Strange inscriptions on world’s oldest monument suggest civilization began after devastating comet strike

Mysterious carvings deciphered at the Gobekli Tepe archaeological site in Turkey suggest that the world’s oldest monument – twice as old as Stonehenge – is a solar calendar built to commemorate a devastating comet strike.

A new study published in the journal Time and Mind Scientific evidence suggests Tuesday that Gobekli Tepe, a 12,000-year-old temple-like complex with carvings of intricate symbols, was built to record an astronomical event that sparked the dawn of human civilization.

The world’s first calendar, created around 9000 BC, enabled people to monitor the sun, moon and constellations to keep track of time and determine the changing seasons, say scientists from the University of Edinburgh.

“The people of Gobekli Tepe appear to have been keen sky watchers, which is to be expected given that their world was devastated by a comet strike,” says Martin Sweetman, one of the study’s co-authors.

Researchers say the strange V-shaped symbols carved into the 15-metre-high pillars of Mount Gobekli Tepe may each represent a day.

Using this interpretation, the scientists calculated a 365-day solar calendar on one of the columns, consisting of 12 lunar months plus 11 extra days.

The summer solstice was represented by a special symbol, the letter V worn around the neck of a bird-like beast.

Researchers suspect that other symbols at the site with similar V-shaped markings on their necks may represent deities.

Since the prehistoric monument tracks the phases of the moon as well as the cycles of the sun, archaeologists believe these carvings represent the world’s oldest “luni-solar calendar,” predating all known calendars by thousands of years.

Scientists say the calendar was likely developed to record the date when a swarm of comet fragments hit Earth about 13,000 years ago.

This comet strike is known to have triggered a mini ice age that lasted more than a thousand years and led to the extinction of many large animal species.

Researchers say the devastating blow may have triggered a shift in lifestyle among early humans from hunting and gathering to farming and the birth of civilization in the Fertile Crescent of western Asia.

A previous study has found that a cluster of comet fragments that struck Earth nearly 13,000 years ago may have helped shape the origin of human civilization.

The study, conducted in 2021 and published in the journal Earth Science Reviews, It has been suggested that the Fertile Crescent, which extended into modern-day Egypt, Iraq, Syria and Lebanon, shifted from a hunter-gatherer lifestyle to agriculture around this time, leading to the establishment of permanent settlements.

There is a large body of evidence from four continents to support the theory that a comet struck the Earth around this time.

Analysis of soil deposits in North America and Greenland, where the largest fragments are thought to have fallen, has revealed increased levels of platinum and nanodiamonds, as well as signs of material melting due to extremely high temperatures.

This theory was strengthened when a recent study discovered a column near the Gobekli Tepe site that appears to depict a Taurid meteorite stream.

The meteor showers coming from the direction of the constellations Aquarius and Pisces are believed to be the source of comet fragments that rained down on the planet for 27 days.

Scientists suspect that the monument remained important to ancient people for thousands of years, suggesting that the comet impact event influenced the development of human civilization.

“This event may have led to the rise of civilization by creating a new religion and stimulating developments in agriculture to cope with the cold climate,” says Dr. Sweetman.

“It is likely that their attempts to record what they saw were the first steps toward the development of writing thousands of years later.”