The megalithic enclosures of Gobekli Tepe (Urfa, Turkey) are the most ancient stone-built sacred structures known so far, dating back to the 10th millennium BC. The possible presence of astronomical targets for these structures is analysed, and it turns out that they may have been oriented – or even originally constructed – to “celebrate” and successively follow the appearance of a “new”, extremely brilliant star in the southern skies: Sirius.

Gobekli Tepe. The megalithic enclosures, view from the south

Credit: Giulio Magli

1. Introduction

Gobekli Tepe, a hill in the province of Urfa in south-eastern Turkey, is the first “temple” about which we are aware of (Schmidt 1998, 2001, 2006, 2010). It is composed by a series of circular enclosures (of which only a few are excavated yet) whose project is based on a megalithic “unit”: a huge T-shaped pillar, usually finely engraved. Two such pillars stand in the centre, parallel to each other, while a series of other pillars is placed around the contour of the circle. Most carvings represent dangerous or anyhow wild animals: felines, foxes, boars, vultures, spiders, snakes, and scorpions. The site is dated to the so called pre-pottery Neolithic (PPN), and was in use between the 10th and the 9th millennium BC; successively, it was left abandoned and intentionally obliterated.

Gobekli Tepe is not unique as other Neolithic sites with T-pillars have been documented (see e.g.
Celik 2001). The antiquity of this sacred place is so astonishing that it is extremely difficult to put forward hypotheses on the religion and on the cults which were practised there.

Credit: Klaus Schmidt

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