Gobekli Tepe: Is it the Garden of Eden?

oh. I pictured it to be greener.

In the Bible no structures are mentioned in the Eden story. Evolution sort of indicates Eden is a myth with no basis in reality. The terrain around this structure was probably very different 10,000 years ago. Myth should not be included in figuring out the source of this structure.

Totally agree Jim

Seriously? I’m the only one who thinks this is interesting from a purely archeological standpoint? That art is absolutely fascinating.

12,000 years. Wouldn’t that pre-date eden, since the story goes that was 6,000 years ago? Cool, then. Aliens.

Seems to me that Mr Schmidt has an agenda that he’s working really hard to prove.

A site as important as one of the oldest known “cities” would seems to me worthy of far more study than a single archeologist running one small excavation. 45 stone pillars with hundreds more to go, doesn’t seems like a lot of progress for 15 years of work.

A couple of things worth noting:

1. The writer of the article is trying to promote his Dan Brown-esque book, and leading with a forced comparison between an archaeological discovery of incalculable importance and a christian myth helps him promote his book. This certainly isn’t the first time a journalist has pressed an archaeologist for a quote that can be bent to serve an inaccurate lead. Even the NYT has done this, forcing renowned archaeologists to hedgingly acknowledge that a site “could possibly, *in theory* be that of —- fill in the blank: Atlantis, Homer’s Troy, etc. when that really isn’t a scholarly claim.

2. Some of you might find Adrienne Mayor’s book, “The First Fossil Hunters” interesting. It proves that myths can – at least sometimes – take root in historical events without the myths themselves being true. In the book, Mayor shows that the greco-romans made accidental archaeological excavations of dinosaur remains and the best way they could explain the discoveries were through the myths of Griffins, giants, etc.

AK-00, it’s not the same thing to claim that the myth could be based roughly on a real place as to claim that “THE GARDEN OF EDEN HAS BEEN FOUND” as the wacko in the article is claiming.

It’s close-minded to interpret everything in terms of claiming that made up stories by bronze age goat herders are true.

Wow, another post from the DAILY MAIL! Don’t spread the dumb!

I have to agree with a few people here who are noting closed-mindedness of posts.
I’m not a religious person, but I do believe that a great deal of the bible has basis in fact–because a lot of it was a history of a people, and when people don’t understand the science behind things, they turn to mystical reasons. Around the time the GoE was to have existed, there was an ice age, and due to weather coming down from the not-so-far-away frozen north, the area that is now desert was likely lush and bountiful, with plenty of water, plants and animals. Then, the ice age ended, the region dried up, and I bet that a group of people felt like someone must have done something to offend God, to make him take away their beautiful ‘garden’.
Seriously, people…just because people you don’t agree with believe in something doesn’t mean that they are just talking out their butts.

Awwww, where’s the angel with the flaming sword?

Interesting to me is that this story hasn’t gotten more play. I regularly read the larger news sources and only when I go off the beaten path do I see things like this. Fascination with pyramids and stone henge could be turned to this location. Thanks for posting this. (Oh, on the other thread here, a parallel to the myth of Eden, and the origins of that myth. I don’t blame anyone for trying to ‘make news’ to promote knowledge. How many people are looking at the Bible more critically since Dan Brown’s fiction?)