What is Goebekli Tepe | Klaus Schmidt | TEDxPrague 

RIP Herr Professor Klaus Schmidt; your marvelous work at Gobekli Tepe will never be forgotten.

He died 12 days after this video was uploade and to hear him saying "I hope we work on G.T. for many many years" gives me a deep feeling of sadness. Just wanted to share this though :)

"We are not changing human history, but we are adding a chapter. A very important chapter" - Schmidt Just simply brilliant. RIP.

Rest in peace, Professor Schmidt. He was a good man and above all a good researcher. In Sanliurfa, the city where Gobekli Tepe located, even most of the uneducated people were aware of his work. He got everyone's admiration back in Turkey. He will never be forgotten.

Professor Klaus Schmidt was a wonderful commited human being. A good man. Hard working and very knowledgeable. He will be missed by many. God bless you sir.

Klaus Schmidt was The Man. He followed where the evidence led and broadened our historical horizons. Big Up.

One of the most important archeological finds ever, 4 years later with only 28k views >.>, and no curriculums amended, what...?

And special thanks to the villager; the owner of the field that found the first evidences and worked for the excavations. He finds a few good pieces in 1986 and takes them to the city museum. The chef of the museum (he was not an archaeologist) says they are just limestone, so do not worth anything. Then the old villager feels disappointed and does not want to take it back to the village since they were heavy and wants to throw them away. The chief says well, let's leave them inside the storage. 6 years later, Mr. Schmidt sees them and the story begins.

Whoever filmed this, didn't do Klaus' presentation justice, I would have liked to see more of his examples and data.

what an incredible man, so lucky he found the site and shattered some of the old guards views on history. to think he died 2 weeks after this video was made back in 2014. He talked about his excitement for the future for many years to come, not realising 2 weeks later he would be gone from this world. It demonstrates nobody when their time has come and we should live our lives to the full. RIP Professor Klaus Schmidt , thank you

What an incredible history-changing find ! Archaeologists , Geologists and other scientists with the aid of Philanthropic Billionaires around the world need to pursue the excavation to unravel the mystery of this site. At 11.600 years ago , this was the beginning of us coming out of the Ice Age. Thank you , Klaus Schmidt !

R.I.P. Klaus Schmidt. Your contribution to understanding human history is revelatory and won't be forgot.

Refreshing to listen to a serious scientific approach on this most significant discovery. Far too many exploit archeology for greedy self promotion. Herr Schmidt is to be respected and taken seriously. Rest in Peace and thank you for your work.

it is impossible to ignore the passion and excitement of Klaus in the presantation. obviously his job done with desire. and he gave us this magnificent masterpiece. we need more people like Klaus in the all business. thank you Klaus.

So sad this brilliant man is gone. 😿 Thank the gods for Ted talks.

R.I.P. Klaus, you found the site that won the fight over inaccuracy of our human history timeline, that means of coarse You Rock! 😎👍

I had the honor of meeting him at Sunrise at the site about a year before. Such a powerful place! So incredibly energized. The whole thing is amazing! Go and visit!

This man is my inspiration. RIP.

To me the most valuable aspect of this presentation is this man's perspective about new information. For many years archaeology tended to cling to narratives of how history unfolded. This discovery could have been excavated with such a narrative guiding the thought, and perhaps there are some, but I think this fine individual would be able to step outside of them, without being ridiculous. He has his eyes open.

Respect from Turkey, rest in peace.

Utterly astounding site. And the fact that it was buried so meticulously, which in and of itself is almost as astounding as the pillars and carvings themselves, is almost beyond human comprehension. Can one imagine the labor force required to not only erect and build these enclosures, but the labor required to then bury it all a thousand years later??? Wow....that's all I can say......wow!

Herr Professor Schmidt, you were a gift from whatever Goddess watches us all. You changed the world. You freed the minds of Billions (with a 'B'), from the vague and plausible. It is clear for the world to see who we were and from whence we came. I will see you upon that great voyage in the great beyond. There I hope we get to find those answers that eluded us all for that twinkling we called life.

All men die, not all men Live. Professor Schmidt died while doing the work he Loved.

Bless this man. Truly an incredible thinker. RIP.

On a personal note to Tedx... Put the conversationalists face in a picture-in-picture, in a corner would be appropriate. Focusing on the presenters face as photo, evidence, example roll past unseen by the viewers online is hugely frustrating. You have got to be tech savvy enough to correct this. Jr. High school students, of which I have 2 grandchildren that age, can adjust to present this in a more appropriate format. All due respect, Peace.

Ah man he has/had that lovely cheerful German old man vibe about him, clearly loved his work 🙏

Professor Schmidt, we thanks to you for your great work in göbeklitepe, rest in peace..

🤔 *If this discovery doesn't **_CHANGE_** history then I don't know what would, exactly...* 😞 (Rest In Peace, Herr Schmidt.)

Convincing testimony, he was very proud of his accomplishment.

Wow it’s him!!! How cool that this ted talk exists! Thanks for always believing and rest in peace!!!

Thank you Klausi! The prime example of what a modern scientist should be, as opposed to what most are thanks to dogmas, ideologies & egos. Follow the evidence wherever it leads you, not wherever you want it to go.

You can feel his passion and enthusiasm. We always lose the best when we need them for a longer period.

RIP Klaus Schmidt, you’r work will forever be remembered for unearthing such a critical part of our timeline of our human species , may you rest in peace brother may you not be forgotten through the ages.

It makes me happy that for anyone interested in Göbekli Tepe, it seems there is great respect for Klaus. Wherever you see videos on it, always people paying respects. Much respect for your passion and dedication, giving to us what many consider the greatest finding of human history to date, I admire your humble view of yourself in the face of something so amazing.

The biggest find in our history. Question everything.

Growing up in southern Turkey(southern Anatolia) near the Mediterranean shores, as kid I would find all kinds of Roman artifacts where eve I played . Sometimes we would make them goal post and if we found something decent like an old key I found once we would bring it to the museum near by. Greeks and Roman artifacts are what is still close to the surface but I always felt there much much more deep underneath. This place partially proves my gut instinct I guess.

This is the best TED talk I've seen, a real expert talking about a real subject of profound interest in understanding our past.

I am grateful to this man who contributed to Göbeklitepe the world's oldest place I live in Turkey.

Greatest work so far. Klaus Schmidt seemed like a great guy.

Rest in peace sir. I'm sure you have inspired us enough that someone somewhere will surely keep spinning the wheel🙏❤️

Fascinating. 17 minutes went by so fast! I'm watching it again.

He was a great archaeologist and a kind person, a rare exemple of open minded scientist. We miss him a lot

Rest in peace Prof. Schmidt. He is the first who realized the importance of the site. Gobeklitepe changed the known history. Thank you for this great work. Greetings from Turkey.

Thank you for all your work, Herr Professor Schmidt. I wish this place had been found when I was in Turkey in the 80's, so I could have visited. RIP, sir.

TEDex, it's really nice when he talk about picture and you're showing just him. Thanks! Make sense.

I have no interest whatsoever in TED-like experiences. Most TED-talks seem almost cult'-like to me. But I really like this guy. He seems to have been a genuine, serious, scientific archaeologist without the narcissism so present in many TED talks.

So amazing! I pray that when he died he went back to ancient goebekli tepe. I imagine him in eternity walking all over the site and in his glory! Let it be!

A great discovery by a great man. RIP prof and thanks for all your hard work.

This is even more mind-boggling when seen in proper perspective; that the time between the rise of Rome and now is only 1/6th of the age of this site.

Thank you Doctor Schmidt and R.I.P. We all wait in anticipation of the wonders yet to be discovered when the other parts are excavated. GT will become yet an even greater Turkish ancient wonder.

A very enigmatic piece of archeology. What was the environment like when they founded it? Why was it so special, compared to other places? How are such primitive people so productive that they had time for this? Utterly fascinating!

So much symbology from even more ancient times...I would like to inherit his enthusiasm!

RiP Klaus. Thanks for your contributions to that project.

Amazing discussion, thanks for posting. This is REAL news :-)

Rest in peace klaus you are still an inspiration I will not let sadness slow my pace In life as did you

History of mankind must be rewritten because of the great work of Prof.dr. Schmidt. I hope that his work will be continued. Chapeau and thanks Klaus.

RIP Klaus! For you: Göbekli Tepe is a school. Pillar 43 is simply a map of the Levant. Part of Jordan, all of Lebanon, most of Syria, and part of Turkey. The Vulture is the Golan Heights and the Scorpion is the mountains to the right of the Golan Heights that are shaped like a scorpion. You can see it on your phone. The dog at the bottom left of the pillar is the mountains to the right of the Dead Sea. They are totally shaped like a dog with a square face and legs. The top of the pillar depicts the Mt Lebanon Mountains (the square “belt” is the Beqaa Valley) then up to the Mediterranean (the three curling waves are a tsunami tossing man, large beast, small beast down the coast…the flood) with the very top of the pillar depicting the mountains of Cyprus in the distance. The bird on the right is the Euphrates River (the Euphrates has long straight “legs”), with the square tail end of the fish being Harran. It is a physical map. Each animal or shape is a separate mountain/water structure: food, shelter, fresh water. They are all positioned and oriented correctly which is why a good map is easy to prove. We still navigate around the same earthly structures today. Göbekli Tepe is a school and this was a map of their country in a classroom. Honestly, I had an Indiana Jones moment about a month ago and wanted to share it with the world. It is a map: no astrology, astronomy, religion, or aliens I promise. Note: Göbekli Tepe means “Potbelly Hill” and that’s how it would have be drawn on a map…like the Jordan River being drawn as a snake on the pillar!

Klaus, I guess you are one of the people whose name will be much more known after your life than during it. Thanks for your work.

RIP ........Thank you for your contribution

It breaks my heart that we lost him so young. Since I'm his age it feels young indeed. What a blessed brilliant man.

RIP Sir your contribution is unmatched and has been invaluable. Sorry Klaus but GT is changing history.

Building something like that doesn't just come out of a vacuum. Convincing people to cooperate and build something like this is difficult today, requiring a vast amount of knowledge that has been perfected over hundreds of years. The people who built this started on this hundreds if not thousands of years before this place was constructed. Many milestones will have to be reached in human perception and knowledge before someone imagined this, and many more generations would have passed until everyone else working on it saw things the same way. So this is indeed a very significant fine. It suggests that humans developed these ideas during the ice age. But why? Why think like this when survival is difficult enough for the people of this region. Its easy for us today to know the advantages, but they didn't know.

your Legacy in Archaeology will never be forgotten Herr Professor..

Klaus gave us all a gift. I hope he was given all the answers he sought.

Professor Schmidt: Thank you for the loving dedication you brought to your labours! What good fortune to have directed the work at Göbekli Tepe for so long. This unique set of sites has challenged and changed how we have told our story. You are missed.

Wow. Life's work in 17 minutes.

Thank you. A marvellous talk and brilliant work. Inspiring in so many ways!

Iconic lover of the Human story. May your spirit prevail and inspire.

Reading ‘’ God’’ by Resa Aslan and in chapter 3 he mentions some of Prof Schmidts findings to build on his theories. Excellent talk

Much respect to this mans work! Rip.

How I wish I could go back in time and feast with this people back at Goebekli Tepe!

Sorry I didn't know schmit passed on my apology with great sincerity

RIP KLAUS!!!! Our times greatest discoverer!!!

Спасибо, уважаемый Клаус, за открытый новый древний мир! Царствие Небесное!

Klaus Schmidt, a team player. If archaeologists have awards, one should be named after Klaus Schmidt. My interpretation of the site is first, an annual meeting place for farming groups. Like an annual show day. Show off your best livestock, build your best art and chat about the latest things then have a few beers and feast. Then do it again the next year. Then it stopped and was deliberately filled in and covered over. Two, the groups had to move on physically or psychologically and wanted to bury the past in a funerary way. Then came grain, and another chapter.

From what I've seen so far, Gobekli Tepe was a group of structures similar to the dakhma, or "towers of silence" used in Zoroastrianism to conduct "sky burials", or the stripping of flesh from dead bodies by scavenger animals in a sort of circle of life ritual. The "T" pillars were probably designed to host vultures that would swoop down and consume the flesh from headless bodies placed out for them. The heads were most likely removed from the bodies for preparation/plastering before the bodies were cut up for easier flesh removal by the scavenger animals, given that the "T" pillars had no heads, and that ritualistically altered human skull fragments were found at the site.

I realize he cannot defend his statement. Yet I must say Gobekli does appear to change history. It is perfectly understandable that Schmidt would begin by defending mainstream academia . After all this excavation cemented his legacy within that structure.

He was ahead of his time and ahead of archeology. Fantastic. His work will be remembered forever.

You have to go to the original name of the site to understand the naming of it. In Armenian it is called the "Belly button hill". There are other ancient sites in the world which are also named in the same way, and I think this is the key with which we may be able to understand the message and meaning of the site.

Yes, Professor Klaus Schmidt will go down in history for this discovery, I can't wait to visit Goebekli Tepe.

A very humble sounding man!! So glad I was put in connection with this site!

The T-shaped Stones. Could have been pillars supporting a woorden roof structure.

RIP Great One and thank you for changing history

Ich spreche ein klein Deutch. Ich habe liebe im mein heart for all the marvelous things you have done. I am just this minute learning of your existence because my oldest son sent me the link. Please honor your elders. Blessings in many ways in all places. Walk among the stars, Herr Schmidt.

I hope its all uncovered in my lifetime

He at least passed away doing what he loved doing, what better way to live life to the fullest extent in that death can't stop him teaching us what he believed in and loved. Long may his teachings live . And now he has his answers to all his questions, I believe that.

Good talk! This monolithic site is extremely important. It’s practically a guarden of eden: science project edition.

Going to Göbekli Tepe tomorrow. I will be thinking of you when I'm there Proffesor Klaus❤️

@ 7.50 In the centre it's a picture of grinding stone still we use in Tamilnadu (southern India) & Srilanka. The base stone is called Ammi & the cylindrical stone placed above it is kuzhavi. We still use in our village kitchen to make chutney or to grind spices. Very surprised to see this was used in gobekli tepe. One etymologist also has prooved about the connection between Tamils & Go bekli tepe.(channel name: Tamil chinthanaiyalar peravai) Looking at this Tool it is possible that there is connection between the two civilisations.

These structures, the carvings and the overall layout of the location, betray a level of technical sophistication thought impossible for hunter gatherer peoples. Peoples, and times, thought to be vastly unsophisticated, especially when juxtaposed against our modern era. Yet here the structures stand, in sharp relief to our current educated beliefs. Consider that such structures, the bare bones remnants of an apparent elaboration we cannot yet conceive, could not have sprung fully developed from such a people overnight. The education required to attain that level of sophistication, the ability to carve stone, the logistical effort in transporting them, feeding and caring for the people while undertaking the work, takes considerable societal time and effort. This was no mere cobbling together of efforts from an disparate band of hunter gatherers coming together for a party (so to speak). They represent an accretion of knowledge and talents that signal a complex larger culture that must have existed for a considerable amount of time beforehand. The reality of Gobekli Tepi, along with the megalithic structures being uncovered sprinkled all across the planet, lays bare the proof that there is more to human history, from that point and receding further into deep time, than we currently understand. What may unfold via this research, and all the rest elsewhere, is to me quite fascinating. We seem to be, as a species, an amnesiac; one who has discovered a diary and is now looking into it at wonder at the person they appear to have been before their memory was wiped. John~ American Net'Zen

So sad to have lost you! You are an idol to many....love what you did in your lifetime...RIP dear friend.....you made your mark for sure!

Thank you for your huge efforts! We won't forget you and your efforts.

Changed my life. He and Graham Hancock and Randall Carlson are nipping at the heels of changing history. Who will be the next champion of the Truth?

I have always wondered if the Middle-Eastern traditions of the "Flood Story" were some kind of collective folk memory of the end of the ice age.

Thank you Herr schmidt as a turkish woman for your Great effort to reveal this amazing site and giving to the humanity. Never be forgotten. ❤️

Glückauf, Herr Professor! Hoffentlich Auf Wiedersehen!

It was a 'pre-pottery' people, yet what was created was way more difficult than creating pottery. Hmmm...

R.I.P. Klaus Schmidt a brilliant man Does anybody know who will lead the excavation in Goebekli Tepe now that Schmidt has sadly passed away??

seems the thumbnail to this TedxPrague post tells the ENTIRE story here: "hunter-gatherers," who can move five thousand pound portions of stone thirty miles and carve images on it with FOUND mereorite iron bits. the millstone device wuz a NICE touch! ..thanx for saving me the TIME!

MO is that Gobekli was a brewery/winery and entertainment center, the worlds first beer garden. When home brewing or smaller village brewing along with grain agriculture was developed, the need for a centralized brewery/winery was lost.