A view of the traditional website of Gobekli Tepe, generally known as the world’s oldest temple, in Sanliurfa, Turkey, on Feb. 17.
Mustafa Hatipoglu/Anadolu by way of Getty Photos
disguise caption
toggle caption
Mustafa Hatipoglu/Anadolu by way of Getty Photos
GOBEKLI TEPE, Turkey — Tour information Sabahattin Alkan herds curious vacationers by means of the scorching afternoon warmth, luring them with the promise of one thing far stranger than your typical trip snap.
“Over right here on the appropriate, you see a spaceship landed not too long ago,” he says with a smile.
He is joking. Principally. However extra on that in a minute.
We’re within the Urfa plain, a dry, dusty stretch about 25 miles from the Turkish-Syrian border.
That “spaceship” is definitely only a curved roof. However what lies beneath the dome has sparked many years of thriller, curiosity — and conspiracy.
One of many T-shaped pillars at Gobekli Tepe, depicting a bull, a fox and a crane. Scientists have spent many years making an attempt to decode the story behind the symbols.
Rebecca Rosman for NPR
disguise caption
toggle caption
Rebecca Rosman for NPR
“It is fairly an attention-grabbing place, really,” Alkan assures his viewers.
He is speaking about Gobekli Tepe, one of many oldest recognized archaeological websites on Earth, relationship again practically 12,000 years.
Alkan factors to T-shaped limestone pillars carved with human arms, palms resting on stomachs, and wild animals: lions, foxes, boars, scorpions and birds amongst them.
Klaus Schmidt, the German archaeologist who led the positioning’s first main excavations within the Nineteen Nineties, referred to as Gobekli Tepe “the world’s oldest temple,” theorizing that it introduced collectively nomadic hunter-gatherers from throughout the Center East.
German archaeologist Klaus Schmidt, who pioneered excavations on the historical website of Gobekli Tepe, carries out analysis in Sanliurfa, Turkey, on Could 18, 2008.
Mehmet Guldas/Anadolu Company by way of Getty Photos
disguise caption
toggle caption
Mehmet Guldas/Anadolu Company by way of Getty Photos
As we speak, that view has shifted. Some now interpret it as a ceremonial gathering website, whereas others counsel it functioned as a social hub the place rituals helped bind collectively early communities.
Emilie Salvesen, a tour operator visiting the positioning, says the query of whether or not there was a non secular part to the positioning nonetheless fascinates her.
“Did they expertise the divine in the way in which that we’d consider it at present?” she asks, gesturing towards one of many inscribed pillars. “I think about it was far more existential.”
The reality? Nonetheless largely a thriller.
Scientists are commonly adjusting their hypotheses concerning the website’s supposed function. And it isn’t a simple investigation.
“No matter we inform now, I do not know if will probably be correct data or not, as a result of perhaps our concept will change in one other 50 years,” Alkan says. “We’re making an attempt to foretell 12,000 years in the past.”
However that uncertainty has thrown the door vast open for one particular group on the lookout for solutions: conspiracy theorists.
Conspiracy theories take root — with assist from Joe Rogan
Graham Hancock, a British journalist and star of the controversial Netflix collection Historical Apocalypse, has theorized — with out empirical proof — that Gobekli Tepe was constructed by a “misplaced civilization” worn out by an Ice Age cataclysm.
As soon as confined to the fringes, theories like Hancock’s have gained mainstream traction — thanks largely to Joe Rogan, whose massively fashionable podcast has turn into a platform for various takes on science and historical past.
In November 2024, one other Gobekli Tepe conspiracy theorist, Jimmy Corsetti, a YouTuber and self-described “historical historical past investigator,” appeared on Rogan’s podcast, bringing with him a slew of speculations and wild theories concerning the website.
Amongst them, Corsetti accused archaeologists of deliberately dragging their toes and hiding key discoveries concerning the website.
“We’re speaking about pillars buried in dust. It is 2024. Do not inform me we do not have the expertise!” Corsetti informed Rogan.
An aerial view exhibits archaeologists and staff at Gobekli Tepe on Could 18, 2022.
Ozan Kose/AFP by way of Getty Photos
disguise caption
toggle caption
Ozan Kose/AFP by way of Getty Photos
Corsetti accused archaeologists of shifting slowly on function, maybe to protect the thriller and maintain the curious vacationers coming.
Solely a small proportion of the positioning has been dug up since excavations started within the mid-Nineteen Nineties. And with Rogan’s platform behind them, theorists like Corsetti have helped flip that sluggish progress right into a supply of world suspicion.
A scientist responds
Lee Clare, an archaeologist who has led the excavation website for over a decade, has heard all of it — together with the outlandish theories.
Talking from his workplace in Istanbul, with the Bosporus glinting behind him, Clare shrugs off the conspiracists.
Archaeologist Lee Clare, photographed at his workplace in Istanbul, has overseen the Gobekli Tepe archaeological website for over a decade.
Rebecca Rosman for NPR
disguise caption
toggle caption
Rebecca Rosman for NPR
“A few of these guys go to the positioning for half an hour and assume they’ll clarify the entire website,” he says of the budding conspiracy theorists.
Relating to Gobekli Tepe, Clare says archaeologists aren’t hiding something. They’re making an attempt to guard it.
“You possibly can’t simply bulldoze a website to get every thing out. That is the fallacious method,” he says.
In different phrases, archaeology strikes slowly for a motive. Each layer tells a part of the story. And when you dig by means of every layer, it is gone for good, as are its secrets and techniques.
“Why would I be so egocentric as to dig the whole website … and take these prospects away from future generations of archaeologists?”
Clare says he grew up taking part in with toy dinosaurs and at all times wished to be an archaeologist. He by no means anticipated to finish up the goal of conspiracy theories. However right here we’re.
“It goes onto the non-public stage as nicely,” he says, which is why he deleted his social media accounts.
“I need to keep sane on this scenario.”
12,000 years of storytelling
The actual hazard right here is not simply misinformation, based on Clare. It is that these competing narratives danger drowning out the true story, the one scientists have spent many years making an attempt to correctly decode.
“There are loads of narratives on the market about Gobekli Tepe. The query is, whose narrative is right? And I believe we’ll by no means know.”
One of many few issues scientists do know for positive?
Gobekli Tepe is proof that people have been storytellers relationship again not less than 12,000 years.
Guests have a look at pillars on the archaeological website of Gobekli Tepe in Sanliurfa, Turkey, on Could 18, 2022.
Ozan Kose/AFP by way of Getty Photos
disguise caption
toggle caption
Ozan Kose/AFP by way of Getty Photos
The carvings on the T-shaped pillars — the lions, foxes and palms — they’re all tales.
We simply do not know what they are saying. Gobekli Tepe would be the first place people come collectively to share which means.
And like all good tales, this one’s nonetheless open to interpretation.
