Archaeologists discover world’s oldest calendar that could rewrite birth of civilization

Archaeologists have discovered what is thought to be the world’s oldest calendar.

Etched in a 12,000-year-old stone pillar at the mysterious Göbekli Tepe site in Turkey, experts say it could rewrite our timeline of civilization.

The timekeeping system strongly suggests ancient humans had accurate ways to keep time 10,000 years before it was documented in Ancient Greece in 150 BC.

Another find exciting researchers is that the carvings depict a comet strike that caused a mini ice age for 1,200 years, which wiped out large animals and galvanized agricultural development and complex societies.  

Researchers at the University of Edinburgh counted 365 days of 12 lunar months with 11 additional days, believing each ‘V’ marking on the pillar stood for one day (pictured)

Experts said the memorialized event served as the defining moment that forced the ancient people to switch from hunter-gatherer lifestyles to more permanent settlements. 

Dr Martin Sweatman, of the University of Edinburgh’s School of Engineering, who led the research, said: ‘It appears the inhabitants of Göbekli Tepe were keen observers of the sky, which is to be expected given their world had been devastated by a comet strike. 

‘This event might have triggered civilization by initiating a new religion and by motivating developments in agriculture to cope with the cold climate. 

‘Possibly, their attempts to record what they saw are the first steps towards the development of writing millennia later.’

The Gobekli Tepe site is the oldest man-made structure ever found.

It was constructed between 9,600 and 8,200 BC, predating Stonehenge by more than 6,000 years.

The site features several stone pillars and after a recent analysis, researchers a the University of Edinburgh in Scotland concluded one structure was carved to be a calendar.

The pillar featured a ‘V’ symbol to represent a single day, which the team found 365 etched throughout.

The structure also included 12 lunar months with 11 additional days.

The pillar was divided into two sections with rows of ‘V’ symbols at the top and smaller box symbols in the lower main portion which shows a bird holding a circular disc symbol above a scorpion.

Researchers discovered the pillar at the Göbekli Tepe archaeological site in southern Turkey

The researchers discovered the solar calendar on pillars from a 12,000-year-old archaeological site (pictured)

According to the study, published in Time and Mind, the pillar features a disc that represents the sun and the scorpion is representative of the Greek Scorpion constellation.

The team also identified a tall bird bending down toward a wriggling snake, which could depict the autumnal constellation Ophiuchus.

The discovery has suggested that people recorded dates using precession, the wobble in Earth’s axis which affects the movement of constellations across the sky.

It was long believed that the ancient Greeks were the first to use this method in 150 BC. 

But the main discovery was that the ancient inhabitants memorialized a catastrophic comet strike.

The team has long been working at the site and determined in a 2021 study that the comet struck around 13,000 years ago based on high levels of platinum and nanodiamonds that form during high-energy explosions from comets.

Pictured: The Nebra sky-disc found in Germany which displays symbols for the sun, moon, Pleiades and a possible comet

This celestial event occurs when a comet’s orbit crosses Earth causing the objects to collide which can have large and impactful consequences. 

Researchers compared the pillar carvings to symbols found on other ancient artifacts to confirm that the newest discovery did represent a solar calendar and the pivotal comet strike.

This included a sky-disc artifact from the second millennium BC in Germany showing the sun, moon and the Pleiades – a star cluster in the Taurus constellation – that is believed to measure the summer and winter solstice.

Yet, it’s the final feature at the bottom of the disc that displayed a long, curved shape with parallel lines that could have represented a comet, the study said.

Researchers reported that the newest carvings showed similar comet fragment symbols that originated from the Aquarius and Pisces constellations.

The Gobekli Tepe site is known as the oldest city every found, being constructed 9,600 and 8,200 BC, which predates Stonehenge by more than 6,000 years

The comet fragments crashed to Earth nearly 13,000 years ago – around 10,850 BC – and wiped out several large animal species, marking the largest comet strike since the event that killed off the dinosaurs 66 million years ago.

The elimination of the animals is thought to have triggered agricultural changes that created more complex societies that gave birth to the beginnings of modern-day civilization in the fertile crescent which is made up of countries known today as Egypt, Iraq and Lebanon.

The team also uncovered a second pillar that depicted the Taurid meteor stream that lasted 27 days and is thought to be the source of the comet fragments.