Science

Ancient temple tells the tale of an ice age-inducing comet collision

Ancient temple tells the tale of an ice age-inducing comet collision
Stone pillars at Göbekli Tepe, adorned with animals that archaeologists believe indicate a specific date and tell of a cataclysm
Stone pillars at Göbekli Tepe, adorned with animals that archaeologists believe indicate a specific date and tell of a cataclysm
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Stone pillars at Göbekli Tepe, adorned with animals that archaeologists believe indicate a specific date and tell of a cataclysm
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Stone pillars at Göbekli Tepe, adorned with animals that archaeologists believe indicate a specific date and tell of a cataclysm
The researchers used the software Stellarium to recreate the sky as it would have looked over Göbekli Tepe in 10,950 BCE
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The researchers used the software Stellarium to recreate the sky as it would have looked over Göbekli Tepe in 10,950 BCE

Around 12,800 years ago, the Earth suddenly dipped into a mini ice age, and nobody really knows why. One of the leading theories is that the cataclysm was triggered by a comet striking the planet, and now, archaeologists believe they've found a first-hand account of the story recorded in the remains of an ancient Turkish temple.

At the end of the Pleistocene period, the Earth's temperatures took a nosedive for about 1,300 years, particularly in the Northern Hemisphere. This "Big Freeze" is known to scientists as the Younger Dryas, and it's generally believed to have begun when the natural ocean currents in the North Atlantic were shut down by a sudden influx of cold, fresh water.

But a competing theory says that a cosmic collision could be the culprit. The rocks and ice that make up the surface of the Earth are a pretty reliable time capsule of the planet's geological and climatic history, and in 2014 researchers found a layer of tiny diamonds in the layer corresponding to the Younger Dryas period. These nanodiamonds could only be forged in extreme temperatures and pressures – like that of a comet striking the Earth. The only other known nanodiamond layer in the record sits at the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary, when an asteroid wiped out the dinosaurs.

So what does all this have to do with an ancient temple in modern-day Turkey? Surprisingly, carvings found there may help settle the debate. Archaeologists studying the site of Göbekli Tepe believe they've found a record of the apocalyptic event carved in a pillar known as the Vulture Stone, which seems to be "stamped" with a date very close to that of the cataclysm. Evidence suggests the site was used as an observatory, and other symbols give some insight into the possible devastating effects on human populations at the time.

The stone is adorned with images of animals that seem to line up with the constellations of the Zodiac. With that in mind, a strange set of symbols along the top of the pillar appear to point to a specific point in time, according to when the sun was "in" those constellations, and using star-tracking software called Stellarium, the researchers were able to track what the sky looked like in the time Göbekli Tepe was in use.

The researchers used the software Stellarium to recreate the sky as it would have looked over Göbekli Tepe in 10,950 BCE
The researchers used the software Stellarium to recreate the sky as it would have looked over Göbekli Tepe in 10,950 BCE

If their interpretation is correct, the date that the Vulture Stone mentions is about 10,950 BCE – which closely lines up with the estimated beginning of the Younger Dryas period, 10,890 BCE.

Previous research has linked the ancient site to comets and meteors, and there's a particular symbol that the researchers say looks like a comet striking the ground. There's a headless man depicted elsewhere on the column, and the researchers believe this could represent the loss of human life that the collision and subsequent climate change would have caused. Comet or not, it's generally believed that the Younger Dryas event would have greatly disrupted the progress of humans at the time.

"It appears Göbekli Tepe was, among other things, an observatory for monitoring the night sky," explains Martin Sweatman, an author of the study. "One of its pillars seems to have served as a memorial to this devastating event – probably the worst day in history since the end of the ice age."

While it's certainly an interesting hypothesis, the story does rely on a lot of speculation and creative interpretation, so it's best to take the ideas with a grain of salt.

The research was published in the journal Mediterranean Archaeology and Archaeometry.

Source: University of Edinburgh, (PDF)

12 comments
12 comments
Robert Walther
These huge stone artefacts were quarried, erected and intelligently carved 7,000 years before the Egyptian Pyramids?! NASA sea level charts put ocean levels at least 50-60 feet lower then than now. If all of these things are true, there will be major human archeological features off current seashores just about everywhere.
Matt Fletcher
I looked up the lion pillar their talking about, it's a lion with a scratch running through it. It's like saying the Mona Lisa depicts the end because she's smirking in the face of death. Both suggestions make no sense and are stupid. Göbekli Tepe is of great significance and suggestions such as this diminish it's importance to the geological find as a whole. Shouldn't have been published.
ProfessorWhat
Watch Joe Rogan's podcast with Graham Hancock & Randall Carlson, they've been saying this for years and years, I personally love their rebuke of the notion that there was no pre-ice age civilization and that people just allofasudden somehow got the idea and drive out of the blue to build such a massive temple out of nowhere, and the podcast also covers what Robert Walther commented about here: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=0H5LCLljJho
eMacPaul
If a sudden influx of cold, fresh water into the ocean causes global cooling, perhaps global warming causing the glaciers and ice caps to melt will result in global cooling!
CharlieSeattle
Robert, you are correct.
The Cosquer cave is home to a unique cache of prehistoric art on the south coast of France. Occupied by Stone Age artists during the early period of Gravettian art, it can now only be entered through an underwater tunnel whose entrance is some 40 metres below sea level.
http://www.visual-arts-cork.com/prehistoric/cosquer-cave-paintings.htm
Jason Pase
One the best books on this topic is written by Graham Hancock and it's called "Magician of the Gods".
I'd also echo what ProfessorWhat commented on here and direct people to the Joe Rogan Experience podcast #872 > https://twitter.com/J_M_0_N/status/799369885113524224
Tim Craig
Did parts of this comet break off and wipe out Sodom and Gomorrah?
mts
In reply to Robert Walther-- Yes, see also egyptian styled pyramids (interesting similar architecture) off coasts, underwater-- One is off the coast of south Florida..towards the Gulf of Mexico side. Lots of megaliths worldwide that we cannot--even now-- create and move with our advanced machinery.. see also Dead Men's Secrets by Jonahtan Gray for an interesting take on the subject of prehistoric technology.
MK23666
@Tim Craig Not unless the part of the comet remained in space and intersected Earth's orbit many many centuries later. Keep your eyes open for this year around Sept 23rd, there might be a pattern of collisions recorded/predicted in the Bible fated to happen again.
CharlieSeattle
Catastrophic Flooding From Ancient Lake May Have Triggered Cold Period
sciencedaily. com/releases/2004/12/041219152011. htm
Date: January 3, 2005 Source: Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Summary: Imagine a lake three times the size of the present-day Lake Ontario breaking through a dam and flooding down the Hudson River Valley past New York City and into the North Atlantic. The results would be catastrophic if it happened today, but it did happen some 13,400 years ago during the retreat of glaciers over North America and may have triggered a brief cooling known as the Intra-Allerod Cold Period.
Paleogeography 13,400 years ago. Glacial Lake Iroquois is held back by an ice dam in northern New York. When that dam collapsed it drained (red arrows) into the lakes within the Champlain and Hudson Valleys, breaching the Narrows Dam (near New York City). It cascaded across the then exposed continental shelf to the North Atlantic Ocean. This release of meltwater reduced the flow of the Gulf Stream and caused an abrupt climate cooling in the Northern Hemisphere that lasted several hundred years.
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