[German archaeologist Klaus] Schmidt has uncovered a vast and beautiful temple complex, a structure so ancient that it may be the very first thing human beings ever built. The site isn\u2019t just old, it redefines old: the temple was built 11,500 years ago\u2014a staggering 7,000 years before the Great Pyramid, and more than 6,000 years before Stonehenge first took shape. The ruins are so early that they predate villages, pottery, domesticated animals, and even agriculture\u2014the first embers of civilization. In fact, Schmidt thinks the temple itself, built after the end of the last Ice Age by hunter-gatherers, became that ember\u2014the spark that launched mankind toward farming, urban life, and all that followed.<\/p>\n
\nG\u00f6bekli Tepe\u2014the name in Turkish for \u201cpotbelly hill\u201d\u2014lays art and religion squarely at the start of that journey. After a dozen years of patient work, Schmidt has uncovered what he thinks is definitive proof that a huge ceremonial site flourished here, a \u201cRome of the Ice Age,\u201d as he puts it, where hunter-gatherers met to build a complex religious community. Across the hill, he has found carved and polished circles of stone, with terrazzo flooring and double benches. All the circles feature massive T-shaped pillars that evoke the monoliths of Easter Island.\n
Though not as large as Stonehenge\u2014the biggest circle is 30 yards across, the tallest pillars 17 feet high\u2014the ruins are astonishing in number. Last year Schmidt found his third and fourth examples of the temples. Ground-penetrating radar indicates that another 15 to 20 such monumental ruins lie under the surface. Schmidt\u2019s German-Turkish team has also uncovered some 50 of the huge pillars, including two found in his most recent dig season that are not just the biggest yet, but, according to carbon dating, are the oldest monumental artworks in the world.<\/p>\n
The new discoveries are finally beginning to reshape the slow-moving consensus of archeology. G\u00f6bekli Tepe is \u201cunbelievably big and amazing, at a ridiculously early date,\u201d according to Ian Hodder, director of Stanford\u2019s archeology program. Enthusing over the \u201chuge great stones and fantastic, highly refined art\u201d at G\u00f6bekli, Hodder\u2014who has spent decades on rival Neolithic sites\u2014says: \u201cMany people think that it changes everything\u2026It overturns the whole apple cart. All our theories were wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n
Schmidt\u2019s thesis is simple and bold: it was the urge to worship that brought mankind together in the very first urban conglomerations. The need to build and maintain this temple, he says, drove the builders to seek stable food sources, like grains and animals that could be domesticated, and then to settle down to guard their new way of life. The temple begat the city.<\/p>\n
This theory reverses a standard chronology of human origins, in which primitive man went through a \u201cNeolithic revolution\u201d 10,000 to 12,000 years ago. In the old model, shepherds and farmers appeared first, and then created pottery, villages, cities, specialized labor, kings, writing, art, and\u2014somewhere on the way to the airplane\u2014organized religion. As far back as Jean-Jacques Rousseau, thinkers have argued that the social compact of cities came first, and only then the \u201chigh\u201d religions with their great temples, a paradigm still taught in American high schools.<\/p>\n
Religion now appears so early in civilized life\u2014earlier than civilized life, if Schmidt is correct\u2014that some think it may be less a product of culture than a cause of it. . . .<\/p>\n
Genetic mapping shows that the first domestication of wheat was in this immediate area\u2014perhaps at a mountain visible in the distance\u2014a few centuries after G\u00f6bekli\u2019s founding. Animal husbandry also began near here\u2014the first domesticated pigs came from the surrounding area in about 8000 B.C., and cattle were domesticated in Turkey before 6500 B.C. Pottery followed.\n<\/p>\n
via Turkey: Archeological Dig Reshaping Human History \u2013 Newsweek.com<\/a>.<\/p>\nHT: Joe Carter<\/p><\/div>\n<\/blockquote><\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Archaeologists have uncovered a temple complex in Turkey that they say is the oldest man-made structure ever found.\u00a0 It includes 17-foot-high T-shaped monoliths covered with realistic carvings of animals and the hunt. Not only that, archaeologists think that this temple may be the source of human civilization: [German archaeologist Klaus] Schmidt has uncovered a vast […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1281,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[930,1245],"class_list":["post-4867","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-history","tag-gobekli-tepe","tag-klaus-schmidt"],"yoast_head":"\n
The temple that started civilization?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Archaeologists have uncovered a temple complex in Turkey that they say is the oldest man-made structure ever found.\u00a0 It includes 17-foot-high T-shaped\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2010\/02\/the-temple-that-started-civilization\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The temple that started civilization?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Archaeologists have uncovered a temple complex in Turkey that they say is the oldest man-made structure ever found.\u00a0 It includes 17-foot-high T-shaped\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2010\/02\/the-temple-that-started-civilization\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Cranach\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/cranachblog\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-02-24T09:33:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.geneveith.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/02\/Turkey-ruins-FE05-wide-horizontal.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Gene Veith\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Gene Veith\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2010\/02\/the-temple-that-started-civilization\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2010\/02\/the-temple-that-started-civilization\/\",\"name\":\"The temple that started civilization?\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2010-02-24T09:33:01+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2010-02-24T09:33:01+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/f9ca8670bcc51908a78994c0484dbfa1\"},\"description\":\"Archaeologists have uncovered a temple complex in Turkey that they say is the oldest man-made structure ever found.\u00a0 It includes 17-foot-high T-shaped\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2010\/02\/the-temple-that-started-civilization\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2010\/02\/the-temple-that-started-civilization\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2010\/02\/the-temple-that-started-civilization\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The temple that started civilization?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/\",\"name\":\"Cranach\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/f9ca8670bcc51908a78994c0484dbfa1\",\"name\":\"Gene Veith\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/054d79faea5d476edd8f99e5f14fb17f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/054d79faea5d476edd8f99e5f14fb17f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Gene Veith\"},\"description\":\"Gene Edward Veith, Jr. is a writer and retired literature professor, serving as Provost Emeritus at Patrick Henry College. He has authored over 25 books on Christianity and culture, literature, classical education, and theology. Dr. Veith previously held academic and editorial roles at Concordia University Wisconsin and WORLD Magazine. A respected voice in Lutheran and classical education circles, he holds a Ph.D. in English and several honorary doctorates. He and his wife, Jackquelyn, live in St. Louis and have three children and twelve grandchildren.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/cranachblog\/\",\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Gene_Edward_Veith\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/author\/geneveith\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The temple that started civilization?","description":"Archaeologists have uncovered a temple complex in Turkey that they say is the oldest man-made structure ever found.\u00a0 It includes 17-foot-high T-shaped","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2010\/02\/the-temple-that-started-civilization\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The temple that started civilization?","og_description":"Archaeologists have uncovered a temple complex in Turkey that they say is the oldest man-made structure ever found.\u00a0 It includes 17-foot-high T-shaped","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2010\/02\/the-temple-that-started-civilization\/","og_site_name":"Cranach","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/cranachblog\/","article_published_time":"2010-02-24T09:33:01+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.geneveith.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/02\/Turkey-ruins-FE05-wide-horizontal.jpg"}],"author":"Gene Veith","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Gene Veith","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2010\/02\/the-temple-that-started-civilization\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2010\/02\/the-temple-that-started-civilization\/","name":"The temple that started civilization?","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#website"},"datePublished":"2010-02-24T09:33:01+00:00","dateModified":"2010-02-24T09:33:01+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/f9ca8670bcc51908a78994c0484dbfa1"},"description":"Archaeologists have uncovered a temple complex in Turkey that they say is the oldest man-made structure ever found.\u00a0 It includes 17-foot-high T-shaped","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2010\/02\/the-temple-that-started-civilization\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2010\/02\/the-temple-that-started-civilization\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2010\/02\/the-temple-that-started-civilization\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The temple that started civilization?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/","name":"Cranach","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/f9ca8670bcc51908a78994c0484dbfa1","name":"Gene Veith","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/054d79faea5d476edd8f99e5f14fb17f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/054d79faea5d476edd8f99e5f14fb17f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Gene Veith"},"description":"Gene Edward Veith, Jr. is a writer and retired literature professor, serving as Provost Emeritus at Patrick Henry College. He has authored over 25 books on Christianity and culture, literature, classical education, and theology. Dr. Veith previously held academic and editorial roles at Concordia University Wisconsin and WORLD Magazine. A respected voice in Lutheran and classical education circles, he holds a Ph.D. in English and several honorary doctorates. He and his wife, Jackquelyn, live in St. Louis and have three children and twelve grandchildren.","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/cranachblog\/","https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Gene_Edward_Veith"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/author\/geneveith\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4867","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1281"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4867"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4867\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4867"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4867"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4867"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/\/\/\/Users\/geveith\/Library\/Caches\/TemporaryItems\/moz-screenshot.png\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.geneveith.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/02\/Turkey-ruins-FE05-wide-horizontal.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n