"The temple-like enclosures at the site " also believed to be the oldest in the world " are adorned with intricately carved symbols.

Researchers who recently visited the site to take a closer look at the symbols determined that they may, in fact, be a recording of an astronomical event that triggered a momentous shift in human civilization."

/

"Because the prehistoric monument depicts both the phases of the moon and the sun's cycles, archeologists concluded that the carvings could represent the world's earliest "lunisolar calendar" " predating other known calendars of this type by millennia."

"Ancient people likely created the calendar as a way to memorialize the date when a swarm of comet fragments hit Earth nearly 13,000 years ago, the researchers claimed.

Another pillar at the site appears to show the Taurid meteor stream " thought to be the source of the comet fragments that rained on the planet for 27 days.

Such a comet strike around 10,850 BC could have ushered in a mini-ice age lasting more than 1,200 years, which would have wiped out many species of large animals.

Incredibly, the comet strike would have wrought enough devastation to effectively usher in the dawn of civilization in the fertile crescent region of West Asia as people accustomed to hunter-gathering techniques increasingly turned to agriculture for food.

The researchers suspect that the monument remained important to the ancient people for millennia, suggesting the comet strike could have triggered a new religion.

"This event might have triggered civilization by initiating a new religion and by motivating developments in agriculture to cope with the cold climate," Sweatman said in a statement."

'
"The find also appears to confirm that ancient people were able to record dates by studying the Earth's precession, in which the rotation in Earth's axis can alter the movement of constellations across the sky.

The researchers wrote that this suggests the ancient people had accurate ways to keep time 10,000 years before the phenomenon was documented in Ancient Greece in 150 B.C.

"Possibly, their attempts to record what they saw are the first steps towards the development of writing millennia later," Sweatman said.

The research was published Tuesday in the journal Time and Mind."

original

quotes from the Research paper link in #1

"Gbekli Tepe's architecture and symbolism are extraordinary for its age. No other site constructed before it, or for millennia after, is known to display such a grand architectural vision and such skilful artistry"

"Gbekli Tepe is one of the most important archaeological discoveries of modern times, pushing back the origins of monumentality beyond the emergence of agriculture. ...

At the dawn of the Neolithic, hunter-gatherers congregating at Gbekli Tepe created social and ideological cohesion through the carving of decorated pillars, dancing, feasting " and, almost certainly, the drinking of beer made from fermented wild crops."

"Following this interest in upper Mesopotamia, Gbekli Tepe was discovered towards the end of the last century in the hills overlooking the Harran Plain (see Figure 2b).

It is situated between the upper reaches of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers, around 12 km north-east of the modern city of anliurfa, which was ancient Urfa and said to be the birthplace of Biblical Abraham."

/

The Time and Mind link is cool... it shows the glyphs and how they were being used to mark the constellations they were seeing in the night sky.

Apparently while partying and downing brewskies..

I remember this main site from a few years ago, but some of the newer finds are interesting... like humans keeping time 10,000 years ago in Anatolia rather than that starting less than 2,000 years ago in Ancient Greece.

Also the statue with the big phallus... lets us know there were Democrats back then.

Not in this scenario... the article notes an already know heavy comet shower that occurred for like a month at that time.