Pseudo archaeological Claims

The overall consensus among pseudoarchaeologists is that Gobekli Tepe was built by the survivors of a lost city, who lived through a global catastrophic event that eliminated all traces of human civilization prior to the ice age. There are two popular versions of this pseudoarchaeological claim: the first being that Gobekli Tepe was created by the survivors of Atlantis, and the second being that the biblical story of Noah’s Ark describes carrying the survivors of the large catastrophic event to Gobekli Tepe. Graham Hancock, a popular author & pseudoscientist, is a prominent proponent of the theory that Gobekli Tepe was built by the survivors of the lost city of Atlantis 11,600 years ago. Hancock claims that the people of Atlantis survived a comet striking the earth at the end of the last ice age, eliminating all traces of advanced civilizations, and that the survivors of Atlantis then settled among the hunter-gatherers in Turkey and together built Gobekli Tepe. Similarly, the Noah’s Ark theory also describes a comet striking the earth in the end of the last ice age, causing cataclysmic flooding and sea level rise. In the biblical story of Noah’s Ark, Noah was instructed by God to build an ark for all species of animals so that the species may survive an incoming cataclysmic flood. Those who believe that the descendants of Noah’s Ark settled in Gobekli Tepe believe that the biblical flood was caused by a comet, and that “the mountains of Ararat” described in the biblical story refer to Gobekli Tepe. Furthermore, the Noah’s Ark story describes the creation of an altar, which some believe refers to the stone structures in Gobekli Tepe. 

 

(Feb. 13, 2017) Gobekli Tepe, Noah’s ark, & lost Atlantis. Western Armenia TV, https://westernarmeniatv.com/en/10934/gobekli-tepe-noahs-ark-lost-atlantis. 

London Real (Sep. 19, 2016) The mystery of Gobekli Tepe – Graham Hancock on London Real. Youtube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6K5NvCiYGEI. 

Problems With These Claims

Over the years, Gobekli Tepe has been a main focal point for pseudoarchaeological “experts” as they try to discover these mysterious and ancient groups. Hancock, a prominent psuedoarchaeologist, concluded that the existence of these stones means “at the very least” meant that there must be an undiscovered group that were highly skilled in all the arts of a highly functioning civilization. The problems with this way of thinking are it draws conclusions from various places and sources, without any real evidence. Not only that, but it also deprives past civilizations of their cultural achievements by informing people that these works could not have been created by a group of hunter-gatherers, but must be attributed to some highly advanced group that has left zero trace of their existence. If we were to truly believe an ancient city existed with such advanced technology that predates even the Egyptians, we would expect to find evidence of domesticated animal bones, metal tools of some sort, as well as inscriptions and pottery.

 

Shermer, M. (2017, June 1). No, There Wasn’t an Advanced Civilization 12,000 Years Ago. Scientific American. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/no-there-wasnt-an-advanced-civilization-12-000-years-ago/

Background Information and Real Research

By Chloe Moehling, Bailey Palyvos, and Jack LaPerle

To get better familiar with Gobekli Tepe let’s first give a description of what Gobekli Tepe actually is. The site is Located 10 miles (16 km) outside of Şanlıurfa, Turkey. It is the oldest known man-made place of worship and dates back all the way back to 10,000 BCE. The builders who constructed this site predated any forms of writing, metal work, and pottery. Many of the 10 foot tall pillars that once formed a circle as the complete site can still be seen today, with carvings of gazelles,foxes, snakes, lions, and other characters as well. Something that archeologists have continually found at this site have been animal bone remains that date back to the same period as they believe Gobekli Tepe was built. This really helps archeologists argue their points as this fits in perfect with the belief that Gobekli Tepe was used for religious feasts. Another frequent find that archaeologists make here are tools made of flint that they have been able to date back also to the time period of the construction of Gobekli Tepe. These tools are thought to be used to cut the limestone that the pillars are made out of. With all these coll facts who wouldn’t want to go visit Turkey and see Gobekli Tepe for themselves.

For many years now archeologists from around the world have traveled to Gobekli Tepe to study the site and gain a better understanding on the significance behind it and how it was constructed. Recently archeologist have discovered that the ancient people who built Gobekli Tepe put countless amount detail into “Both the planning and the execution of the plan with accuracy were made possible by conceptualizing basic geometric ideas and methods such as circle, centre and compass arm” (Haklay, Gopher 2020). Archeologist were able to find this out by using standard deviation mapping to find the center points of each of the four enclosures at the site and found that “ in each enclosure, the centre point identified was the point at which the standard deviation value of the group of distances to the points marking the peripheral pillars was minimal” (Haklay, Gopher 2020). This proves that the ancient people who not only built but also spent time at Gobekli Tepe were much more sophisticated than many people think humans were at the time. This plays right into one of the main problems with most archeological topics in that it’s a common belief that ancient people did not possess the knowledge or skills to create all the wonderful things that have actually been proven to be from them. 

 

  Haklay, & Gopher, A. (2020). Geometry and Architectural Planning at Gobekli Tepe, Turkey. Cambridge Archaeological Journal, 30(2), 343–357. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0959774319000660