Cradle of the Gods|失落的文明：土耳其神庙之谜

by Marcus Maurice

Goekli Tepe is now believed to be the world's oldest man-made religious structure.

Over 12,000 years ago, the only humans that roamed the Earth were hunters and gatherers. They would spend every waking moment of their lives looking for food and keeping their families safe. To put this in a historical context, it wasn't until people started learning how to farm that they evolved from the Stone Age. By not having to be concerned with hunting and gathering food for each meal, people had time to invent new things and think. It is commonly accepted that the end of the Stone Age was when religion was created.

In 1995, a German professor of archeology named Klaus Schmidt made an astonishing discovery on the top of a hill in southeastern Turkey called Goekli Tepe. He used ground-penetrating radar to piece together a new way of thinking about cultural evolution. Schmidt believes that coordinated efforts were used to build Goekli Tepe, which is thought to be a place of worship, and these laid the groundwork for complex societies. His theory simply states that religion helped push evolution forward instead of the other way around. If Schmidt is correct in his thinking, he could change history as we now know it.

This month, National Geographic Channel (NGC) investigates whether Schmidt's theory is correct in Cradle of the Gods. They interview renowned experts about prehistoric people and their settlements and constructions. Dr. Jeff Ross also looks at computer- generated imagery about Goekli Tepe. Is Schmidt right in thinking the opposite of what most historians have agreed upon for decades? Or is he just another archeologist that has been out in the sun too long? Watch NGC's Cradle of the Gods to find out the answers.

失落的文明：土耳其神庙之谜

哥贝克力山丘被认为是目前世界上最早的人造宗教建筑物。

1 万 2 千多年前，地球上游荡的只有狩猎者和采集野果的人。他们醒着的每一刻都用来找寻食物以及维护其家人的安危。在这样的历史背景下，直到人们学习到如何开始耕种，他们才从石器时代进化至下个阶段。在不用担心为了每一餐而出去狩猎及采集食物之后，人们才有时间发明新事物和思考下一步。而普遍认为当宗教被创立之后，石器时代就结束了。

公元 1995年，一位名叫克劳斯．舒密特的德国考古学家在土耳其东南方一个山丘顶上有了一项惊人的发现，这座古迹就叫哥贝克力山丘。他使用了透地雷达检测术拼凑出思考文化演进的一种新方法。舒密特相信哥贝克力山丘是由各方携手努力而完成的，该地被认为是一个祭神之地，而这里的建筑为将来复杂的文明奠下了基础。舒密特的理论简单地说明宗教能帮助生物进化，而不是使之停顿。假如舒密特的想法是正确的，他就能够改变我们目前所知的历史。

这个月国家地理频道的《土耳其神庙之谜》节目将会探讨舒密特的理论是否正确。他们将采访对于史前人类及其聚居地和建筑十分了解的知名专家。杰夫．罗斯博士还着眼于哥贝克力山丘的计算机生成图像。舒密特的想法与数十年来大部份历史学家所认同的相左，他是对的吗？亦或是他只是另一位在太阳底下晒太久的考古学家呢？请收看国家地理频道的《土耳其神庙之谜》来找出这些答案吧。

哥贝克力山丘（公元前 1 万 1 千年），又名『哥贝克力石阵』（G『德国考古学会』的舒密特。经『碳 14 年份测定法』鉴定，证实有关遗迹至少有 1万 2 千年，甚至是 1 万 3 千年的历史，比金字塔还要早 8 千年出现，是人类至今在地球上发现最早的文明遗迹。

有考古学家认为这就是圣经《创世纪》中所提到的伊甸园遗址。原因是山丘所在地与创世纪提到的伊甸园位于亚述帝国西边、底格里斯河和幼发拉底河流域之间的记载相符。（数据源：维基百科）