Friday, November 22, 2019

CANAKKALE, TURKEY—The Anadolu Agency reports that a monument thought to be 8,000 years old has been discovered in northwestern Turkey’s Ugurlu-Zeytinlik mound by a team of researchers led by Burcin Erdogu of Trakya University. The T-shaped monument resembles standing stones at the 10,000-year-old site of Göbekli Tepe, which is located in southeastern Turkey, Erdogu said. He explained that the structure at Ugurlu-Zeytinlik looks like an obelisk made up of two pieces of stone—a four-sided tapering base topped with a pyramidion. The structure is supported by 23-foot-long walls, he added. Erdogu thinks people may have gathered at such monumental structures for activities and rituals. “This structure is an important discovery both for the Aegean islands and western Anatolia,” Erdogu concluded. To read about ritual activity at Göbekli Tepe, go to "Skull Cult at Göbekli Tepe," one of ARCHAEOLOGY's Top 10 Discoveries of 2017.