Long before Stonehenge, ancient builders in southeast Türkiye were creating some of the world’s first monumental stone structures. Their most famous site? Göbekli Tepe.In this episode of The Ancients, Tristan Hughes is joined by Dr. Lee Clare, coordinator of the Göbekli Tepe Research Project, to unravel the mysteries of this 10,000-year-old Neolithic site. Once called the world’s first temple, Göbekli Tepe is far more complex than that - shedding light on early human settlement, ritual, and the transition to farming. With breathtaking and ground breaking archaeology, this is the story of one of the most extraordinary sites of the Stone Age.Presented by Tristan Hughes. Audio editor is Aidan Lonergan, the producer is Joseph Knight. The senior producer is Anne-Marie Luff.All music courtesy of Epidemic SoundsThe Ancients is a History Hit podcast.Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week and ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe. You can take part in our listener survey here: https://insights.historyhit.com/history-hit-podcast-always-on
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6,000 years ago, before Stonehenge was built, in southeast Turkey, groups of people were getting together and creating some of the earliest known monumental stone structures from anywhere in the world. Of these, the most famous are at Göbekli Tepe.
The site is home to large round buildings, made of local limestone, full of impressive T-shaped monoliths and sculptures depicting headless humans and animals from the landscape. In the past, Gobekli Tepe has been labelled the first temple. But, as you're about to hear, that's not the case. It's much more complex. It's the Ancients on History Hit. I'm Tristan Hughes, your host.
Today we're exploring the fascinating story of Gobekli Tepe, one of the oldest human sedentary settlements ever found. Think of it very loosely as a 10,000-year-old early Neolithic village. And by Neolithic, I mean that period of time after the Ice Age when people started to adopt a settled farming lifestyle.
Gobekli Tepe is quickly becoming one of the most famous early Neolithic settlements from anywhere in the world, and the archaeology is breathtaking. Our guest today is Dr. Lee Clare, an archaeologist who coordinates the Gobekli Tepe Research Project at the German Archaeological Institute.
Lee is one of the leading experts on the archaeology so far uncovered at Gobekli Tepe and what it has so far revealed about the people who lived there 10,000 years ago. It was a pleasure to interview him about the Stone Age mystery that is Gobekli Tepe. Lee, it is a pleasure to have you on the podcast today. Well, thank you for having me.
It's my pleasure, because to talk about Gobekli Tepe, I mean, this feels like, Lee, one of the most exciting archaeological projects to be working on in this moment in time. The stuff that is coming out of the ground is extraordinary.
Well, it's been quite special for quite a number of years now. And of course, in the meantime, there are other sites as well that are coming out at the same age with similar material culture. So the area itself, the region, is very exciting.
And we'll highlight that, how Göbekli Tepe is almost the name that people think of, but that there's more archaeology beside Göbekli Tepe. But set the scene for us, first of all, Lee. Where in the world are we talking about with Göbekli Tepe?
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