Ancient Turkish site may hold world’s oldest lunisolar calendar

Archaeologists at Göbekli Tepe in Türkiye have uncovered carvings that may represent the world’s earliest lunisolar calendar, revealing an advanced understanding of celestial cycles more than 12,000 years ago.

Markings on a stone pillar at Göbekli Tepe, a 12,000-year-old archaeological site in Türkiye, may represent the world's oldest known solar calendar, researchers suggest, Caliber.Az reports citing the foreign media.

This ancient site, renowned for its intricately carved symbols and temple-like enclosures, could hold evidence of a calendar created to memorialize a catastrophic comet impact, experts believe.

Published in Time and Mind, the research reveals that the markings, which include V-shaped symbols on the site's pillars, likely recorded astronomical observations such as the sun, moon, and constellations. These symbols might have been used to track time and seasonal changes, with each V potentially representing a single day. This interpretation leads to the identification of a 365-day solar calendar on one of the pillars, composed of 12 lunar months plus 11 additional days.

The summer solstice is notably marked by a V-shaped symbol worn around the neck of a bird-like figure, which researchers believe may represent the constellation associated with the solstice. Similar V-markings are found on nearby statues, which could represent deities linked to these celestial observations.

The carvings at Göbekli Tepe might represent the earliest known lunisolar calendar, predating other calendars of this type by several millennia. These ancient markings depict both lunar and solar cycles, suggesting an advanced understanding of timekeeping based on the phases of the moon and the sun's position.

Researchers believe that the carvings could have been created to commemorate a comet impact that occurred nearly 13,000 years ago, around 10,850 BC. This comet strike is thought to have initiated a mini ice age lasting over 1,200 years, causing significant extinctions and potentially influencing the shift toward settled agriculture and the rise of early civilizations in the Fertile Crescent of West Asia.

One of the pillars at Göbekli Tepe also appears to represent the Taurid meteor stream, believed to be the source of the comet fragments. This depiction shows the meteor stream lasting 27 days and originating from the constellations of Aquarius and Pisces.

Additionally, the findings suggest that ancient people at Göbekli Tepe were capable of recording astronomical events using precession—the slow wobble of Earth's axis that affects the movement of constellations. This capability predates the earliest known documentation of precession by the Greek astronomer Hipparchus by at least 10,000 years.

The carvings at Göbekli Tepe seem to have held significant importance for its people over millennia, possibly marking the comet impact event as a catalyst for a new cult or religious movement that shaped the development of early civilization.

This discovery also lends credence to the theory that Earth experiences heightened comet strikes when its orbit intersects with the path of comet fragments, which we encounter as meteor showers.

Dr. Martin Sweatman from the University of Edinburgh’s School of Engineering, who led the study, commented, “The inhabitants of Göbekli Tepe were evidently meticulous sky watchers, a behavior that aligns with their world being impacted by a comet strike. This event may have spurred the emergence of civilization by initiating a new religious framework and advancing agricultural practices to adapt to the resulting cold climate. Their efforts to document celestial events might represent the earliest steps toward the development of writing centuries later.”