Göbekli Tepe Excavator Klaus Schmidt Passes Away
Bible and archaeology news
Göbekli Tepe excavator Klaus Schmidt.
Pioneering archaeologist Klaus Schmidt, who headed the excavations at Göbekli Tepe in southeastern Turkey, has died at the age of 61.
Schmidt had been working on the excavations at Göbekli Tepe, sometimes called Turkey’s Stonehenge, with the German Archaeology Institute since 1995.
On Göbekli Tepe (“Potbelly Hill”), the German excavations uncovered several massive stone enclosures dating between 10,000 and 8000 B.C.E., the dawn of civilization and the Neolithic age. Many of the stones are carved with highly elaborate depictions of animals and anthropomorphic figures. With no evidence of a contemporaneous village within the vicinity of the Göbekli Tepe ruins, it is believed that the site served exclusively as a ceremonial center. The earliest sanctuary for communal ritual activity known to date, the Göbekli Tepe ruins have led scholars to reconsider the origins of religion and human civilization.
Read “The Göbekli Tepe Ruins and the Origins of Neolithic Religion” in Bible History Daily.
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Le décés du professeur Schmidt est une grande perte pour l’ histoire de l’ humanité et j’ espère que son travail sera poursuivi par ses collègues pour enfin résoudre cette énigme.
Un fait m’ étonne sur la découverte de Gobleki tepe, c’ es que la grande majorité des sculptures situées sur les piliers sont des représentations d’ animaux sauvages; alors que déja a l’ époque de la construction de ces temples, la domestication d’ animaux ( chèvres, moutons) est déja établie.
It is with the deepest sadness, that I have learned about the passing of professor Schmidt. His influence on world history cannot yet be fully evaluated, but it will definitely turn out to be revolutionary . His discoveries at Gobekli Tepe may lead to even more startling revelations about who humans actually are and where we have come from. I feel sure that he is now in the hands of the Great Mystery and will surely be re-incarnated to continue his amazing explorations.