World’s Oldest Calendar Claimed Found at Göbekli Tepe

New research has provided a new twist on the ancient carvings at Göbekli Tepe, a 12,000-year-old archaeological site in southern Turkey, suggesting that they may represent the world’s oldest known solar calendar. The researchers argue these carvings, found on stone pillars, were created as a memorial to a catastrophic comet strike that profoundly impacted early human civilization. The discovery offers new insights into the astronomical knowledge of prehistoric people and their ability to track time.

Göbekli Tepe: A Monument to Cosmic Catastrophe?

Göbekli Tepe, often considered the world’s oldest known temple complex, features a series of enclosures adorned with intricately carved symbols and images. The site has long intrigued archaeologists, but a new research paper by Martin Sweatman of the University of Edinburgh proposes that some of these carvings might represent a form of astronomical record-keeping, possibly linked to the devastating cosmic event.

Sweatman suggests that the markings on one of Göbekli Tepe’s stone pillars could have been created to commemorate a comet strike that occurred nearly 13,000 years ago, around 10,850 BC.

This event is hypothesized to have initiated a mini-ice age lasting over 1,200 years, causing significant environmental changes and possibly leading to the extinction of several large animal species. The comet impact is also thought to have prompted shifts in human lifestyle and the emergence of agriculture, which eventually gave rise to the birth of civilization in the fertile crescent of West Asia.

These are big claims, but it is not the first time such a hypothesis has been proposed to explain the massive changes that took place around this time. Ancient Origins contributors like Andrew Collins, Hugh Newman and Alistair Coombs have been exploring these ideas for years now. So what does the new research offer to substantiate their argument?

Decoding the World’s Oldest Solar Calendar

The study claims the key to understanding the carvings lies in a fresh analysis of V-shaped symbols found on Pillar 43, or the Vulture Stone at Göbekli Tepe. Researchers propose that each V could represent a single day, forming a calendar of 365 days when counted across the carvings. This interpretation suggests that the ancient inhabitants of Göbekli Tepe were able to track the solar year, marking the change of seasons!

The researcher observes the carvings also appear to incorporate lunar cycles, leading to the suggestion that this might be the world’s earliest known lunisolar calendar, which combines both the phases of the Moon and the position of the Sun.

If this is a correct interpretation, this calendar depicted at Göbekli Tepe predates other known lunisolar calendars by thousands of years, highlighting the advanced understanding of astronomy possessed by the site’s builders.

The study notes one of the most intriguing aspects of the calendar is the depiction of the summer solstice as a special day. This is represented by a V-shaped symbol worn around the neck of a bird-like figure, which researchers believe symbolizes the constellation associated with the summer solstice at the time. Similar V-markings have been found on other statues nearby, possibly indicating a shared cultural or religious significance.

      

The Pillar 43, or the Vulture Stone of Göbekli Tepe. (Alistair Coombs)

The Legacy of Göbekli Tepe and Prehistoric Astronomers

The discovery of this ancient calendar at Göbekli Tepe also suggests that the site’s inhabitants had a sophisticated understanding of celestial movements, including the phenomenon of precession – the gradual wobble in Earth’s axis that affects the movement of constellations across the sky. This knowledge, encoded in the carvings, was likely passed down through generations, long before it was documented by the Greek astronomer Hipparchus in 150 BC.

One pillar at the site even appears to depict the Taurid meteor stream, believed to be the source of the comet fragments that struck Earth, lasting 27 days and emanating from the directions of the Aquarius and Pisces constellations. This finding implies that the people of Göbekli Tepe were not only aware of the dangers posed by cometary debris but also made efforts to record and perhaps predict future occurrences.

The enduring importance of these carvings suggests that the comet strike may have sparked a new cult or religion centered around the celestial event. This religious or cultural shift could have played a pivotal role in the development of early civilization, influencing the social and agricultural practices that emerged in the aftermath of the catastrophe.

A New Understanding of Prehistoric Civilization

The findings at Göbekli Tepe challenge our understanding of prehistoric societies, revealing that they possessed a level of astronomical knowledge previously thought to have been developed much later.

Dr Sweatman said: 

“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. This event might have triggered civilisation by initiating a new religion and by motivating developments in agriculture to cope with the cold climate. Possibly, their attempts to record what they saw are the first steps towards the development of writing millennia later.”

As research continues, Göbekli Tepe promises to offer even more insights into the origins of human civilization and the ancient world’s understanding of the cosmos.

The research is published in Time and Mind. 

Top image: Carvings at Göbekli Tepe are thought to represent the world’s oldest calendar.  Source:

By Gary Manners