Andy's Blog: Boncukla Tarla, Turkey

Precursor to Gobekli Tepe, oldest known temple. (12,000 Years Ago)

(originally posted 7-18-2020 on Facebook)

I’ve been picking a different site from around 10,000 years ago every day again and learning what I can about it. Today’s site is Boncuklu Tarla in Turkey, which has the oldest known suspected temple, about 12 thousand years old, about a thousand years older than the more well known nearby Gobekli Tepes. It’s not quite as fancy as Gobekli though, since the stone slates that were stuck into the ground appear “blank” and don’t have fancy animal carvings in them like Gobekli’s. Both these places are thought to be permanent gathering places for hunter gatherers before farming was around. They found some neat jewelry from this place too and it’s name means “field of beads”. They also buried their dead in fetal positions beneath buildings, probably in anticipation of a “rebirth”. They also had their own sewer system. Quite a lot of civilization for pre-farming days. Pottery hadn’t yet been around in the area, though pottery did exist in far east asia at the time.

Sources:

News Stories -

Belief in afterlife (Jul 2017)

https://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/excavations-in-turkeys-southeast-reveal-10000-year-old-belief-in-afterlife-115695

https://www.dailysabah.com/history/2017/07/17/excavations-in-se-turkey-reveal-afterlife-beliefs-in-pre-pottery-neolithic-period

Mardin Museum Excavations Begin (Jul 2017)

https://www.dailysabah.com/history/2017/07/19/10000-years-of-history-to-be-uncovered-in-mardin

Temple Found (Oct 2019)

https://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/ancient-temple-found-in-mardin-148145

https://www.ancient-origins.net/news-history-archaeology/mini-g-bekli-tepe-0012801

https://www.dailysabah.com/turkey/2019/10/30/11300-year-old-neolithic-era-temple-unearthed-in-southeastern-turkeys-mardin

Sewer Found (Nov 2019)