All language subtitles for Forbidden.History.S07E03.Secrets.of.Gobekli.Tepe.1080p.DSCP.WEB-DL.AAC2.0.H.264-BTN_track3_[eng]

[narrator] Gobekli Tepe,

the oldest building complex
ever discovered.

[Dr. Karen Bellinger]
Stonehenge and the pyramids,
that seems really ancient,

but this is on a whole
other magnitude of ancient.

[narrator] Built around
12,000 years ago,

could early humans
have done this
on their own?

Or did they have help
from beyond?

It's a strange thing
about many of these sculptures
in the Neolithic

that they look
very otherworldly.

It doesn't look like
a human being.

[narrator] Some evidence
suggests

this site could've been
a map of the stars,

commemorating
a cataclysmic event.

Probably one of
the most important artifacts
in the world.

It's like our Rosetta Stone.

[narrator] Could Gobekli Tepe
really have been built
by human hands?

And if so,
what was the purpose
of this ancient enigma?

Turkey, a nation spread
across two continents.

The arid Asian
part of this country

hides many secrets
as old as civilization itself.

Here in the desert
outside the city of Sanliurfa

lies one of the most
incredible archeological
discoveries of all time.

Gobekli Tepe.

One man has
an intriguing theory

about why our ancestors
constructed this place.

He thinks they built it
to commemorate an event
that changed the world.

[Dr. Sweatman] Well,
Gobekli Tepe is situated
in southern Turkey.

It is a part of the world
where archeologists

have been searching
for the origin
of civilization.

[narrator] Dr. Martin Sweatman
is from Scotland's
Edinburgh University.

He is captivated by this site
and its unanswered mysteries.

So, here we have Gobekli Tepe

and as you can see,
it's very big.

[Dominic Selwood]
The site is actually
overwhelmingly large.

It's the top of a mound,

but it's a huge top of a mound
with a diameter of 1,000 feet.

[narrator] Although
Gobekli Tepe,

which means
"belly hill" in Turkish,

is a fascinating structure
to study,

its age is what
perplexes historians.

[Dr. Ramirez] In order
to understand quite how old
Gobekli Tepe is,

we have to redraw the lines
of our understanding
of history.

So if you go back
to the time that the pyramids
were built,

you go back through
two World Wars,

the Vikings,
the Romans, the Greeks
and then some.

But to get to Gobekli Tepe,

you have to do that again
and then another 2,000 years.

That is seriously
longform history.

[narrator] Gobekli Tepe
is thought to date back

to an age known as
the "Pre-Pottery Neolithic."

Very little is known
about these times

since people lived
as nomadic hunter-gatherers
and left few written records.

We've got hunter-gatherers,
quite a primitive lifestyle,

and then they suddenly
build this.

I think you need
a really, really good reason
to do that

and I suspect,
or at least it's my view,

that the site's archeologists
don't really have

an adequate reason
for this construction here.

[narrator] Mysteriously,
this site was
intentionally buried

hundreds of years
after it was built.

Only by coincidence
was it recently discovered
by the family of Hasan Yildiz.

[Hasan speaking Turkish]

[narrator] But for many
of the locals,

the discovery of
this incredible place
was no surprise.

[Hasan continues in Turkish]

At Gobekli Tepe
there's this wonderful tree
up on the hill,

the highest part of the hill,
which is still there

and it's called
"the wishing tree."

People would go there
and it was like a sacred spot

where they would make prayers,

wish for things
to happen in their lives

and wish for
the good of others.

It is rather odd
that this site was imbued
with religious meaning

before Gobekli Tepe
was actually uncovered.

And we have to ask ourselves,

"Why were so many people
over the millennia
drawn to this spot?"

[narrator] Could this site
have been built
for religious purposes?

Gobekli Tepe is arguably
the world's oldest temple.

There is very little doubt
in the minds of most people

that the way the stones
have been configured,

the way that the landscape
has been worked
across millennia,

it has to have served
some sort of ceremonial
and ritualistic purpose.

[narrator] Gobekli Tepe
consists of over 60 pillars
arranged in several circles,

which archeologists refer to
as "enclosures."

If this place
was built as a temple,

what do these pillars
represent?

[Dr. Bellinger]
The interpretation is that

they are stylized
human figures

and I think that's persuasive,

particularly in the way
that they are arrayed
in this circular form,

facing one another.

And on some of them
you see a belt or a loincloth
or the suggestion of arms.

There is some indication
that they might have been

the veneration of those
who had come before,

those who have passed
into the underworld

and perhaps represent demons
or protectors of the people.

I think what we have here
is the birth
of a new religion.

And I suspect
that what we can see here

are very early kinds of temple

and that brought
people together,
the community grew

and, in a sense,
that's part of the story
of how civilization began.

[narrator] The pillars
of Gobekli Tepe are decorated

with incredible
relief carvings of predators
and scavengers,

including snakes, foxes
and a vulture.

In the 1990's,
German archeologist
Klaus Schmidt

began to formulate a theory
on this site's purpose.

One argument
proposed by Schmidt

is that Gobekli Tepe
is a focal point

for communities
to come together,

but possibly also
where they would
commemorate ancestors

and where they would
perform rituals

and honor whatever Gods,
Goddesses, creatures
they may have held sacred.

[narrator] However,
Schmidt's theories
are being challenged,

as new discoveries
are being made
at Gobekli Tepe every year.

In 2017, new evidence emerged
when a number of human skull
fragments were studied,

which unlocked more clues
about these ancient people.

Julia Gresky
is a paleoarchaeologist

at the German Archeological
Institute in Berlin

and is responsible
for deciphering these pieces.

[Dr. Julia Gresky]
I'm investigating bones
at the digital microscope.

This is very useful
to have a close look
on surfaces.

So, you can divide
two marks on the skulls.

The smaller ones,
the cut marks,

they are supposed to be
remnants of cleaning
the skull,

removing the soft tissue.

So that's this more or less
parallel, small cut marks.

[narrator] It appears
these skulls
were intentionally de-fleshed

for some strange reason.

But the second set of markings
is even more bizarre.

And we have these
really huge and deep carvings.

They are up to five millimeter
in depth,

so that's really not
just a scratch.

This was made intentionally
with a lot of
repetitive movements.

[narrator] What secrets
do these carved skulls reveal

about the builders
of Gobekli Tepe?

The structures of Gobekli Tepe
have been shrouded in mystery
for millennia.

The recent discovery of
a number of fragmented skulls

points to some sort
of religious worship.

[Dr. Gresky] Skulls
are very important.

If you remember somebody,
you remember his face,
his skull

and not other parts,
not the hand.

So it's just
the most personal thing
of a person.

[narrator] But why would
Gobekli Tepe's builders

have deliberately
carved the skulls
in such a specific way?

[Dr. Gresky] This can be
ancestors or enemies

or it could also have
a more practical purpose

because these really
deep carvings,

they were placed
in the midline,

so in the sagittal axis
of the skull.

This could help
in fixing a cord,

so if you want
to hang a skull somewhere,

this might help
in stabilizing it.

[Dr. Bellinger]
It's not possible,

given the evidence
we have right now

for Gobekli Tepe, to say
what exactly they were
used for at this site.

But comparable sites elsewhere
tell us that there is
a real thing

anthropologists refer to
as a "skull cult."

[Selwood] Skull cults
are religious practices

that center on
the veneration of skulls.

And this can either be
because it's some kind of
ancestor worship,

the individuals
or the genetic lines
were important,

or it's because
there's some sort of
protective or other power

coming from the skull,
from the dead person,
to the living people.

[narrator] Scientists
are just beginning
to understand

the practices of the people
who came here.

But how did hunter-gatherers,
who spent much of their lives
searching for food,

find the time
to build these structures?

The Neolithic period
is also known as
"the Agricultural Revolution."

This is the time period
where dramatic climate change

allowed for
a very fertile area
of the Middle East

to produce the possibility
for growing crops.

[narrator] Gobekli Tepe
lies in what is known as
"the Fertile Crescent,"

where many of the world's
first civilizations were born.

The society at Gobekli Tepe
may have cultivated crops

hundreds, if not thousands,
of years ahead of
other cultures.

The evidence for agriculture
beginning in this region
is very strong.

Archeologists can detect
changes to the genetic makeup
of plants and animals

and the earliest evidence
we have of those changes
is very close to Gobekli Tepe.

[Selwood] That then raises
the really fascinating
question...

Were they already farmers,
who then built
this incredible place?

Or was it the process
of building this place

that caused them
to be farmers?

But either way,
it's really important

because this is one of
the first communities
of farmers

in the world, that we know of.

It's really ingenuity!
These people made a choice
of cereals and legumes

and animals that feed us all
until this very day.

[narrator] Intrigued by what
this ancient civilization
achieved

and the possibility
that the builders here
were organized in some way,

Professor Avi Gopher
from Tel Aviv University

and Gil Haklay from
the Israeli Antiquities
Authority

have been studying the layout
of the site.

We calculated
statistical center points
for each enclosure

based on the position
of the peripheral pillars.

That point resulted
exactly between
the two central pillars

and the line
with the narrow front face.

[Tony McMahon] It's obvious
when you look at Gobekli Tepe
that there is design

involved in this.

It's something that's
really well-designed.

[narrator] The fact that
our hunter-gatherer ancestors

could find the center point
of these three huge circles
so accurately,

points to
a clear understanding
of complex design.

But Avi and Gil have
discovered something else.

We found that there is
a geometric relationship

between the enclosures.

The three center points
in between

the central pillars
of enclosures B, C, and D

form an equilateral triangle.

We can say that
enclosures B, C, and D

probably started out

planned and initially built
as a complex.

[Dr. Bellinger] In looking
at the architecture

at Gobekli Tepe,
it is very clearly planned,

carefully and
with a great deal of skill,

and a surprising awareness
of what we today

would call
geometrical principles.

[Gopher] At Gobekli,
this structuring
of the buildings,

for me, it's not only
an architectural miracle

and, you know,
a large project.

It's a different way
of thinking.

[Selwood] We often
think, as a culture,

quite patronizingly,
that people in this period,

in the Stone Age,
were primitive

and not as sophisticated
as us.

That's absolutely not true.

Physiologically, they were
identical to us,

and lived exactly
the same lives,

just in different contexts.

Humans are capable
of incredible sophistication,

and sites like Stonehenge
or Gobekli Tepe show us

just what people can do.

[narrator] Yet, some people
believe the builders

of this huge complex
weren't working alone,

and had help from afar.

[narrator] Little evidence
remains

for who built Gobekli Tepe,

but the incredible ability
shown by its builders

has led some to wonder
whether their knowledge

came from a divine source.

So who could
this higher power have been?

These T-shaped pillars
are covered with

really intriguing, almost
surreal, abstract symbols.

So are they representations

of the gods
that these people worshipped?

Or, are they representations
of the people themselves?

[narrator] A six-foot tall
humanoid statue was found

near Gobekli Tepe, with some
interesting features.

Could we be looking
into the eyes

of the people from that time?

Or some other being?

[Dr. Janina Ramirez] Urfa man,
that was discovered in 1993,

this life-sized
human sculpture,

really challenges our notions
of what humans were doing

in the year 9,000 BC, which is
when this sculpture dates to.

It is an extraordinary
piece of art.

The way that the face
is sculpted,

the way the arms come round
to cover over the genitals,

the fact that obsidian pieces
have been set into the stone,

so that as you move
around the sculpture,

the eyes would have glistened
as if they were alive.

This is extraordinary
by modern standards!

[Lynn Picknett] The thing
about Urfa man

is that he looks like
a very important person,

a man of status,
because he's wearing

quite an impressive,
sort of, necklace,

which could be
official regalia.

He could be a king,

or he could be a priest,
or a shaman.

It has to be said,
it looks more, to us,

like an extraterrestrial.

It doesn't look like
a human being,

and it's a strange thing
about many of these sculptures

from the Neolithic, that they
look very otherworldly.

They don't look like what we
would regard as our ancestors.

[narrator] If Urfa man
is otherworldly,
does this suggest

that the builders
of Gobekli Tepe had help?

[Hugh Newman] It really
looks like this very

powerful-looking individual
could represent

one of the watchers,
or the Anunnaki,

the original builders
of these sites.

[narrator] The Anunnaki
were a group of deities

worshipped for millennia
in the Fertile Crescent.

They were originally
written about

by the Sumerians,

the civilization that
first invented the plow,

and developed writing.

Some authors have claimed
the Anunnaki constructed

many of the world's
ancient monumental structures.

Could this theory explain
how hunter-gatherers

built something so impressive?

We know that the Anunnaki were
Sumerian and Assyrian gods.

However, there are those
who have other theories

about the Anunnaki,
for example,

believing that they were
humanoid extraterrestrials

that arrived on earth
half a million years ago,

looking for gold,

and that they enslaved
the local populations.

[Newman] The thing about
the watchers, or the Anunnaki,

is that they were
very sophisticated.

They mastered the arts
of agriculture,

and working with the land.

They understood astronomy
to a very high degree,

and they were thought to be

the first builders
of ancient sites.

[McMahon] So if you do
believe that the Anunnaki were

humanoid extraterrestrials,
then the theory runs

that they gave human beings
the knowledge required

to build the temple
at Gobekli Tepe.

[narrator] While some believe
Urfa man represents

something otherworldly,

others are
a little more skeptical.

[Dr. Ramirez] There is
some crazy speculation

around objects
like the Urfa man.

It's been argued he looks like
he's wearing a space suit.

"Is he a spaceman?"
"Is he an alien?"

I think what's happening is,
now, in our modern age,

we find it very hard to think
that humanity could have been

so conceptual, so creative,
so accomplished,

10,000 years ago,
that the only solution

can be that
it's extraterrestrials.

[Dr. Peggy Brunache]
It's never
surprising that people

jump to pseudoscientific
conclusions when it comes to

what was the purpose
of these kinds of sites.

It takes time
to do excavations,

to do enough analysis

to have a better idea
of what was going on.

[narrator] Whatever led to
the creation of Gobekli Tepe,

there is one area of the site

that has drawn more attention
than any other.

It's known as
the Vulture Stone,

and Martin Sweatman thinks
this holds the secret

to the site's origin.

Perhaps they are
constellations,

like we think
of constellations today.

We represent them in terms
of animal symbols.

It's like our Rosetta Stone.

Probably one of the most
important artifacts

in the world.

[narrator] Gobekli Tepe
has been called

the place where
human civilization began,

yet the real purpose
of this site

and its intricate carvings

remain a mystery.

[narrator] Martin Sweatman
thinks he has found

the focal point
of this whole complex.

He has come to
the museum of archaeology

in nearby Sanliurfa,

to take a closer look at this
incredible reconstruction

of part of Gobekli Tepe.

So, this is a mockup
of enclosure D

in Sanliurfa museum

and...

It's just magnificent,
isn't it?

And to think that people,

maybe 12-13,000 years ago,
were capable

of building this
is just incredible.

[narrator] Martin believes
that the key to unlocking

the code of Gobekli Tepe

is this
intricately-decorated stone.

[Dr. Martin Sweatman]
Pillar 43
is incredibly important

for our interpretation
and, presumably,

for the builders
of Gobekli Tepe.

There's so much
information on it,

that it's like
our Rosetta Stone.

It's probably one of the most
important artifacts

in the world,

because it's telling us
something important

about this very crucial
transitional period.

Probably, the circular disc
is the sun,

and that would make
a lot of sense, because

many cultures worshipped
the sun and the moon,

often represented
them together.

So, if that's the sun,
and we think it is,

then what are these animals?

Well, probably, it implies
that they are constellations,

and, again, that would make
a lot of sense.

We use animals to represent
constellations today.

The wings and the head of
the eagle, or vulture,

have pretty much the same look
and angles that we'd expect

for that part of
the Sagittarius constellation.

[Dr. Brunache] It's not
terribly different

than how we do see
constellations now.

The idea that human beings,
spending all this time

at night,
staring up at the sky,

tracking the movement
of stars and planets today

was something that
others did in the past.

[narrator] So if Martin
is right,

and this is a map
of the night sky,

why did the builders
of Gobekli Tepe

decide to record this
in stone?

[Dr. Sweatman]
The most obvious
thing is that they are

writing a date, perhaps,

using a procession
of the equinoxes,

and that maybe this is

representing the position
of the sun

relative to Sagittarius

on the summer solstice.

What are the other three
animal symbols at the top?

Perhaps these are
the other three solstices
and equinoxes

for the date given
by the position of the sun

relative to Sagittarius,

so I think this date must have
been very important.

It must be
telling us something

about the reason,
about the motivation

for constructing
Gobekli Tepe.

[narrator] But
the Vulture Stone has more

than just carvings
of animals on it.

There is also a strange image

of a headless human.

[Dr. Sweatman] What does
this headless man

at the bottom represent?

Probably, the headless man
represents death.

[narrator] Other pillars
around this enclosure

hold more clues
to what could have happened

to the builders
of Gobekli Tepe.

So, here we have pillar 33
in the museum.

On this face, you can see
that we have a fox,

and out of this fox,
there are these rays.

But actually, they are snakes.

If these are constellations,

then what do
the snakes represent?

Well, probably they
represent meteors.

[Dr. Brunache]
It's possible that
some of the iconography

is a representation
of what they were seeing

in the night sky.

Was it that of a meteorite
striking the earth?

Was is that
of the introduction

of a new star that
is quite predominant

in our skies today,
12,000 years later?

It's quite possible.

[narrator] Over the millennia,
the earth's axis has changed,

relative to its orbit
around the sun.

Knows as axial procession,
the earth's axis

wobbles in a circle
on a 26,000-year cycle.

so 12,000 years ago,

the night sky would have
been quite different.

Using computer software

to analyze the procession
of the earth's axis,

Martin believes he has dated
the snapshot of the night sky

on the Vulture Stone
to almost 11,000 BC.

So, we've got meteors,
we've got death,

and we've got a date
to about 10,800-10,900 BC.

What do we know today
about that date

which might involve meteors
and death?

There is this theory,

known as the Younger Dryas
impact theory,

which proposes that
on that date,

there was a massive
comet impact with Earth.

[narrator] Could this huge
temple complex

have been built to commemorate
this cataclysmic impact?

And what effect did it have
on the people of Gobekli Tepe?

[narrator] Dr. Martin Sweatman
thinks he has determined

the purpose of Gobekli Tepe.

He believes it was built
to commemorate

a cosmic impact

that might have changed
the world forever.

But what evidence is there
for this apocalyptic event?

Some point to a period
of global cooling

known as the Younger Dryas.

[Dr. Sweatman] Now,
the Younger Dryas

is a geological period

when the Earth rapidly
and suddenly cooled,

a bit like a mini Ice Age.

It occurred
about 13,000 years ago.

[Dr. Bellinger]
One of the more
controversial issues

that kind of plagues
climate science,

as well as the question
of the archaeology

of this site,
is what the Younger Dryas

actually was,
and what caused it,

and one theory is that
there was an impact event.

And, supporting this
hypothesis,

is the presence, across four
continents at about the right
time, 13,000 years ago,

of nanodiamonds and platinum,

both of which derive
solely from outside
this solar system.

[Newman] It's very feasible
that the Younger Dryas impact
event took place,

or something very
similar to that.

The devastation that took
place around the world is
recorded in myth and legend,

but it's also recorded
in the different levels that
have been excavated

in certain parts of the world.

[narrator] An Earth impact
from a comet or meteor would
have been incredibly powerful.

It would have struck with
the energy of up to one
million atomic bombs.

For the builders
of Gobekli Tepe,

their world would have
been turned upside down.

So, just imagine,
in 10,000 B.C.,
people see a comet.

They've got no way
of understanding
what a comet is.

So, to them, this is some
terrifying divine retribution

where the sky has caught fire.

I mean, we can't even begin
to imagine how they felt,

the fear they felt
as they saw this thing
tracing the heavens.

Assuming you were alive
at that time and you managed
to be in just the sweet spot,

far enough away
to observe it without
being affected by it,

yeah, it would have
been terrifying.

[McMahon] Just imagine
for ancient peoples.

If something like that
happened, a comet strike,

if they witnessed it
themselves, or their
ancestors witnessed it,

you can bet that the story
of it would have been told
down the generations.

Embellished, changed,
there would have been a divine
significance attached to it.

[narrator] According
to Martin, the age
of the vulture stone

and the date of the Younger
Dryas impact are the same.

The vulture stone was
built to commemorate
the cosmic strike.

The environment
changed dramatically,
temperatures plunged,

skies probably went dark,
perhaps for weeks on end.

You can imagine what that,
the effect that would have
on the people of the time.

Perhaps it was
this comet impact
that inspired a new religion,

inspired the construction
of temple-like structures
like Gobekli Tepe,

which then catalyzed
the origin of civilization.

[narrator] But not everyone
agrees with the theory that
Gobekli Tepe was built

to commemorate
a specific event.

Cosmology is hugely important
to ancient civilizations.

You have a sense that
there would have been

long-term memory
that was recorded.

So, the idea that
an asteroid impact,
that something catastrophic

could have affected humans
and that is passed down
through oral tradition

is not entirely far-fetched.

That they would plot it so
specifically against a night
sky that they couldn't have

conceived of or used computer
technology to reconstruct,

is where I see it
stepping into the realms
of fantastical.

[narrator] While the true
purpose of the vulture stone
and this site remains unknown,

Gobekli Tepe gives us
an incredible snapshot
into what life was like

over 12,000 years ago.

But this monument
is not alone.

More sites with remarkable
similarities are being found
all over the region

that further deepen
the mystery of what was
going on in Neolithic Turkey.

So, it appears there are,
at least, 30 sites in this
general area.

There's a whole,
kind of, zone
that's about 120 miles wide

where they're finding
these pre-pottery
Neolithic discoveries.

Many of them were these
T-pillars like we find
at Gobekli Tepe.

Is this really evidence
of this is the oldest advanced
civilization on the planet?

I mean, we have sophisticated
stone-carving techniques,

we have
beautifully-arranged sites

in stone circle formations,

we have astronomical
alignments, and so, to me,
this is the smoking gun.

This proves that before Egypt,
before ancient Peru,

Southeast Turkey was
the hub of the ancient world.

[narrator] Excavations
at the nearby Karahan Tepe

suggest that Gobekli Tepe
could have been part
of a much larger civilization

with some bizarre rituals.

[narrator] In the plains
of Southeastern Turkey

lie a number of Neolithic
sites up to 13,000 years old.

Excavations at Karahan Tepe,
the newest discovery,
only began in 2019.

Could these ancient sites
be connected somehow?

[Newman] Karahan Tepe
is the sister site
to Gobekli Tepe.

It's located south east
of Sanliurfa. It's in
the Tektek mountains.

And it's been known about
since 1997, although,
obviously,

the family who live
on the farm there have known
about it for much longer.

[Professor Karul speaking]

Karahan Tepe and Gobekli Tepe
are incredibly close
to each other.

They're just 25 miles apart.

They're both on hills,
and from a clear day,
one can see the other.

There's absolutely no doubt
in my mind that these cultures
knew each other.

[narrator] Much like Gobekli
Tepe, Karahan Tepe features
many T-shape pillars.

But here, one of the monoliths
was never completed.

And it reveals a lot about
how the builders worked.

At Karahan Tepe,
we have what's called
the unfinished monolith.

This is not fully carved
out T-pillar,

it's still in situ,
it's still attached
to the bedrock.

But what it does show,
it shows you how they cut it
out and you can see, like,

the scoop marks and the,
kind of, pick marks within it.

And so, why are they leaving
one stone, the largest stone,
still in the quarry?

Is it significant?

Is it, like, marking the spot
where the first stone was
taken from, like,

the birthplace of the temple?

[narrator] Interesting
features have been noticed
at Karahan Tepe

that may give us clues
to its purpose.

[Newman] On the surface where
the T-pillars were sticking
out the ground,

they appear to, kind of,
go up in avenues,

like, almost parallel stones
going up in a, kind of,
serpentine way

to the top of the hill.

Must remember, this part
of the site hasn't been
fully excavated yet,

so, I would like to see what
happens when this is fully
opened up and we can see

actually what's going on.

'Cause, if that's the case,
it's almost like a, kind of,
sacred pathways

leading up to the top
of the hill through this
serpentine route.

It could have some
symbolic nature.

[narrator] And,
at Karahan Tepe,

archaeologists have
unearthed an incredible
cultic structure...

...which is mind-blowing.

[Newman] So, in this very
strange, kind of,
subterranean pit,

we have 11 monoliths,
which look very phallic.

But, also, they're carved
out of solid bedrock.

They're not freestanding,
they're literally carved
deep into the bedrock.

They brought out these
amazing sculptures out
of the rock itself,

and that requires a huge
amount of ingenuity,

imagination, and
technical skill.

[narrator] The presence
of snakes at both Gobekli Tepe
and Karahan Tepe

has led some to believe
that the people who
built these places

might have engaged
in snake worship.

Snake gods were revered
by cultures across
the fertile crescent

who held them as symbols
of strength and renewal due
to their ability to shed skin.

We have this protruding head,
this huge head coming out
with this extremely long neck,

which, almost,
is like a serpent neck.

We have a serpent carved along
the bottom part just under
the, kind of,

bench that's been
carved into it,

and it's thought that
the watchers or the Anunnaki,
their symbol was the serpent,

often coiled around a staff.

And so, to find that here
is quite remarkable,

because this is not just
in this country we find this,
we find it developing

in other countries around
the world after the time
of Gobekli and Karahan Tepe.

[Selwood] The structures here
are immensely impressive.

It's humbling to think that
people spent this long,

this amount of time and effort
and perseverance with very,
very primitive tools

building and carving
and decorating this site.

And the thing that's just
most intriguing is that we
just simply don't know

why it was important to them.

[narrator] How significant
are the discoveries
at these sites

for our understanding of human
civilization as a whole?

[Newman] Karahan Tepe could
become as significant

as Gobekli Tepe or,
possibly, more so.

It seems like just around
Karahan Tepe itself,

it's like a complex,
it's not just one site.

And, potentially, this could
blow open this whole story
of what was happening here

in Southeast Anatolia
10,000 to 12,000 years ago.

When you fold in the context
of the critically-important
farming revolution,

and the question whether
farming caused Gobekli Tepe or
Gobekli Tepe caused farming,

we're left with something
that, potentially,
is a milestone

in the story
of civilization itself.

[Professor Karul speaking]

[Dr. Bellinger] Only 5% to 10%
of the site is estimated
to have been investigated

at all at this point.

So, who knows how big
the site really is and what
else it has to teach us

about this absolutely pivotal
time in the development
of human civilization.

[Dr. Sweatman] Ground
penetrating radar indicates
that there may be

even larger structures
still waiting
to be discovered.

It's going to be a very
exciting time, uh,
in the future

when all this new,
new excavations, this new
knowledge is produced

and we can check
all of these new finds

against this interpretation
that we currently have.

Because there are no
texts written down
at this ancient period

when Gobekli Tepe is being
created, I don't think we will
ever fully understand

what is going on there.

But that's partly its appeal,
it's a mystery that will
probably never be solved.