You may have received this as an email some time ago.
We visited the site of Gobelki Tepe in Turkey on the 17th of October
Citt wrote the article and I wanted to share it with you.
On the outskirts of Urfa town Southern Turkey is the oldest unearthed temple in the world!! Gobelki Tepe dating back to about 11,000 years ago, When people were making the transition from hunter gatherers to farmers.
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| The Excavation site outside of Urfa Turkey |
Perhaps because of the abundant wildlife here during the receding glaciers, people didn't travel to hunt as far and stayed in the same caves, so they had time to gain an awareness of time,
seasons, stars...whilst beginning to control wild sheep and collect wild grass grains.
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| Malcolm at the site. |
These were people who knew no wheel or pottery. It pre-dates Egypt (anything stone, large and permanent by thousands of years). The site is not well understood but is a series of huge standing stones in concentric circles sitting in the saddle of a desert mountain. On the stones are carvings of foxes, bulls, cranes, lions, snakes, geometric patterns and some fertility human figures.
The huge site is thought to be for the worship and reverence of sacred natural things. The whole place had a deeply instinctual resonance moving me for a long time to come.
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| A ring not excavated buried for thousands of years. |
But why did they say, "Let's backhoe the temple"it's anyone's guess.
When we arrived, the place was alive as an archeological dig, and it overpowered both of us, Seeing the stones emerging from the hill side.
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| The standing stones |
We even got to briefly meet the German Archeologist, typical looking... roly poly with intense, knowledgeable but sparkly eyes.
Yes, the whole of this region buzzes.
Ms. Citt Williams
Regards
Malcolm
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