- Gobekli Tepe (Potbelly Hill in Turkish) is a Monument of Standing Stones that are T-shaped and date from 9,500 BCE. The pillars are linked by walls to form circular enclosures with linking rooms.
- It is a hilltop sanctuary located on the highest point of a mountain ridge, 10 miles (16km) from Sanliurfa in Turkey, 35 miles from the border with Syria.
Description
- Gobekli Tepe probably had a similar function to the later Greek Sanctuary at Mount Olympus.
- It was active between 11-9,000 BCE. Every few years the Stones were buried and a new circle of stones positioned inside the old circle.
- Around 8,000 BCE the area was deliberately buried under a thick layer, and forgotten.
- It predates Stonehenge by around 7,000 years.
Gobekli Tepe