Hints of Skull Cult Found at World's Oldest Temple
Carved human skull fragments from a Stone Age archaeological site hint at a surprisingly complex culture.
Around 10,000 years ago, the already striking presence of Göbekli Tepe in southeastern Turkey could have been even more impressive—as human skulls might have dangled in what is considered the world's oldest temple.
According to new research published in Science Advances, three Neolithic skull fragments discovered by archaeologists at Göbekli Tepe show evidence of a unique type of post-mortem skull modification at the site.
(Read more about Göbekli Tepe, the "world's oldest temple.")
The deep, purposeful linear grooves are a unique form of skull alteration never before seen anywhere in the world in any context, says Julia Gresky, lead author on the study and an anthropologist at the German Archaeological Institute in Berlin. Detailed analysis with a special microscope shows
