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Posted on 08/09/2025 7:05:56 AM PDT by BenLurkin
GOBEKLI TEPE, Turkey — Tour guide Sabahattin Alkan herds curious tourists through the scorching afternoon heat, luring them with the promise of something far stranger than your typical vacation snap.
"Over here on the right, you see a spaceship landed recently," he says with a grin.
He's joking. Mostly. But more on that in a minute.
We're in the Urfa plain, a dry, dusty stretch about 25 miles from the Turkish-Syrian border.
That "spaceship" is actually just a curved roof. But what lies beneath the dome has sparked decades of mystery, curiosity — and conspiracy.
One of the T-shaped pillars at Gobekli Tepe, depicting a bull, a fox and a crane. Scientists have spent decades trying to decode the story behind the symbols. One of the T-shaped pillars at Gobekli Tepe, depicting a bull, a fox and a crane. Scientists have spent decades trying to decode the story behind the symbols.
"It's quite an interesting place, actually," Alkan assures his audience.
He's talking about Gobekli Tepe, one of the oldest known archaeological sites on Earth, dating back nearly 12,000 years.
Alkan points to T-shaped limestone pillars carved with human arms, hands resting on stomachs, and wild animals: lions, foxes, boars, scorpions and birds among them.
Klaus Schmidt, the German archaeologist who led the site's first major excavations in the 1990s, called Gobekli Tepe "the world's oldest temple," theorizing that it brought together nomadic hunter-gatherers from across the Middle East.
Today, that view has shifted. Some now interpret it as a ceremonial gathering site, while others suggest it functioned as a social hub where rituals helped bind together early communities.
Emilie Salvesen, a tour operator visiting the site, says the question of whether there was a spiritual component to the site still fascinates her.
"Did they experience the divine in the way that we might think of it today?" she asks, gesturing toward one of the inscribed pillars. "I imagine it was much more existential."
The truth? Still mostly a mystery.
Scientists are regularly adjusting their hypotheses about the site's intended purpose. And it's not an easy investigation.
"Whatever we tell now, I don't know if it will be accurate information or not, because maybe our idea will change in another 50 years," Alkan says. "We're trying to predict 12,000 years ago."
But that uncertainty has thrown the door wide open for one specific group looking for answers: conspiracy theorists.
Conspiracy theories take root — with help from Joe Rogan Graham Hancock, a British journalist and star of the controversial Netflix series Ancient Apocalypse, has theorized — without empirical evidence — that Gobekli Tepe was built by a "lost civilization" wiped out by an Ice Age cataclysm.
Once confined to the fringes, theories like Hancock's have gained mainstream traction — thanks in large part to Joe Rogan, whose massively popular podcast has become a platform for alternative takes on science and history.
In November 2024, another Gobekli Tepe conspiracy theorist, Jimmy Corsetti, a YouTuber and self-described "ancient history investigator," appeared on Rogan's podcast, bringing with him a slew of speculations and wild theories about the site.
Among them, Corsetti accused archaeologists of intentionally dragging their feet and hiding key discoveries about the site.
"We're talking about pillars buried in dirt. It's 2024. Don't tell me we don't have the technology!" Corsetti told Rogan.
Corsetti accused archaeologists of moving slowly on purpose, perhaps to preserve the mystery and keep the curious tourists coming.
Only a small percentage of the site has been dug up since excavations began in the mid-1990s. And with Rogan's platform behind them, theorists like Corsetti have helped turn that slow progress into a source of global suspicion.
A scientist responds
Lee Clare, an archaeologist who has led the excavation site for over a decade, has heard it all — including the outlandish theories.
Speaking from his office in Istanbul, with the Bosporus glinting behind him, Clare shrugs off the conspiracists.
"Some of these guys go to the site for half an hour and think they can explain the whole site," he says of the budding conspiracy theorists.
When it comes to Gobekli Tepe, Clare says archaeologists aren't hiding anything. They're trying to protect it.
"You can't just bulldoze a site to get everything out. That's the wrong approach," he says.
In other words, archaeology moves slowly for a reason. Every layer tells part of the story. And once you dig through each layer, it's gone for good, as are its secrets.
"Why would I be so selfish as to dig the entire site … and take these possibilities away from future generations of archaeologists?"
Clare says he grew up playing with toy dinosaurs and always wanted to be an archaeologist. He never expected to end up the target of conspiracy theories. But here we are.
"It goes onto the personal level as well," he says, which is why he deleted his social media accounts.
"I want to stay sane in this situation."
12,000 years of storytelling
The real danger here isn't just misinformation, according to Clare. It's that these competing narratives risk drowning out the real story, the one scientists have spent decades trying to properly decode.
"There are a lot of narratives out there about Gobekli Tepe. The question is, whose narrative is correct? And I think we'll never know."
One of the few things scientists do know for sure?
Gobekli Tepe is proof that humans have been storytellers dating back at least 12,000 years.
The carvings on the T-shaped pillars — the lions, foxes and hands — they're all stories.
We just don't know what they say. Gobekli Tepe may be the first place humans come together to share meaning.
And like all good stories, this one's still open to interpretation.
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The standard response by archeologists is .. “it must be some sort of religeous symbol”.
It could never be some rich guy’s house, or a house of ill repute.
Since there are similar sites located nearby, maybe it was a town hall. Nobody knows just yet, but a true and exact answer might make dozens of professor’s books obsolete, and we can’t have that.
He’s talking nonsense. They dug Ur, Crete and Troy 100 years ago ..Same group won’t let anybody dig the around Pyramids in Egypt neither.
Bzsed upon other work—and I can’t remember the fellas name, but those depictions of birds, etc, had to do with constellations. It appears in my mind that the pillars are telling a story and giving a warning of when the comet storm happened and tehj ensuing destruction as well as where to look to see when it might happen again.
That is not conspiracy theory—and having a lost civilization does not mean one with flying machines and whatnot..but perhaps one of more advanced farming and perhaps using sound technology to move stone—or not....
Graham Hancock is a journalist, has always claimed to be nothing but...he takes information found out in the field and collates it and tries to attach meaning to that information.
In yesteryear, we had self education men that dedicated themselves to a particular field. They were not lettered in the Universities, but instead taught themselves in the field studying rocks and looking for patterns or not...These were the men that were the foundation of our sciences—people who observed their surroundings and reported about what they saw and their conclusions.
Who gains but supressing evidence of a lost civilization before this one that started some 10 thousand years ago? If mankind was almost wiped out by the Earth changes brought about at the close of the last era and the dawn of the Holocene—then those people were members of a lost civilzation—duh...
Right, real archaeologists always have empirical evidence for their statements that everything they find that's unusual or unexpected is a religious ceremonial thing.
Sensible science:
DECODING GÖBEKLI TEPE WITH ARCHAEOASTRONOMY: WHAT DOES THE FOX SAY?
https://www.maajournal.com/index.php/maa/article/view/686
4.CONCLUSIONS
According to the catastrophist viewpoint, the Younger-Dryas event was probably caused by a cometary encounter with the Taurid complex. Can we now confirm this? No. What we can say is the following;
>It is very likely that the people of GT had been keen astronomers for a very long time, and the low-relief carvings of animals (except snakes) symbolise specific asterisms. Pillar 43 very likely refers to the date 10,950 BC ± 250 yrs.
>There is a consistent interpretation of much other symbolism at GT in terms of the YD event as a cometary encounter, which supports the theory of coherent catastrophism. But we cannot be as confident in this proposal as the proposal for the date stamp. Other evidence from further excavations at GT and other sites may help to clarify this. Evidence linking GT to coherent catastrophism is as follows;
1) A great deal of physical evidence from a wide range of earth sciences appears to support the proposal that a major event occurred around 10,890 BC. A leading candidate for this event is a cometary encounter consistent with coherent catastrophism. The date stamp on pillar 43 corresponds closely with this date.
2) That the people of GT remained interested in this date even several millennia later suggests it was a very important event that had a significant impact on their cultural development.3) The headless man on pillar 43 indicates the event lead to loss of life.
4) Symbolism on pillar 18 is consistent with an event of cosmic origin. The fox symbolism, in particular, suggests a cosmic event originating from a specific position. The belt-buckle, ‘eclipse’ and snake symbols are consistent with a cometary encounter. But the symbolism on pillar 18 might be consistent with other astronomical interpretations as well that we have not considered.
Two words: Henrich Schielman
He wasn’t an archaeologist, and yet he discovered the city of Troy and that the Trojan War was probably a real event.
Informative post. Thank You.
“...theories like Hancock’s have gained mainstream traction — thanks in large part to Joe Rogan...”
History’s “Ancient Aliens” has been in the forefront of bringing so-called ‘fringe theories’ to the TV masses, not Rogan.
No one can dig for Noah’s Ark, either.
We’ll just have to wait until Oct/Nov for when the mother ship arrives to take it back with them.
Same group won’t let anybody dig the around Pyramids in Egypt neither.
—
Because ‘they’ are wedded to Herodotus explanations from 500 BC. Nothing significant has been allowed to contradict it. Even modern dating methods, not available in Egypt, are banned.
The lost civilization is a real possibility - ‘experts’ in various disciplines always seem to over look that prior to whatever happened around 10,800 BC not only changed the entire world, but caused sea level to rise on average 400 feet.
Where do most people live today? Along the coasts, by river mouths - all those areas from before 10,800 BC are now buried under hundreds of feet of silt and debris. There is so far no way to explore the ocean bottom under that depth of silt. Perhaps in the future new tech will make it possible, but until then, there is no way to know for sure, except to judge by the human experience and choice of living areas now reflect those of the deep past.
other astronomical interpretations as well that we have not considered.
—
Perhaps as Hancock suggested, it has to do with the constellation of the Swan which was extremely important to many groups from the Neolithic up to the relative present.
Just for accuracy’s sake, Hancock promotes the research of Dr. Martin Sweatman on Gobekli Tepe’s asterisms (research with which I just happen to strongly agree, specifically re so-called ‘Vulture Stone’ aka ‘Pillar 43’).
https://archaeologymag.com/2024/08/worlds-oldest-calendar-at-gobekli-tepe/
I truly appreciate the work of Graham Hancock in stitching together all of the data to frame a narrative which - with even sparse supporting evidence - defeats the cries of those who label such work - particularly by the non-scientist Hancock - as ‘conspiracy theories’.
I will die long before our culture accepts the truth and, hopefully, before history repeats itself as what some will interpret as ‘divine intervention’.
1. I can’t help but think the strange pillars held up a roof.
2. Is there a good 3D model of this place?
“Conspiracy theories take root — with help from Joe Rogan Graham Hancock, a British journalist and star of the controversial Netflix series Ancient Apocalypse, has theorized — without empirical evidence — that Gobekli Tepe was built by a “lost civilization” wiped out by an Ice Age cataclysm.”
Gobekli Tepe *is* the empirical evidence. There’s quite a bit of other empirical evidence from other sites around the world. Read the Christopher Dunn books on ancient Egyptian technology.
Also, how is speculating or theorizing on the origin of GT a ‘conspiracy’ theory? I would call that reasoning by inference from known facts, apparently something beyond the ability of modern archeologists, and as one would expect, beyond the ability of anyone associated with NPR. GT was without precedent up to the time of its discovery; a hunter/gatherer society that built monumental architecture on a large scale.
I don't mind that he has these interviews but he never challenges them and seem to believe anything they say.
Well here's one egyptologist, but representative of most: "You don't overthrow Egyptian history based on one phenomenon like a weathering profile... that is how pseudoscience is done, not real science."
What science does he have for dating the sphinx? They found a little statue that's not at the sphinx but a little temple in front of it and assumed it dates from same time as sphinx. Ladies and gentlemen, the hard science is ... asumption!
The rest of the keyword, with a bonus, sorted:
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