Welcome to History's Not Boring by Codopoly.com. I'm Mira. And I'm Finn. Before we start, we have a massive shout-out to Evelie, who's eight, and Lottie, who's six, listening all the way in Brisbane, Australia. Yeah! We hear you two listen on every drive to school and love our ancient civilizations episodes. Well, Evelyn and Lottie, you're going to love this drive. Because today we are diving deep into one of the most mysterious ancient discoveries ever made. Are we talking about mummies? The pyramids? Nope. We are going way, way further back. To a dusty hilltop in Turkey, where archaeologists found something impossible. Impossible? Like alien impossible or history impossible? History impossible. Picture enormous stone pillars, some standing 18 feet tall, which is as tall as a giraffe, and weighing up to 20 tons, which is as much as five elephants, covered in intricate wild animal carvings. Wait, how old are they? Are they older than the pyramids in Egypt? Oh, way older. Gobekli Tepe was built around 11,500 years ago. That is 6,000 years older than Stonehenge in England, and 7,000 years older than the Great Pyramid of Giza. No way. Did they even have the wheel back then? Nope. Older than the wheel. Older than writing, older than farming. This is the story of Gobekli Tepe, the world's oldest temple. Okay, Mira, hold on. Older than farming? How did people even live back then? They were hunter-gatherers, Finn, which means they moved around constantly, hunting wild animals and picking wild plants to eat. So they didn't have houses or towns or grocery stores. Exactly. For a long time, scientists thought human beings had to settle down, build farms, grow crops, and raise animals before they had the time or energy to build huge monuments. But this temple proves them wrong? You got it. Let's travel back to the year 9500 BCE, to a dry, dusty plateau in modern day Turkey called Gebekli Tepe. Gebekli Tepe? What does that mean? In Turkish, it roughly translates to Potbelly Hill, because it looks like a gently sloping, round, chubby hill. Potbelly Hill. That's a funny name for a mysterious ancient temple. But under that dusty round hill was a massive secret. Fast forward to the year 1994, a German archaeologist named Klaus Schmidt visited the hill. Did he know there was a giant ancient temple buried under there? Not at first. Decades earlier, some researchers thought it was just an abandoned medieval graveyard. But when Klaus looked closely, he noticed the rocks sticking out of the ground weren't normal rocks. They were ancient flint tools. Wait, thousands of tools just lying around in the dirt. Yes! Klaus realised this wasn't just a natural hill. It was totally man-made. He started digging, and what he found completely rewrote the history books. Well, what did he find under the dirt? Tell me! As Klaus and his team dug deep into the earth, they uncovered giant T-shaped limestone pillars. And I mean giant. They found them arranged in massive rings. How big are we talking? Some of these pillars are 18 feet tall, which is about 5.5 metres. Imagine a solid stone pillar taller than a two-story house. Whoa! And how heavy were they? The biggest ones they found weigh up to 20 tons. That is 40,000 pounds, Finn. Imagine trying to lift five adult elephants stacked on top of each other. Wait, if they were ancient hunter-gatherers, they didn't have bulldozers, cranes, or trucks. How did they move 40,000 pounds of solid rock? That is the biggest mystery of the entire site. They didn't even have metal tools. There was no iron, no steel, no bronze chisels. They only used other hard rocks, like flint, to hammer and carve the limestone. They carved giant stone pillars just by hitting them with other stones. Yep, they found the ancient quarry right next to the hill. They would carve the shape of the giant tea pillar directly into the bedrock, then use wooden wedges to crack the stone free. Then what? Did they roll them on logs? Maybe. But remember, they hadn't invented the wheel yet. So hundreds of people had to use ropes, muscle, and incredible teamwork to drag these massive stones up the hill. That sounds super dangerous. If one of those 20-ton rocks slipped. It would have been a disaster. It required amazing planning. Geophysical surveys show there are at least 20 circular rooms buried there, with over 200 pillars in total. 200 giant pillars? What did they do with them? Just stand them up in a circle? They stood them up in rings, fitted tightly into holes carved into the bedrock. But they weren't just blank rocks. The people who built it carved the most amazing artwork into the sides. Even better! Incredible three-dimensional stone carvings. The builders were completely obsessed with wild animals. Ooh, what kind of animals? Any scary ones? Definitely. They carved stinging scorpions, hissing snakes, roaring wild boars with massive tusks, and even huge spiders. Plus foxes, lions and vultures. Spiders and scorpions? Why would anyone want to carve creepy crawlies into their beautiful holy temple? Archaeologists think these weren't just decorations. These were powerful, dangerous animals that the people feared and respected. Maybe they were protective spirits, guarding the temple from bad luck. So it was like a massive stone zoo for spirit animals. That is actually really cool. It gets crazier! To build something this huge, hundreds or maybe thousands of people had to work together. And working that hard makes you incredibly hungry. I'm hungry just thinking about dragging an elephant-sized rock up a hill. Exactly! To feed all those hard-working builders, they needed a mountain of food. Scientists think they gathered wild eincorn wheat that grew nearby to bake bread and make porridge. Wait! Is that how farming started? Ding ding ding! Many scientists think that because they needed so much food for their massive temple project, they might have eventually learned how to plant the wheat themselves. So the temple came first and farming came second. That changes everything. It totally flips history upside down. It suggests the urge to gather together and worship might be what pushed humans to settle down and invent agriculture. So Gebekli Tepe was like the very first city centre. Did people live inside the circles? Actually, they did. That's a wild new fact that surprised archaeologists. For a long time, they thought it was just a visiting site. But recently, they have discovered evidence of houses, fireplaces, and a real settlement for daily life. Like an ancient festival ground. That's awesome! It really is. Now, are you ready for my absolute favourite weird fact about Gebekli Tepe? Always. Hit me with the weird history. After using the temple for a few thousand years, the site wasn't just abandoned, it eventually got completely buried. Wait, what? A whole mountain of giant stone pillars just got completely buried? How did that even happen after they worked so hard? It happened gradually. Archaeologists now know that natural landslides, erosion, and collapsing walls slowly filled in the entire site over time, burying it completely under tons of dirt and gravel. That sounds like a massive amount of dirt and rocks just sliding down over time. I know, right? But because it got buried so deeply, it was protected from the weather and vandals for over 10,000 years. That's why it's so perfectly preserved today. Wow. So nature basically hid their greatest masterpiece like a giant stone time capsule for us to find. Exactly. Klaus Schmidt worked there until he died in 2014, and archaeologists are still digging today. They've only uncovered about 5% of it. That means there are so many more scary spider rocks waiting in the dirt. I want to go dig. Alright, Finn, quiz time! Let's see how much you remember about Gebekli Tepe. Okay, I'm ready. Hit me. First question. Roughly how many years ago was Gebekli Tepe built? Next one. What is the name of the modern day country where you can find this site? Question three. What kind of tools did the builders use to carve the giant stone pillars? Here's number four. Name two of the wild animals carved into the rocks. Last question. What big invention do scientists think the temple builders might have created to feed all their workers? Great job! Let's see how you did. The first answer is, it was built around 11,500 years ago. For question two, Gebekli Tepe is located in Turkey. Number three, the answer is they use stone tools, like flint, because metal wasn't invented yet. Question four, you could have said scorpions, snakes, boars, foxes, spiders, lions, or vultures. And the final answer is they might have invented farming and agriculture. I still can't believe they moved 20-ton rocks without wheels. History is so cool. It really is. And just think, there might be even older stuff buried out there, waiting to be found. Hey everyone listening. If you love learning about Gabekli Tepe today, please scroll down right now and leave us a 5-star review. Yes! Give us 5 stars for those giant 20 ton stones! Just scroll down on your podcast app and tap the 5 stars. Oh, and don't forget to check out our site kidopoly.com. We've got tons of fun learning games and activities there. And if you want to shout out on the show, like Evelyn and Lottie, or just want to say hi, send us an email at hello at kidopoly.com. See you next time on History is not boring. Bye, everyone!