Archeologists Uncover 200 New Stones, 15 Temples At Göbekli Tepe
Archeologists recently discovered at least 15 new megalithic temples and over 200 standing stones at Göbekli Tepe in southeastern Turkey, the oldest archeological site in the world. The excavations predate what was originally thought to be the oldest evidence of human settlement, Çatal Höyük, and are so extensive they will likely require another 150 years of excavation.
The site was reopened partially in February, after being closed to visitors so archeologists could work on its restoration. UNESCO recently added Göbekli Tepe to its list of world heritage sites, with the majority of the complex remaining underground.
Göbeklie Tepe, meaning “potbelly hill,” has baffled archeologists for years, after it was dated to have been built before modern agriculture or the discovery of metal, despite the multitude of carved obelisks used in its construction. These massive stones are T-shaped, weighing between 40 to 60 tons, and standing between 10 to 20 feet tall.
According to mainstream archeology, the site served no practical purpose because it appears that it was not used for housing, and was allegedly built by hunter-gatherers. It was discovered by archeologist Klaus Schmidt, who excavated the site from 1996, until his sudden death in 2014.
But Göbekli Tepe is comprised of intricately carved stones as large as the rocks at Stonehenge, built 7,000 years later. The idea that a group of hunter-gatherers with primitive stone tools could construct a site of this magnitude is astonishing. Alternative theorists believe there may be more to the story.
Others believe the site could be evidence of a lost civilization that drastically predates mainstream archeology’s official timelines. Graham Hancock points out that the site contains the first perfectly north/south associated buildings, alignments to specific star groups and specific moments of the year, meaning this culture had a strong grasp on astronomy.
Boston University Professor Doctor Robert Schoch, posited the idea that an ancient, advanced culture predating traditional civilizations may have existed before the end of the last ice age, before it was wiped out in a cataclysmic event around 9,700 BCE.
Schoch says he believes that a solar induced dark age occurred after a massive solar flare took place, forcing existing civilizations to retreat underground, or as is the case with Göbekli Tepe, to bury their structures for preservation. He believes this culture eventually died out, as human populations descended back into a stone age, until the cycle of civilization sprung up again in Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt.
Schoch points to the Sphinx and the water erosion hypothesis as potentially having a connection to this culture. Schoch and other proponents of alternative archeological timelines believe the Sphinx predates ancient Egyptian civilization, due to water erosion on the side of the sphinx; the annual average rainfall that would have been enough to cause this type of erosion ended thousands of years before the Sphinx was allegedly built.
As Graham Hancock likes to say, “stuff just keeps on getting older.”
Learn more about Göbekli Tepe from the research of Andrew Collins in this episode of Beyond Belief:
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Did The Druids Share a Common Ancestry With Other Ancient Civilizations?
There are few groups in history more enigmatic than those known as the druids. Today there are two neo-druidic sects, whose philosophy centers around a reverence for nature, diversity, and love. These are the often-cloaked people known to perform ceremonies in nature and at megalithic sites such as Stonehenge.
The Druids of antiquity are steeped in legend and folklore, having no written record of who they truly were or where they originally came from. The general consensus holds that they were a highly revered group, with a divine connection to nature and authoritative wisdom that trumped even the highest nobility. They are widely known to be of Celtic origin, but some alternative theories see them as having a common ancestry with ancient Eastern cultures or even one possibly originating in Atlantis.
Ancient Druids
In ancient times, Druids were known as wise elders who would congregate around oak trees. In fact, the word Druid or Druwid in Celtic translates to oak-knower or “knowing the oak tree,” though little is known what exactly this erudite group was really like. The recorded history of the ancient Druids typically falls into two categories; those that are based on ancient Roman writings, and those based on interpretations of writings seen as distorted Roman propaganda.
The Celtic Druids inhabited the area of Europe once known as Gaul, where they were eventually conquered by the Romans. One of the best-written accounts of the ancient Druids comes from Julius Caesar who described them as civilized, wise, and noble people, with the exception of their alleged ritual human sacrifice. Caesar and Tacitus led the conquering of Gaul and the subsequent persecution of the Druids, viewing them as overly superstitious and having dictatorial control over society.
The Druid religion was said to have sacrificed criminals in a massive wooden effigy, known as a wicker man, which was filled with people and set on fire. Caesar claimed that the Gauls were so consumed by the superstitions of Druidic rituals that they were quick to sacrifice, and would even offer up innocent people if they lacked sufficient criminals. Many contest this image of the Druids as inaccurate and an attempt by Caesar to depict them as a society worth integrating into Roman culture, albeit one that needed civilizing.
