Which ancient Anatolian site in modern-day Turkey contains monumental megalithic circular enclosures with T-shaped pillars dating back to around 9500 BCE, recognized as the world's oldest known temple complex?
Answer and explanation
Correct answer: C. Göbekli Tepe
- Step 1: Göbekli Tepe was excavated by archaeologist Klaus Schmidt starting in 1995 near the city of Şanlıurfa in southeastern Turkey.
- Step 2: Dating to the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A period, its intricately carved animal bas-reliefs overturned assumptions about hunter-gatherer social organization; inscribed by UNESCO in 2018.
Answer
Göbekli Tepe
Why not the others: 'Çatalhöyük' Çatalhöyük is a famous proto-city Neolithic settlement in southern Anatolia dating to around 7100 BCE; 'Troy' Troy is a Bronze Age fortified citadel on the Aegean coast made famous by Homer's Iliad; 'Hattusa' Hattusa was the Bronze Age capital of the Hittite Empire in central Anatolia.
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