UNESCO recognizes ancient Stone Age temple in Turkey
Southeastern Turkey's epic ruins of Gobeklitepe, possibly the world's first temple, has finally made it to UNESCO'S World Heritage List.
The archaeological site of Gobeklitepe lies about 10 miles from the bustling city of Sanliurfa in southeast Turkey. “Potbelly Hill” is a round, 15-meter (49-foot) mound containing more than a dozen oval-shaped walled enclosures and about 200 enormous stone-capped pillars. They are the oldest megalithic structures ever found, dating to the 10th millennium B.C. and predate by thousands of years both Stonehenge and Carnac's menhirs.
So it should hardly come as a surprise that UNESCO decided to formally recognize Gobeklitepe’s place in human history and added it to the World Heritage List on June 1, at the 42nd meeting of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee in Manama, Bahrain. It is Turkey's 18th cultural site on the list, which includes Ephesus, the Hittite Capital of Hattusa and Nimrud Mountain.
