A 12,000-Year-Old Temple Sees a Record Number of Visitors in 2021

Located 15 kilometres northeast of SanlÄ&plusmnurfa, near &Oumlrencik village, G&oumlbeklitepe has attracted local and foreign visitors since its discovery. The 11,500-year-old G&oumlbeklitepe site, which is home to the world&rsquos oldest religious monuments, was visited by a total of 567,453 people in 2021, breaking previous visitor records despite the effects of the pandemic.

G&oumlbeklitepe was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2018, and the findings at the site offered dramatic new knowledge regarding the Neolithic Age. Interest in G&oumlbeklitepe is expected to rise, with the Centre anticipated to host a record number of visitors in 2022.

A Brand-New Look at the Neolithic Age G&oumlbeklitepe

With a history dating to 9600 BCE, G&oumlbeklitepe changed the narrative on Neolithic Era hunter-gatherer communities. G&oumlbeklitepe, built tens of centuries prior to the invention of writing and the wheel, 7,100 years before the Egyptian Pyramids and 6,100 years before Stonehenge, revealed evidence indicating that hunter-gatherer societies were more advanced than previously thought.

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The T-shaped obelisks at G&oumlbeklitepe, reaching up to 5.5 metres, are the first examples of human-made monumental architecture. These obelisks, which feature animal motifs, geometric shapes and human depictions reminiscent of a mythological narrative, show that G&oumlbeklitepe was used as a belief centre. 

The G&oumlbeklitepe obelisks, carved with flint at a time when metal tools were not yet available, are also the oldest sculptures in the world and the oldest artistic works in human history. G&oumlbeklitepe also hosts the first examples of the transition to settled life, demonstrating that Neolithic Age communities possessed social organization and could come together for a faith-based purpose.