Gobekli Tepe: The World’s First Temple? ( massive carved stones about 11,000 years old )

Smithsonian magazine ^ | November 2008 | # Andrew Curry # Photographs by Berthold Steinhilber

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Predating Stonehenge by 6,000 years, Turkey's stunning Gobekli Tepe upends the conventional view of the rise of civilization

Six miles from Urfa, an ancient city in southeastern Turkey, Klaus Schmidt has made one of the most startling archaeological discoveries of our time: massive carved stones about 11,000 years old, crafted and arranged by prehistoric people who had not yet developed metal tools or even pottery. The megaliths predate Stonehenge by some 6,000 years. The place is called Gobekli Tepe, and Schmidt, a German archaeologist who has been working here more than a decade, is convinced it's the site of the world's oldest temple.

[Marine_Uncle]

"...big fat momma statue of the neolithic..."
Heheh. Those old cultures sure seemed to glorify the big fat ones, while we seem to appreciate the tender slim ones with good looks. Heheh. At any rate, getting late, don't feel obligated to respond, so much is just recycled with some claim to appear new.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Earliest Civilizations of the Near East by James Mellaart

http://www.amazon.com/s?ie=UTF8&search-type=ss&index=books&field-author=James%20Mellaart&page=1

I Must get a copy....

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

What I would like to see ....is an explanation of how ....domesticated Wheat was done....how is that consistant with a nomad hunter society....?

I grew up in the wheat State,...plowed, planted and harvested the grain...and I am still fascinated by it.

Hays is the heart of the imported hard Red Winter wheat ....brought over by immigrants from Russia via Germany in the mid 1800's....

*************************************some history******************************

Turkey Red Wheat

Children in Russia hand-picked the first seeds of this famous winter wheat for Kansas. They belonged to Mennonite Colonies preparing to emigrate from the steppes to the America prairies. A peace-loving sect, originally from Holland, the Mennonites had gone to the Crimea from Prussia in 1790 when Catherine the Great offered free lands, military exemption and religious freedom. They prospered until these privileges were threatened in 1871. Three years later they emigrated to Kansas, where the Santa Fe R.R. offered thousands of acres on good terms in McPherson, Harvey, Marion & Reno counties, and where the legislature passed a bill which exempted religious objectors from military service. Within a month after landing in New York the Mennonites planted the red~gold grains their children had selected. The harvest was the first of the great crops of hard Turkey Red and its derivatives that have made Kansas the Granary of the Nation.

Erected by Kansas State Historical Society & State Highway Commission

[Marine_Uncle]

I dumped mine along with a ton of other books I had in my library when I had to sell my home and move back to Philly. No space to set up a library area.

[Marine_Uncle]

From the old to the new world. And what a blessing it has been over time. Wheat surely is among the best grain sources based on it’s food value.

[Marine_Uncle]

Interesting history of how these particular strains of wheat had entered the American heartland.

[SunkenCiv]

Mellaart’s book has a (probably b&w) pic of this:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/694010/posts?page=38#38