10,000 B.C. - Neolithic Temple / South-Eastern Turkey - "A Neolithic site in south-eastern Turkey is currently being excavated by archaeologists, who say it is likely the oldest temple in the world. [NP] The site first came into the archaeologists’ knowledge in 1986, when a farmer working the fields in Sanliurfa stumbled upon a statuette in the ground, according to the Radikal newspaper, cited by the United Press International (UPI). [NP]
Archaeological excavations since then uncovered the foundation of a 12,000-year-old Neolithic Age temple, as well as carvings of pigs, foxes, snakes, fawns and headless humans. [NP] The culture and belief system of the people who built the temple have yet to be identified by experts from the Harran University Archaeology Department, who are currently working on the excavations. [NP] Before them, the site was explored by German teams who excavated it in 1995. After it was placed on the Turkish Culture and Tourism Ministry’s first-degree protection list in 2005, however, the Ministry took control of the research. [NP] Until now, according to UPI, the world’s oldest known temple, dating to 5,000 BC, was in Malta." [Based on: BalkanTravellers.com article (Archaeologists Unearth World’s Oldest Temple in Turkey), 03/18/10]
*Link: http://www.archaeologynews.org/story.asp?ID=585761&Title=Archaeologists Unearth World's Oldest Temple in Turkey
*Trivia: "[....] Göbekli Tepe is the oldest human-made place of worship yet discovered.[2] Until excavations began, a complex on this scale was not thought possible for a community so ancient. The massive sequence of stratification layers suggests several millennia of activity, perhaps reaching back to the Mesolithic. The oldest occupation layer (stratum III) contains monolithic pillars linked by coarsely built walls to form circular or oval structures. So far, four such buildings, with diameters between 10 and 30m have been uncovered. Geophysical surveys indicate the existence of 16 additional structures. [NP] Stratum II, dated to Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (PPNB) (7500–6000 BC), has revealed several adjacent rectangular rooms with floors of polished lime, reminiscent of Roman terrazzo floors. The most recent layer consists of sediment deposited as the result of agricultural activity. [....] Around the beginning of the 8th millennium BC 'Potbelly Hill' lost its importance. The advent of agriculture and animal husbandry brought new realities to human life in the area, and the 'stone-age zoo' (as Schmidt calls it) depicted on the pillars apparently lost whatever significance it had had for the region's older, foraging, communities. But the complex was not simply abandoned and forgotten, to be gradually destroyed by the elements. Instead, it was deliberately buried under 300 to 500 cubic metres (390 to 650 cu yd) of soil.[13] Why this was done is unknown, but it preserved the monuments for posterity. [....]"
[Based on: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%B6bekli_Tepe]
*Trivia: "[....] Known as Göbekli Tepe (pronounced Guh-behk-LEE TEH-peh), the site is vaguely reminiscent of Stonehenge, except that Göbekli Tepe was built much earlier and is made not from roughly hewn blocks but from cleanly carved limestone pillars splashed with bas-reliefs of animals—a cavalcade of gazelles, snakes, foxes, scorpions, and ferocious wild boars. The assemblage was built some 11,600 years ago, seven millennia before the Great Pyramid of Giza. It contains the oldest known temple. Indeed, Göbekli Tepe is the oldest known example of monumental architecture—the first structure human beings put together that was bigger and more complicated than a hut. When these pillars were erected, so far as we know, nothing of comparable scale existed in the world. [....]" [Based on article (The Birth of Religion / We used to think agriculture gave rise to cities and later to writing, art, and religion. Now the world’s oldest temple suggests the urge to worship sparked civilization.) by Charles C. Mann - NGM, June 2011]
*Link: http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2011/06/gobekli-tepe/mann-text
