An Introduction to Göbekli Tepe and the Origins of Civilization

An ancient site in Turkey dated to nearly 10,000 BCE is overturning a lot of old assumptions in history and archaeology. The excavation of Göbekli Tepe has already rewritten the story on the origins of civilization, and it's only just beginning.

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Think Anomalous is created by Jason Charbonneau.

Research by Van Hunt (http://vanhunt.com).
Music by Josh Chamberland.
Animation by Brendan Barr.
Sound design by Will Mountain and Josh Chamberland.

Sources:

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Collins, Andrew. “Penguin Or Great Auk? A Newly Unveiled Carving Of A Seabird Found At Göbekli Tepe Opens The Debate Over The Geographical Origins Of Its Power Elite.” 1-9.

Collins, Andrew and Rodney Hale. “Göbekli Tepe and the Rising of Sirius.” AndrewCollins.com. https://andrewcollins.com/page/articles/G%F6bekli_Sirius.htm.

Curry, Andrew. ”Göbekli Tepe: The World’s First Temple?” Smithsonian Magazine. November, 2008. https://smithsonianmag.com/history/gobekli-tepe-the-worlds-first-temple-83613665.

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Dietrich, Laura, Julia Meister, Oliver Dietrich, Jens Notroff, Janika Kiep, Julia Heeb, André Beuger, and Brigitta Schütt. “Cereal Processing at Early Neolithic Göbekli Tepe, Southeastern Turkey.” PLoS ONE 14, no. 5 (May 1, 2019): e0215214. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0215214.

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Dietrich, Oliver. “Guarded by beasts: a porthole stone from Göbekli Tepe.” The Tepe Telegrams. March 20, 2017. https://tepetelegrams.wordpress.com/tag/architecture.

Dietrich, Oliver, Manfred Heun, Jens Notroff, Klaus Schmidt, and Martin Zarnkow. "The Role of Cult and Feasting In The Emergence of Neolithic Communities: New evidence from Göbekli Tepe, Southeastern Turkey." Antiquity 86, no. 333 (September 2012): 674-695. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0003598X00047840.

Esin, Ufuk. “Recent developments in the prehistory of Anatolia: a new branch of anthropology.” Current Anthropology 4 (1963):339-346.

Haklay, Gil and Avi Gopher. “Geometry and Architectural Planning at Göbekli Tepe, Turkey.” Cambridge Archaeological Journal 30, no. 2 (May 2020): 343-357. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0959774319000660.

Hancock, Graham. Magicians of the Gods. London: Hodder & Stoughton, 2015.

Ozan Guner. “Gobeklitepe Symposium 2nd Lecturer - Mr.Klaus Schmidt.” June 9, 2015. YouTube video, 52:48. https://youtu.be/J1PDX0NjwsA.

Schmidt, Klaus. “Göbekli Tepe – the Stone Age Sanctuaries: New results of ongoing excavations with a special focus on sculptures and high reliefs.” Documenta Praehistorica XXXVII (2010). https://academia.edu/2299088/the_Stone_Age_Sanctuaries_New_results_of_ongoing_excavations_with_a_special_focus_on_sculptures_and_high_reliefs.

Seyfzadeh, Manu and Robert Schoch. “World’s First Known Written Word at Göbekli Tepe on T-Shaped Pillar 18 Means God.” Archaeological Discovery 7 (2019): 31-53.

Stephen Milo. “Göbekli Tepe And The People Who Built It: A Conversation With Archaeologist Jens Notroff.” April 9, 2020. Youtube video, 58:41. https://youtu.be/WgwiUkEL4yE.

Sweatman, Martin B. and Dimitrios Tsikritsis. “Decoding Göbekli Tepe with archaeoastronomy: What does the fox say.” Mediterranian Archaeology and Archaeometry 17, 233 (2017), 233 -250. http://omnilogi.com/ancient/deluge/Sweatman-and-Tsikritsis-gobekli-tepe-comet.pdf.

Symmes, Patrick. "Turkey: Archeological Dig Reshaping Human History." Newsweek. February 18, 2010. https://newsweek.com/turkey-archeological-dig-reshaping-human-history-75101.

UNESCO World Heritage Center. “Göbekli Tepe: Nomination for Inclusion on the World Heritage List: Nomination Document 1572.” 42nd Session of the World Heritage Committee. January 31, 2017. https://whc.unesco.org/en/documents/160483.

This video uses sound effects downloaded from stockmusic.com.