Pottery Neolithic of the Near East
[3]. Gobekli Tepe: Genesis of the Gods
[4]. Gobeklitepe | The Oldest Temple of the World
[5]. Gobekli Tepe: The Ancient Religious Temple that Threw the History World into Chaos
[6]. Göbekli Tepe, ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITE, TURKEY
[7]. This Archaeological Site Is Rewriting Our Entire Understanding of Human History
[8]. Göbekli Tepe – The first 20 Years of Research
[9]. Klaus Schmidt - Gobeklitepe Symposium
[10]. History of Civiliation Began in Urfa
[11]. T-shaped stones tell story of Göbeklitepe
[12]. Göbekli Tepe}

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