Researchers from the University of Edinburgh studying etchings of animals at the Gobekli Tepe stone structure in southern Turkey say they correspond with star patterns during the 10,950 BC summer solstice.
What Did The Researchers Find At Gobekli Tepe?
According to their study, the images on a pillar known as the “Vulture Stone” provide compelling evidence that the ancient rock tells an astrological story, and is a “date stamp” of a “cometary encounter” that is rumored to have changed the planet’s climate thousands of years ago.
The “Younger Dryas” event is a historical moment when the temperature in the northern hemisphere took a sudden nose dive. Theories for why the climate suddenly changed include a comet, meteor strike or a large volcanic eruption.
Published in the Mediterranean Archaeology and Archaeometry journal, the latest study on the phenomenon appears to give further credence to the idea that an object falling from space triggered the so called “mini Ice Age.”
The study stops short of confirming the event. It suggests, however, that the constellation-like carvings – and one depicting a headless man – are an ancient recording of a significant and catastrophic event.
What Do The Images On The Vulture Stone Indicate?
According to the researchers, the vulture stone kind of comprised of the records of a catastrophe, such as the carving of a man without a head could indicate widespread death.
Image Source (Image Source)Also, they claimed that the people who are carving might have been tracking in their early form of writing, the changes in the rotational axis of the Earth. Further, it was also claimed that the Gobekli Tepe could have been the observatory for comets and meteors.
It seemed to lend credence to the theory that the Earth is more likely to experience comet strikes during periods when its orbit intersects with rings of comet fragments in space. In July 2015, Ancient Origins reported that the site was intended for ritual use only and not as a domain for human occupation, as suggested by the artefacts for this site. According to their claim each of the 20 structures in the complex consisted of a ring of walls that surrounded two T-shaped monumental pillars between 3 meters (9 feet) and 6 meters (19 feet) high and weigh between 40 and 60 tons.
The Vulture Stone Pillar
An image that conveys a meaning through its resemblance to a physical object is a pictograph. Apparently such images are generally found in the pictographic writing like the hieroglyphics or other characters used by ancient Sumerian and Chinese civilizations and some non-literate cultures still use them. The Vulture Stone Pillar was announced as possibly the oldest known pictograph on an obelisk in the world, in 2015.
The director of the Sanlıurfa Museum, Muslum Ercan, told Hurriyet Daily News in 2015, that the scene on the Virtual Stone Pillar is depicting an event thematically in which, a human head is shown in the wing of a vulture and a headless human body under the stela, along with various figures of cranes and scorpions, which could be a portrayal of a moment. He claimed that it could be the first example of a pictograph.
