Israeli archaeologists make amazing discovery at world’s oldest place of worship

Ancient society had grasp of basic geometry, Israeli archaeologists discover.

By World Israel News Staff

Israeli archaeologists made a remarkable discovery at Göbekli Tepe in Turkey. They’ve discovered a hidden geometric pattern, suggesting that the primitive society was much more advanced than thought.

Discovered in the 1990s and considered the world’s oldest temple, Göbekli Tepe dates from 11,500 years ago, predating the Egyptian pyramids by 6,500 years.

Göbekli Tepe already puzzled archaeologists, who have not found an explanation as to how an early agricultural society had the wherewithal to construct massive stone structures.

Their accomplishment may have been greater than realized. Israeli archaeologists have discovered hidden geometry, an equilateral triangle connecting three circular structures.

“This implies that, in contrast to the prevailing assumption among Göbekli researchers until now, these three circles were planned as a single unit and possibly built at the same time, say archaeologists Gil Haklay and Avi Gopher of Tel Aviv University,” Haaretz reports.

“The initial discovery of the site was a big surprise and we are now showing that its construction was even more complex than we thought,” says Haklay, an Israel Antiquities Authority archaeologist and a PhD candidate at Tel Aviv University.

Their findings were published in the May 2020 issue of the Cambridge Archaeological Journal.

The site includes at least 19 concentric stone circles, of which four have been excavated so far. Six-meter pillars stand out at the site, many of them decorated with bas-reliefs of animals.

Haklay, using an algorithm, found that the midpoints of each concentric circle created a nearly perfect equilateral triangle – off by only 25 centimeters. Each side of the invisible triangle measures 19.25 meters.

“I certainly did not expect this,” Haklay recalls. “The enclosures all have different sizes and shapes so the odds that these center points would form an equilateral triangle by chance are very low.”

Gopher said, “I don’t know if it’s shamans or political leaders, but this is a society that has an architect, and somebody who initiates a project like this and has the power to make it happen.”

archaeologyIsrael Antiquities Authority