Were the Builders of Göbekli Tepe Ancient Astronomers?
In August 2013, New Scientist ran an article titled ‘World’s Oldest Temple Built to Worship the Dog Star.” The headline alone, in a credible scientific publication, sounds very certain. It sounds like it’s a mystery solved but as it’s not really been spoken about since I started this channel, I thought it was worth taking a closer look and that's the subject of this video.
2021-12-19 19:00:00 - Ancient Architects
The most recent archaeoastronomy hypothesis comes from Dr Martin Sweatman who details his theory in papers, on his YouTube channel and in his book, Prehistory Decoded, but in 2013, Giulio Magli of the Polytechnic University of Milan also looked to the sky for answers.
Like Sweatman, Magli simulated what the sky would have looked like from Turkey when Göbekli Tepe was built and he made a curious observation and it concerns the star Sirius, also known as the Dog Star.
Sirius is the brightest object in the sky, excluding the sun, moon, Venus and Jupiter. Magli told New Scientist how Sirius was so prominent to the Ancient Egyptians, that the rising and setting of the Dog Star was the basis for their calendar.
Interestingly, at the latitude of Göbekli Tepe, Sirius would have been below the horizon until around 9,300 BC, when it would have suddenly popped into a view – a bright star not seen in this part of the world for millennia.
Did least the ancient Pre-Pottery Neolithic People of Ancient Anatolia to built the amazing circular enclosures of Göbekli Tepe, to mark the birth and movement of this star? Watch the video to learn more!
All images are taken from Google Images and the below sources for educational purposes only.