Markings on a 12,000-year-old stone pillar in Turkey likely represent the oldest solar calendar, created as a memorial to a devastating comet impact.
Markings at Göbekli Tepe in southern Turkey, an ancient complex of temple-like enclosures adorned with intricately carved symbols, may record an astronomical event that triggered a key shift in human civilization.
New research suggests that people in that culture may have recorded their observations of the sun, moon and constellations in the form of a solar calendar, created to keep track of time and mark the changing of the seasons.
A new analysis of V-shaped symbols carved into pillars at the site has found that each V could represent a single day. This interpretation allowed researchers to count a 365-day solar calendar on one of the pillars, consisting of 12 lunar months plus 11 additional days.
The summer solstice is depicted as a special, separate day, represented by a V worn around the neck by a bird-like beast thought to represent the constellation of the summer solstice at that time. Other statues, possibly depicting deities, have been found nearby with similar V-shaped markings on their necks.
Since both the cycles of the moon and the sun are depicted, the carvings could represent the world’s oldest so-called lunisolar calendar, based on the phases of the moon and the position of the sun, predating other known calendars of this type by many millennia.
Researchers say ancient people may have created these carvings at Göbekli Tepe to record the date when a swarm of comet fragments struck Earth nearly 13,000 years ago, in 10,850 BC.
The comet impact is suggested to have marked the beginning of a mini ice age lasting more than 1,200 years, wiping out many species of large animals. It may also have triggered changes in lifestyle and agriculture, thought to be linked to the birth of civilisation soon after in the fertile crescent of western Asia.
Another pillar at the site appears to represent the Taurid meteor stream (believed to be the source of the comet fragments), which lasted 27 days and emanated from the directions of Aquarius and Pisces.
The find also appears to confirm that ancient people could record dates using precession (the wobble of the Earth’s axis that affects the movement of constellations in the sky) at least 10,000 years before the phenomenon was documented by Hipparchus of Ancient Greece in 150 BC.
The carvings appear to have remained important to the people of Göbekli Tepe for millennia, suggesting that the impact may have triggered a new cult or religion that influenced the development of the civilization.
The finding also supports the theory that Earth faces an increase in comet impacts as its orbit intersects the path of orbiting comet fragments, which we normally perceive as meteor streams.
Dr Martin Sweatman, from the University of Edinburgh’s School of Engineering, who led the research, said: “It appears that the inhabitants of Göbekli Tepe were keen observers of the sky, which is to be expected given that their world had been devastated by a comet impact. This event could have triggered civilisation by initiating a new religion and motivating the development of agriculture to cope with the cold climate. Their attempts to record what they saw may possibly be the first steps towards the development of writing millennia later.”
The research is published in Time and Mind.
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