The timekeeping system, unearthed at the Gobekli Tepe site in mountains of Anatolia in Turkey, suggests people were accurately recording dates 10,000 years before it was documented in Greece in 150 BC.
Archaeologists at Edinburgh University have stumbled upon the world's oldest calendar, a 12,000 year old timekeeping system carved into an ancient pillar, at the Gobekli Tepe site in Turkey's Anatolia mountains.
The ancient calendar also outlines 12 lunar months plus an extra 11 days, according to the researchers. Moreover, the engravings seem to portray a catastrophic comet strike that is thought to have exterminated large animals 13,000 years ago and led to a mini ice age lasting 1,200 years. Dr Martin Sweatman from the University of Edinburgh's School of Engineering, who spearheaded the study, commented: "It appears the inhabitants of Gobekli Tepe were keen observers of the sky, which is to be expected given their world had been devastated by a comet strike.
The Gobekli Tepe site, home to the oldest man-made monuments known to mankind, was established by hunter-gatherers between 9,600 and 8,200 BC, which astonishingly puts it over 6,000 years ahead of Stonehenge in the historical timeline. For years, the true purpose of the monument has eluded scholars, but the consensus is that it was likely a site for ceremonial practices, possibly including funerals.
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