14. The Göbekli Tepe was NOT an ancient temple dedicated to the worship of extraterrestrials
The Göbekli Tepe – or “Potbelly Hill” – located in the Anatolia region of Turkey is an artificial mound, approximately 100 feet in diameter and 50 feet high, containing some of the oldest surviving ancient structures in the world. Believed to date to the 10th-8th millenniums BCE, more than 200 pillars, weighing each nearly 10 tons and measuring 20 feet tall, arranged in roughly 20 circles and fitted into sockets precisely hewn from the bedrock have been discovered.
With the site possibly predating the existence of agriculture, and National Geographic describing the Göbekli Tepe as “like finding that someone had built a 747 in a basement with an X-Acto knife“, the discovery has become a focal point of speculation for advocates of alien architecture. Given the incredible age of the Göbekli Tepe, nearly 6,000 years older than Stonehenge and with stones almost twice the height, such arguments typically revolve around the technological impediments precluding man-made construction of the site and instead suggesting the contributions of extraterrestrial forces.
However, it is important to note that the Göbekli Tepe was not part of a larger settlement, rather a unique single structure. Instead, it is believed by the site’s archeological team to have served as a sanctuary for a periodic congregation, likely of a religious nature, with evidence of animal sacrifices present at the location. Thus the Göbekli Tepe did not require other population-related technologies such as agriculture to have existed, and as noted concerning Stonehenge religious devotion has served recurrently as a unifying factor behind ancient monumental structures.