Göbekli Tepe

Overview

Göbekli Tepe is a Neolithic hill sanctuary in southeastern Türkiye, dated to roughly 9600–8200 BCE, where hunter-gatherers raised rings of massive carved stone pillars before anyone in the region farmed, kept livestock, or made pottery, and which most archaeologists read as a gathering place for rituals that drew people from well beyond a single settlement.^{[1, 5]}

History

Hunter-gatherers raise the pillars c. 9600–8200 BCE

Groups of hunter-gatherers in Upper Mesopotamia built monumental round-oval and rectangular enclosures at Göbekli Tepe, framed by T-shaped limestone pillars, some over five metres tall, carved with wild animals. The builders had not yet domesticated plants or animals: the site has produced large quantities of wild gazelle bone and wild plant remains, but no clear hearths, trash pits, or other everyday domestic debris.^[1–4]

Excavation since the 1990s 1990s–present

Göbekli Tepe has been excavated and studied since the mid-1990s, work that revealed monuments far older than archaeologists had assumed could exist at that stage of human history.^[6]

Key moments

1. c. 9500 BCEGöbekli Tepe raised · Şanlıurfa, southeastern Türkiye

Places

Göbekli Tepe

TUR · UNESCO World Heritage, 2018

Monumental T-shaped pillar enclosures raised by hunter-gatherers near Şanlıurfa, probably for ritual and social gatherings, before farming or pottery existed in the region.^[1]

How we know

How we know

Excavation since the mid-1990s has uncovered the site's T-shaped pillars, animal carvings, and wild gazelle bone and wild plant remains, but no hearths or trash pits typical of a permanent settlement. Most archaeologists read this as evidence of a ritual or gathering site rather than everyday housing, though the exact purpose is debated.^{[2, 5–6]}

Glossary

T-shaped pillar

A limestone monolith, some up to about 5.5 metres tall, carved with images of wild animals, that frames Göbekli Tepe's enclosures.^[3–4]

Pre-Pottery Neolithic

The period, before farming, livestock-keeping or pottery existed in the region, in which hunter-gatherers built Göbekli Tepe's enclosures.^[1–2]

Enclosure

One of Göbekli Tepe's monumental round-oval or rectangular stone structures, probably used for rituals and social gatherings.^{[1, 5]}