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The Garden of Eden is the biblical garden of God described in the Book of Genesis. The narrative surrounds Adam and Eve, who are placed there to guard the Tree of Life, before being tempted by a serpent to eat from a forbidden tree – a move that saw them expelled and later killed. Many have searched for its location based on clues given in the biblical text but the age-long question may have had a clear answer from day one.

The Book of Genesis gives a clue that the Garden of Eden is located in southern Mesopotamia, now known as Iraq. It references the rivers of Tigris and Euphrates, suggesting the head of the Persian Gulf could be a likely location. However, when archaeologists excavated the area, they were left shocked, it was revealed during Morgan Freeman’s “The Story of God” series. He said in 2017: “It’s an 11,000-year-old site that lies between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.

The site is known as Gobekli Tepe

Archaeologist Lee Clare uncovered the bizarre statues

t’s an 11,000-year-old site that lies between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers Morgan Freeman

“The biblical location of Eden – but it’s called Gobekli Tepe.” Mr Freeman then spoke to Lee Clare, an archaeologist from the University of Cologne who leads the team trying to get to the bottom of the mystery. Dr Clare said: “We are now in enclosure D, the best preserved that we have here. “So we’ve had radiocarbon data and they’ve come back as 9,400 BC. “There are two central pillars that stand in the middle of a round oval building and on the wall surrounding it, at regular intervals, we see smaller ’T’ pillars."

The site was discovered in the Middle East

A number of T-shaped pillars were uncovered

Dr Clare revealed the statues may be significant. He added: “They could be men or they could be gods. “The 'T' is the head, and then we have on the side an arm coming down, you can see a belt buckle. “They could be the first Gods that people worshipped.” The discovery comes after a similar claim was made after a finding at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Archaeologist Jodi Magness claimed the place where Jesus was crucified was also the apparent burial place for Adam.

Dr Magness added that this meant the Garden of Eden was actually a metaphor for the presence of God. She said in 2017: “Well, the version of the story that ended up in the Book of Genesis seems to place the Garden of Eden somewhere in Mesopotamia. “But I think Adam had a very special connection with Jerusalem. “The Garden of Eden, or Paradise, becomes conceptualised as the spot where the presence of God dwells. “In early Judaism and the time of Jesus the presence of God dwelled in the temple, and hence why Jerusalem was conceived of as Eden [at that time].”

Archaeologist Lee Clare belies there are secrets in the pillars