A rare image of the Great Pyramid of Giza and the Sphinx still buried beneath the surface. Shutterstock.
More than 7,000 years before the oldest of the Egyptian pyramids were built, a mysterious people—now lost to history—who lived during the last Ice Age managed to quarry, transport, and place into position multi-ton stones weighing between 20 to 50 tons, successfully constructing what is now considered the oldest, most complex megalithic temple anywhere in the world. This was done at a time when pottery, metallurgy, writing and the wheel were not even invented yet. How did they do it?
Many people usually believe that the largest most impressive ancient buildings on Earth were built when the Great Pyramid of Giza was constructed. According to mainstream experts, the largest of the three main pyramids at Giza was erected during the Fourth Dynasty reign of King Khufu, around 4,500 years ago. The Great Pyramid is one of the most impressive ancient structures on the planet, and not just because of its towering 138.8-meter height.
Archaeological surveys of the pyramid suggest its builders made use of more than 2.3 million blocks of stone and built the pyramid in two decades from bottom to top. The 2.3 million blocks of stone involved in the constitution of the pyramid mean that the ancient monument has an average weight of around 6.5 million tons. Egyptologists estimate that to build just the one pyramid, ancient Egyptians made use of an estimated 5.5 million tons of limestone, around 8,000 tons of granite—this was imported from Aswan, more than 800 kilometers away—and around 500,000 tons of mortar.
The Great Pyramid of Giza remained the largest manmade structure on the surface of the planet for more than 3,800 years after completion, and never again was a pyramid larger compared to it built in Egypt. The second-largest pyramid in Egypt and the second-largest at the Giza plateau is the pyramid of Khafre. In terms of precision and alignment, the great pyramid also remained unmatched. Based on precision measurements of the pyramid by Egyptologist Sir Flinders Petrie (1880-1882), the accuracy of the pyramid’s workmanship is such that its sides have an average error of only 58 millimeters in length. The Great Pyramid of Giza also happened to be the only eight-sided pyramid in existence, and the structure reflects a plethora of mathematics formulas.
For example., it was found that the ratio of the perimeter-to-height of 1760/280 Egyptian Royal cubits equates to 2π to an accuracy of better than 0.05 percent (corresponding to the well-known approximation of π as 22/7). This was, supposedly, something that the builders of the pyramid were unaware of. The exact means by which the pyramids of Egypt were built remains a historical enigma since no written records have ever been found that describe how the stones were cut, transported, mounted into position. It also remains disrupted as tho how the ancient Egyptian managed to move—with great ease—multi-ton stones without the knowledge of technologies such as the wheel. This is some 4,500 years ago.
The only “details” we do have of the construction of the Great Pyramid of Giza comes more than 1,500 years after the pyramid was built.
An image of the Great Pyramid of Giza and the Sphinx at sunset. Shutterstock.
In 440 BC, Greek writer and historian Herodotus described an alleged building technique by which the Egyptians managed to raise stones to great heights. More than being a technique, Herodotus describes a machine. This device is known today as the Herodotus machine.
The pyramid was built in steps, battlement-wise, as it is called, or, according to others, altar-wise. After laying the stones for the base, they raised the remaining stones to their places by means of machines formed of short wooden planks. The first machine raised them from the ground to the top of the first step. On this, there was another machine, which received the stone upon its arrival and conveyed it to the second step, whence a third machine advanced it still higher. Either they had as many machines as there were steps in the pyramid, or possibly they had but a single machine, which, being easily moved, was transferred from tier to tier as the stone rose — both accounts are given and therefore I mention both. The upper portion of the Pyramid was finished first, then the middle and finally the part which was lowest and nearest to the ground.
Whether this was the case remains a profound mystery, but as far as ancient records, this is the best thing we’ve got when it comes down to explaining how such massive stones were moved and placed into position.
But what if we go back further in history, to a time when the Great Pyramid of Giza was not even planned? For example, the first Egyptian pyramids is thought to have been the Step Pyramid of Djoser, commissioned during the Third Dynasty, and built by Djoser’s royal vizier and architect Imhotep, a man that would alter in Egyptian history become deified. Although multi-ton stones were used already then, around 4,700 years ago, they were not as heavy as the stones that would later be used in the Fourth Dynasty reign, starting with King Sneferu, who built three truly great pyramids.
But even before Djoser, great monuments were erected around the globe.
The oldest megalithic temple on Earth
Take, for example, an ancient site located in present-day Turkey, in the Southeastern Anatolia Region. There, we find an artificial mound—a so-called Tell—with a diameter of around 300 meters that hides beneath its surface a secret dating back more than 13,000 years. It turns out that way back during the last Ice Age on Earth, there was an organized society living in the region. History tells us that back then, some 13,000 years ago, there were only hunter-gatherers around.
Anyway, this society was pretty advanced, despite history suggesting otherwise. Why were they advanced? Well, because they managed to somehow create what is now considered one of the oldest, most complex ancient temples on Earth. So far, through archaeological surveys, researchers have found more than 200 stone pillars erected in 20 circles.
Each of these pillars has a height of six meters (20 ft) and weighs around 10 tons, although there are some pillars at Göbekli Tepe weighing more than 20 tons. This means that around 13,000 years ago, an organized society saw the need to build something that would stand the test of time. The exact purpose of the entire structure remains a mystery, and experts have excavated only a small portion of the entire site, most of which remains hidden beneath the surface.
An image of one of the multi-ton stones at Göbekli Tepe with animal motifs carved on the surface. Shutterstock.
According to experts, these massive stones were transported by “hunter-gatherers” for bedrock pits located more than 100 meters from the hilltop. Some of the stones may have originated from more distant quarries. Make no mistake, this site is anything but the work of undeveloped stonemasons. Whoever built Göbekli Tepe 13,000 years ago was no amateur. The society that worked on building the ancient site, its stone circles, and intricately decorated (multi-ton) stone pillars excelled in more ways than one.
The site’s importance is attested by the fact that less than 5% of it has been excavated to date. This means that around 13,000 years ago, a now lost society undertook what was then a construction project of unseen proportions.
While the site formally belongs to the earliest Neolithic (PPNA), to date no evidence of domesticated plants or animals have been found at the site. The inhabitants were presumably hunters and gatherers who nevertheless lived in villages. Constructing a site of the size of Göbekli Tepe must have required an organized society that most likely worked in a hierarchy where different people were tasked with different jobs.
Strangely, archaeologists have so far discovered very little evidence for residential use. Through radiocarbon dating, the end of Layer III can be placed at about 9000 BC. Layer III is the lowermost part of Göbekli Tepe buried beneath the surface, and therefore the oldest. However, there is evidence that the site may have even been in function at the very end of the Pleistocene, at around 10,000BC or even older.
In other words, this means that the structure of Göbekli Tepe not only predates the invention of pottery, metallurgy, but even writing and the wheel. Göbekli Tepe was therefore built at a time when agriculture and animal husbandry were not around. These are thought to have appeared around 9,000 BC.
The implications of Göbekli Tepe in the history of civilization are not yet fully understood. The existence of such a massive, well-developed site implies, as acknowledged by some experts, organization of an advanced order not hitherto associated with Paleolithic, PPNA, or PPNB societies.
Early estimates suggest that more than 500 people were needed to extract some of the pillars from local quarries and transport them cross distances training from 100 to 500 meters.
The site of the pillars is one of Göbekli Tepe’s most mind-bending features: some pillars weigh up to 20 tons, and there is one pillar still inside its quarry that has an estimated weight of 50 tons.
Exactly how these people managed to quarry and transport stones weighing 20 to 50 tons without the use of technologies such as the wheel remains one of the greatest unacknowledged archaeological mysteries of our time.
Göbekli Tepe is regarded as an archaeological discovery of such importance that it could deeply alter the very roots of history, helping understand and even rewrite a crucial stage in the development of human society. That’s why Ian Hodder’s quote (a researcher at Stanford University), “Göbekli Tepe changes everything” perfectly describes this ancient site.
If we take a look at radiocarbon dates obtained by experts from Göbekli Tepe, and include comparative and stylistically analysis into the equation, then Göbekli Tepe is so fear the oldest-known megalithic temple discovered anywhere in the world.
The importance and complexity of Göbekli Tepe is evident when we compare it to an ancient monument such as the Great Pyramid. For us, it is incredible how some 4,500 years ago the pyramids were built with such massive stones. But Göbekli Tepe was built at least 7,000 years before the pyramids and already then, during the last Ice Age, people on Earth were capable of erecting some of the most incredible ancient monuments in the history of our civilization.
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