An historic archaeological web site meets conspiracy theories — and Joe Rogan

GOBEKLI TEPE, Turkey — Tour information Sabahattin Alkan herds curious vacationers by means of the scorching afternoon warmth, luring them with the promise of one thing far stranger than your typical trip snap.

“Over here on the right, you see a spaceship landed recently,” he says with a smile.

He is joking. Largely. However extra on that in a minute.

We’re within the Urfa plain, a dry, dusty stretch about 25 miles from the Turkish-Syrian border.

That “spaceship” is definitely only a curved roof. However what lies beneath the dome has sparked many years of thriller, curiosity — and conspiracy.

“It’s quite an interesting place, actually,” Alkan assures his viewers.

He is speaking about Gobekli Tepe, one of many oldest identified archaeological websites on Earth, relationship again practically 12,000 years.

Alkan factors to T-shaped limestone pillars carved with human arms, fingers resting on stomachs, and wild animals: lions, foxes, boars, scorpions and birds amongst them.

Klaus Schmidt, the German archaeologist who led the positioning’s first main excavations within the Nineteen Nineties, referred to as Gobekli Tepe “the world’s oldest temple,” theorizing that it introduced collectively nomadic hunter-gatherers from throughout the Center East.

As we speak, that view has shifted. Some now interpret it as a ceremonial gathering web site, whereas others counsel it functioned as a social hub the place rituals helped bind collectively early communities.

Emilie Salvesen, a tour operator visiting the positioning, says the query of whether or not there was a non secular element to the positioning nonetheless fascinates her.

“Did they experience the divine in the way that we might think of it today?” she asks, gesturing towards one of many inscribed pillars. “I imagine it was much more existential.”

The reality? Nonetheless largely a thriller.

Scientists are repeatedly adjusting their hypotheses concerning the web site’s supposed goal. And it is not a straightforward investigation.

“Whatever we tell now, I don’t know if it will be accurate information or not, because maybe our idea will change in another 50 years,” Alkan says. “We’re trying to predict 12,000 years ago.”

However that uncertainty has thrown the door huge open for one particular group searching for solutions: conspiracy theorists.

Conspiracy theories take root — with assist from Joe Rogan

Graham Hancock, a British journalist and star of the controversial Netflix collection Historic Apocalypse, has theorized — with out empirical proof — that Gobekli Tepe was constructed by a “lost civilization” worn out by an Ice Age cataclysm.

As soon as confined to the fringes, theories like Hancock’s have gained mainstream traction — thanks largely to Joe Rogan, whose massively in style podcast has develop into a platform for different takes on science and historical past.

In November 2024, one other Gobekli Tepe conspiracy theorist, Jimmy Corsetti, a YouTuber and self-described “ancient history investigator,” appeared on Rogan’s podcast, bringing with him a slew of speculations and wild theories concerning the web site.

Amongst them, Corsetti accused archaeologists of deliberately dragging their ft and hiding key discoveries concerning the web site.

“We’re talking about pillars buried in dirt. It’s 2024. Don’t tell me we don’t have the technology!” Corsetti informed Rogan.

Corsetti accused archaeologists of shifting slowly on goal, maybe to protect the thriller and maintain the curious vacationers coming.

Solely a small proportion of the positioning has been dug up since excavations started within the mid-Nineteen Nineties. And with Rogan’s platform behind them, theorists like Corsetti have helped flip that sluggish progress right into a supply of world suspicion.

A scientist responds

Lee Clare, an archaeologist who has led the excavation web site for over a decade, has heard all of it — together with the outlandish theories.

Talking from his workplace in Istanbul, with the Bosporus glinting behind him, Clare shrugs off the conspiracists.

“Some of these guys go to the site for half an hour and think they can explain the whole site,” he says of the budding conspiracy theorists.

On the subject of Gobekli Tepe, Clare says archaeologists aren’t hiding something. They’re attempting to guard it.

“You can’t just bulldoze a site to get everything out. That’s the wrong approach,” he says.

In different phrases, archaeology strikes slowly for a cause. Each layer tells a part of the story. And when you dig by means of every layer, it is gone for good, as are its secrets and techniques.

“Why would I be so selfish as to dig the entire site … and take these possibilities away from future generations of archaeologists?”

Clare says he grew up enjoying with toy dinosaurs and at all times needed to be an archaeologist. He by no means anticipated to finish up the goal of conspiracy theories. However right here we’re.

“It goes onto the personal level as well,” he says, which is why he deleted his social media accounts.

“I want to stay sane in this situation.”

12,000 years of storytelling

The true hazard right here is not simply misinformation, in accordance with Clare. It is that these competing narratives threat drowning out the actual story, the one scientists have spent many years attempting to correctly decode.

“There are a lot of narratives out there about Gobekli Tepe. The question is, whose narrative is correct? And I think we’ll never know.”

One of many few issues scientists do know for certain?

Gobekli Tepe is proof that people have been storytellers relationship again a minimum of 12,000 years.

The carvings on the T-shaped pillars — the lions, foxes and fingers — they’re all tales.

We simply do not know what they are saying. Gobekli Tepe stands out as the first place people come collectively to share which means.

And like all good tales, this one’s nonetheless open to interpretation.