The story of Göbekli Tepe

Here the temple came before the city: Göbeklitepe, dated to around 9600-9500 BC, is considered the oldest known historic structure in the world, and some popular sources call it "the zero point of history". On this hill 18 km northeast of Şanlıurfa, near the village of Örencik, T-shaped pillars, the oldest known megaliths on Earth, stand in large circles linked by stone walls.

Look at the two taller pillars facing each other at the centre: the hands and arms carved on their bodies reveal them as stylized human statues. Bulls, wild boars, foxes, snakes, wild ducks and vultures crowd the stones, so densely that the scenes are thought to tell a story.

This was not a village but a cult centre built by the last hunter groups, used until 8000 BC and then abandoned. UNESCO listed it tentatively in 2011 and permanently in 2018. As excavation leader Klaus Schmidt put it: "First the temple was built, then the city was founded."