***Editie online: Anul nr. III

februarie 14, 2025

TURKEY- FPAD JOURNALIST Tülay Çetinkaya Saraçoğlu- First-hand response to speculations about Göbeklitepe

A NEW ARTICLE SERIES FROM HABER.DK:  TÜLAY ÇETİNKAYA WROTE SARAÇOĞLU

SOURCES: https://haber.dk/gobeklitepe-hakkindaki-spekulasyonlara-birinci-agizdan-yanit-1/35515

The Stone Hills Project Coordinator and Karahantepe and Göbeklitepe Excavation Director Prof. Dr. Necmi Karul responded to the speculations about “Göbeklitepe”, the oldest known historical structure in the world. Prof. Dr. Necmi Karul will enlighten our readers in this seven-part article series through our newspaper Haber.dk.

Recently, various speculations have begun to be made about the excavations at Göbeklitepe and other excavations in the region, such as ‘the excavations were stopped by external forces’, ‘they are trying to close the excavations by planting trees in Göbeklitepe’, ‘aliens built Göbeklitepe.

Our friend Tülay Çetinkaya Saraçoğlu, who went to the region to convey the speculations about the excavations to our readers from the most authoritative source, spoke with Taş Tepeler Project Coordinator and Karahantepe and Göbeklitepe Excavation Director Prof. Dr. Necmi Karul.

Karul gave a clear response to the speculations and said:

Have the Göbeklitepe excavations been stopped?

“No, the excavations at Göbeklitepe were never stopped. As you know, the excavations there started in 1994 and continued uninterrupted until Klaus Schmidt passed away in 2014. Later, in 2017, the Göbeklitepe Research Commission was established. This process was already a process of inclusion in UNESCO and also included the establishment of a protective roof over Göbeklitepe.

his broad-based commission consisted of approximately 20 people, only 3 of whom were Turkish scientists; the others were representatives of various international universities. Small-scale conservation work continued between 2017 and 2019, and excavations resumed at Göbeklitepe in parallel with Karahantepe in 2019. Excavations are currently under the supervision of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.

Prof. Dr. Necmi Karul. Photo: Tülay Çetinkaya Saraçoğlu/Haber.dk

Archaeological excavations, by their nature, can pause between certain seasons. This is a necessary process for the analysis and accurate documentation of the findings. Excavations have never been interrupted. Archaeological excavations can usually be carried out during certain months of the year, depending on weather conditions. Moreover, it takes two or three times as long as the excavation to transform the remains and archaeological artifacts that are excavated into scientific knowledge. If this process is not done, the excavation will be just excavation.

Theoretically, it is possible to excavate continuously for 12 months, but this may only be the case in special cases. For example, during a rescue excavation, when a sudden discovery is encountered, or when a construction activity, road construction, pipeline laying or dam construction requires it, continuous work can be done. However, there are stages in a scientific archaeological excavation, and excavation is only one of these stages. Those who conduct excavations are academics. These academics work either in institutes or universities. Experts also work in these institutions, and students are students. The main duty of academics is not the excavation site.

Nowhere in the world would an academic be paid by a university to conduct excavations for 12 months. If academics did not do this job, you would not be able to obtain quality information from the excavations; that excavation would be limited to excavation only. An archaeological site is being excavated here, and the necessary care and time must be spent to understand this area in all its details. Otherwise, the work done would not be science.”

Göbeklitepe continues to attract great interest as a scientific research center at national and international levels, and studies are carried out accordingly.


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