Archaeology breakthrough as 'world's oldest calendar' discovered after 12,000 years

By Grace Piercy, News Reporter

The main excavation area of Göbekli Tepe (Image: Göbekli Tepe Project)

Archaeologists have discovered the ‘world’s oldest calendar’, dating back 12,000 years. Göbekli Tepe is a Neolithic archaeological site in Upper Mesopotamia in modern-day Turkey. 

The settlement was inhabited from around 9500 BC to at least 8000 BC during the Pre-Pottery Neolithic. It is famous for its large circular structures, which contain massive stone pillars - among the world’s oldest known megaliths. Much like Stonehenge, Scottish stone circles, and other megaliths, it is thought to have been an ancient way to track the stars and seasons. In Time and Mind, researchers from the University of Edinburgh said that symbols etched onto the pillars signify units of time. They believe one ‘V’ shape indicates a day, with one pillar having 365 marks to make a year.

Map of the pillars and the carvings on pillar 43 (Image: Alistair Coombs)

The summer solstice was marked by the ‘V’ being around the neck of a bird-like figure, thought to represent the constellation in the sky at the time of the solstice. 

Researchers believe the people who made the marks keenly watched the skies after a comet strike around 10,850 BC sparked a mini ice age, which could have led to new beliefs.

Martin Sweatman, who led the research, said: “It appears the inhabitants of Göbekli Tepe were keen observers of the sky. This is to be expected given their world had been devastated by a comet strike.” 

They track lunar and solar cycles, predating similar calendar finds by millennia. One pillar is believed to depict the annual Taurid meteor shower. 

This may reveal an early recognition that the Earth moves through space, thousands of years before the ancient Greeks ‘discovered’ this.

The site is also important for its potential role in social cohesion and religious innovation during the advent of agriculture, which took place in the area around the time the site was built, 12,000 years ago.

Agriculture is believed to have been developed in response to the changing climate, with nomadic groups requiring a more reliable food source due to scarcity. Domesticating plants and animals created a surplus of food, which allowed small settlements to grow into much larger communities.

Sweatman also suggests that this detailed recording of time and celestial events marks “the first steps toward the development of writing,” highlighting a link between astronomy, religion, and societal transformation at the dawn of civilisation.