This is an interesting story I missed in the Guardian, but Cronaca didn’t, about the stone circles of Gobekli Tepe which have been dated about 7,000 years earlier than Stone Henge in pre-agricultural history. Nothing that sophisticated has been found from that far back.

Compared with Stonehenge, they are humble affairs. None of the circles excavated (four out of an estimated 20) are more than 30 metres across. T-shaped pillars like the rest, two five-metre stones tower at least a metre above their peers. What makes them remarkable are their carved reliefs of boars, foxes, lions, birds, snakes and scorpions, and their age. Dated at around 9,500BC, these stones are 5,500 years older than the first cities of Mesopotamia, and 7,000 years older than Stonehenge.

The Wikipedia article has some more good info as well as some pictures.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 23rd, 2008 at 6:14 pm and is filed under History, News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.