Gobeklitepe

GÖBEKLİTEPE GÖBEKLİTEPE T.C. ŞANLIURFA GOVERNORSHIP Provincial Culture and Tourism Directorate Publications: 5 Publication Coordinator Selami Yıldız Editor Mehmet Sait RIZVANOĞLU Publication Texts Selami Yıldız Mehmet Sait RIZVANOĞLU Photographs Bülent KAVŞUT - Burhan AKAR Mehmet Sait RIZVANOĞLU - Mehmet Emre EREN Archives of the German Archaeological Institute Geo Magazine (1 January 2008) National - Geographic (June 2011) Cover Photographs Yasin KÜÇÜK Production Navi Medya Cannot be quoted without permission or statement of reference. 1 12.000 YEARS THE OLDEST ARCHEOLOGICAL TEMPLE ALL OVER THE WORLD INTRODUCTION Şanlıurfa is one of the oldest settlements on the Silk Road, neighboring Syria in Southeast Anatolia region of Turkey. Being located at the intersection of trade routes connect- ing the East to the West has attained a strategic impor- tance to the city. Because of its strategic location the city has been host to many states and beylics. Şanlıurfa is the center point of the fertility crescent. It is a very old city, where agriculture was first made, the first university was set up, three celestial religions sprouted, the fire did not burn Prophet İbrahim, different cultures lived together in harmony and hospitable people resided for eternity. Humanity needed these attributes in the past, it needs them today and most certainly it will need them in the future. Turkey will continue to be a country, where people will not go to sleep with a full stomach while their neighbors go hungry. According to data gathered through the excavations in Balıklıgöl, Nevaliçori, Göbeklitepe and other areas in the city, Şanlıurfa has a history going as far back as 12,000 years. World’s oldest statue, which has the size of a real human being, from 12,000 years ago was unearthed in ex- cavations around Balıklıgöl. Şanlıurfa is also called “The city of Prophets” for being host to many prophets through- out the course of the history. Serving as a cradle of civi- lizations with its historical richness, the city has been a center of tolerance as the meeting point of different reli- gions, languages, races, cultures and civilizations.