Posted on 07/11/2026 9:35:24 AM PDT by Red Badger
Göbekli Tepe was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2018, and it's not hard to see why. Image credit: Resul Muslu/Shutterstock.com
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Did a cataclysmic comet impact 13,000 years ago spark the rise of civilization? That's the explosive claim behind a study of carvings at the world-famous site of Göbekli Tepe, which researchers say encode not just a catastrophic comet strike, but the world's oldest solar calendar.
Located in southern Türkiye, Göbekli Tepe is a pre-pottery Neolithic complex that is estimated to be around 12,000 years old. Analyzing an intricately carved pillar at the site, the study authors propose that V-shaped symbols represent days of the year, with a total of 365 markings divided into 12 lunar months plus 11 additional – or epagomenal – days.
The summer solstice, meanwhile, is depicted as a bird-like deity – possibly representing the constellation Virgo, where the sun would have been located at this time of year – with a V around its neck. According to the researchers, representations of figures with similar V-shaped necklaces at associated sites have been interpreted as “time-controlling or creator deities”.
Carvings at Göbekli Tepe are thought to represent the world's oldest calendar. Image Credit: Dr Martin Sweatman
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Because the carvings appear to track both the movement of the Sun and the phases of the Moon, the study author suggests that the pillar represents the world’s earliest lunisolar calendar.
Perhaps even more astonishingly, the ancient engravings seem to illustrate the changing positions of constellations in the sky, indicating an appreciation of the concept of precession 10,000 years before it was first documented by the Ancient Greek astronomer Hipparchus.
Yet the study’s most striking find relates to a separate pillar, which appears to illustrate the Taurid meteor stream moving through the constellations Aquarius and Pisces over a period of several weeks. This barrage of bolides has been proposed as the source of a comet strike some time around 10,850 BCE, which may have triggered a mini Ice Age known as the Younger Dryas.
It’s important to note that the Younger Dryas Impact Hypothesis is strongly opposed by many researchers, who say there is no evidence that the event was caused by a collision. As such, all of these arguments should be taken with a large pinch of salt.
Nevertheless, the study author proposes that Göbekli Tepe itself may have been constructed as a memorial to this hypothetical strike.
“It appears the inhabitants of Göbekli Tepe were keen observers of the sky, which is to be expected given their world had been devastated by a comet strike,” Dr Martin Sweatman, the sole study author from the University of Edinburgh, said in a statement. “This event might have triggered civilisation by initiating a new religion and by motivating developments in agriculture to cope with the cold climate,” he said.
VIDEO AT LINK.................
In his write-up, the researcher develops this idea by explaining that “religion might already have existed elsewhere… but the Younger Dryas impact might have triggered a novel, catastrophic form.”
“Fear is a powerful organizing principle in human society and the Younger Dryas impact would undoubtedly have inspired great fear and awe. Thus, this event can provide the motivation for the grand construction projects of Göbekli Tepe and related sites,” they say.
Such a fearful religion – which may have centered around a “skull cult” – might therefore have provided the spark for large-scale communal organization and the building of monumental structures, effectively “triggering the origin of civilization,” the researchers conclude.
The study was published in the journal Time and Mind.
An earlier version of this article was published in August 2024.
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Imagine that.
There is also the islamic presence, with its absolute disdain for anything pre-moham-head.
Take your pick:
https://search.brave.com/images?q=T%C3%BCrkiye%2C+G%C3%B6bekli+Tepe+pillars&source=images
Looks like a regular ‘ol buzzard to me...
A comet in that period was supposed to have “melted” the northern icecap/glacier dam in Canada. This led to worldwide flooding, about a 40 m rise all over the place. This wiped out most of civilization, like the Doggerland.
What rose up immediately afterward were the refugees from all of the world’s coastlines — which would look like an increase in civilized centers.
The blond chick is okay by me.
Then again, consider the tooling required for this bracelet made by an apish Denisovan some 40K years ago...
So it was a neighborhood newsletter?
Run by vultures?
The Nordics do look awfully familial.
Thanks Red Badger.
Noah’s Flood!............
The night sky must have been incredible to see, all of those 13,000 years ago.
That also!
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