Research at the 12,000-year-old site of Gobekli Tepe in Turkey suggests that the engravings on ancient pillars likely represent the world's oldest solar calendar, possibly created to commemorate a fatal comet strike that may have been the catalyst for the development of civilization
The engravings in Gobkali Tepa are considered to be the oldest calendar in the world. Credit: Dr. Martin Sweatman
Research at the 12,000-year-old site of Gobekli Tepe in Turkey suggests that the ancient pillar engravings likely represent the world's oldest solar calendar, possibly created to commemorate a fatal comet strike that may have been the catalyst for the development of civilization.
Experts believe the markings on a stone pillar at the 12,000-year-old archaeological site in Turkey probably represent the world's oldest solar calendar, created to commemorate a devastating comet strike. These signs, found at Gobkali Tepe in southern Turkey - an ancient complex with temple-like complexes decorated with intricate carvings - may record an astronomical event that caused a significant change in human civilization, the researchers believe.
The research indicates that ancient people were able to record their observations of the sun, moon and stars in the form of a solar calendar, which was created to keep track of time and mark the changes of the seasons. A new analysis of V-shaped symbols carved into the columns at the site found that each V may represent a single day. This interpretation allowed researchers to count a 365-day solar calendar on one of the columns, consisting of 12 lunar months plus 11 additional days.
The meaning of solar and lunisolar calendars
The longest day of summer appears to appear as a separate and distinct day, represented by a V drawn around the neck of a bird-like animal, which researchers believe represented the constellation of the longest day of summer at the time. Other statues in the vicinity, possibly representing gods, have been found with similar V marks on their necks.
Because the lunar and solar cycles are depicted, the engravings may represent the world's earliest lunisolar calendar, based on the phases of the moon and the position of the sun - long before any other calendars of this type known to us.
Ancient people may have created these engravings at Gobkali Tepe to record the date when a swarm of comet fragments hit Earth nearly 13,000 years ago – or 10,850 BC – the researchers say.
This comet collision probably resulted in a small ice age that lasted over 1,200 years, wiping out many species of large animals. It may also have caused changes in lifestyle and agriculture, which are thought to be associated with the birth of civilization immediately afterwards in the Fertile Crescent region of Western Asia.
Description of astronomical phenomena
Another page on the site appears to describe the meteor shower of the group of Taurus - considered to be the source of the comet fragments - which lasted 27 days and came from the directions of the constellations Aquarius and Pisces.
The discovery also apparently confirms that the ancients could record dates using the tilt of the axis - the wobble on the Earth's axis that affects the movement of the constellations in the sky - at least 10,000 years before the phenomenon was recorded by Hipparchus of ancient Greece in 150 BC.
The engravings appear to have remained important to the people of Gobkali Tapa for thousands of years, suggesting that the catastrophic event may have led to the formation of a new cult or religion that influenced the development of civilization.
The finding also supports the theory that Earth faces increased comet impacts when its orbit crosses the path of spinning comet fragments, which are normally experienced as meteor streams.
Dr Martin Sweatman, from the School of Engineering at the University of Edinburgh, who led the research, said: "The inhabitants of Gobkali Tepe seem to have been keen observers of the sky, which is to be expected given that their world was destroyed by a comet impact. This event may have sparked civilization by initiating a new religion and by driving developments in agriculture to cope with the cold climate. It is possible that their attempts to record what they saw are the first steps to the development of writing thousands of years later."
Error correction: the Hebrew counting starts from the creation of *man*. The Torah does not say how long a "day" of creation* actually lasted, or what exactly was there.
*The mountains of the sun and the moon were only created on the fourth day of creation, and our days are based on them (as it is said: "And they were... for days" (Genesis 1:10)).
A gibberish writer
There can't be anything 12000 years old because the world was created 5700 or so years ago
And the truth is what they say, not what you say.
To the "boom": the Hebrew counting starts from the creation of *man*. The Torah does not say how long the creation actually took until then, or what exactly was there. She describes creation in general only to say that the whole world belongs to God, she has no interest in local events that happened before the creation of man. Man - on the other hand - is curious, and tries to understand what happened then through science.
Lemshe: I think it's a mistake to underestimate science (without it, how would you have the internet?). The studies are carried out by people who understand and are experts on the subject, not those who just throw statements into the air. Although we don't know everything for sure, (yes, Yehuda, that's what an established study looks like), but the explanations that are offered are logical, well-founded and reasoned, and do not hide behind the hand of "case".
How stupid can the scientists and archaeologists get??? The age of the world has not yet reached 6000 years and they publish all kinds of nonsense. Ahhh sheep.
I have a feeling that the commenters are only skimming the article/news even though they entered out of curiosity and interest..
I suggest that they go to the original and extensive article {https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1751696X.2024.2373876#abstract}
And enjoy and be impressed like me.
It's possible, it's possible, it's probably, you think and you believe
Is this what sound research looks like?
Moshe is right. They also found some stones in Jerusalem and decided that it was David's palace.
We assume that what we know to think about humans today and since the beginning of history, is the same about prehistoric man. perhaps. It's possible. even reasonable. But maybe this is also a mistake.
And it's possible that it's all a hallucination.
There are engraved decorations on the columns.
There happen to be 365 engravings on one page and what a story they made up about it.
Comments
Error correction: the Hebrew counting starts from the creation of *man*. The Torah does not say how long a "day" of creation* actually lasted, or what exactly was there.
*The mountains of the sun and the moon were only created on the fourth day of creation, and our days are based on them (as it is said: "And they were... for days" (Genesis 1:10)).
A gibberish writer
There can't be anything 12000 years old because the world was created 5700 or so years ago
And the truth is what they say, not what you say.
To the "boom": the Hebrew counting starts from the creation of *man*. The Torah does not say how long the creation actually took until then, or what exactly was there. She describes creation in general only to say that the whole world belongs to God, she has no interest in local events that happened before the creation of man. Man - on the other hand - is curious, and tries to understand what happened then through science.
Lemshe: I think it's a mistake to underestimate science (without it, how would you have the internet?). The studies are carried out by people who understand and are experts on the subject, not those who just throw statements into the air. Although we don't know everything for sure, (yes, Yehuda, that's what an established study looks like), but the explanations that are offered are logical, well-founded and reasoned, and do not hide behind the hand of "case".
How stupid can the scientists and archaeologists get??? The age of the world has not yet reached 6000 years and they publish all kinds of nonsense. Ahhh sheep.
I have a feeling that the commenters are only skimming the article/news even though they entered out of curiosity and interest..
I suggest that they go to the original and extensive article {https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1751696X.2024.2373876#abstract}
And enjoy and be impressed like me.
It's possible, it's possible, it's probably, you think and you believe
Is this what sound research looks like?
Moshe is right. They also found some stones in Jerusalem and decided that it was David's palace.
We assume that what we know to think about humans today and since the beginning of history, is the same about prehistoric man. perhaps. It's possible. even reasonable. But maybe this is also a mistake.
And it's possible that it's all a hallucination.
There are engraved decorations on the columns.
There happen to be 365 engravings on one page and what a story they made up about it.