Dr. Klaus Schmidt, Head of Göbekli Tepe excavations, Passes Away

It’s with sadness we announce that Dr. Klaus Schmidt has died.

We were fortunate to speak with Klaus in 2010, and he shared with us his theories and impressions, his thoughts on the excavation work, and on the people who built and worshiped at the ancient temple site.
Göbekli Tepe was originally discovered in the 1960’s but dismissed as an abandoned cemetery. Klaus Schmidt and his team uncovered much of the site, recognizing it as a neolithic sanctuary and a compelling historical treasure.
Klaus Schmidt died on July 20, 2014 of a heart attack.
From Today’s Zaman:
Schmidt had once explained that the real significance of the historic site went unnoticed until his team launched extensive excavations there. “Not only did we stumble upon fragments of large sculptures, but we also realized that the mound [there] is artificial; it was quite obvious that this couldn’t be a natural hill. The whole place was also covered in flint chunks and chips, stone tools and traces of human activity,” Schmidt had said.
Göbekli Tepe is approximately 300 meters wide and 15 meters high. The tall archeological mound consisting of the accumulated remains of one or more ancient settlements is well known for its T-shaped stone pillars, which formed 20 circles, according to geographical surveys. Though the exact function is uncertain, they are hypothesized to be early Neolithic sanctuaries.
Klaus believed that the scale of work at the dig to be comparable to other important archeological sites like Troy or Pergamon.
“It’s hard to give a detailed schedule on how long further excavation will take,” he had pointed out, “There’s work for more than one generation of archaeologists at the place, without question.”
We’re grateful for the time and dedication Klaus put into his work. He will be missed.
We make archives available for everyone to explore Klaus’ vital research into Göbekli Tepe, the the Neolithic age, and the origins human civilization.
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Klaus Schmidt - Göbekli Tepe: The World’s Oldest Temple?
June 24, 2010

