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Göbekli Tepe (Turkish for “Belly Hill”) is a significant archaeological site in present-day Turkey that houses the oldest known megaliths in the world. The hill has a diameter of 1,000 feet and is positioned at the highest point of a mountain ridge in southeastern Turkey. The megaliths are arranged in circles somewhat resembling those at Stonehenge in England. Göbekli Tepe was unearthed in the 1900s and explored by German archaeologists led by Klaus Schmidt from 1996 to 2014.
Preceding Stonehenge, Göbekli Tepe is regarded by some as the oldest temple or religious site globally. The ongoing excavations at Göbekli Tepe have uncovered 43 monolithic limestone pillars, reaching heights of up to about 16 feet, interconnected by stone walls to create roughly circular structures. These structures vary in size from approximately 33 to 98 feet in diameter. Some pillars are adorned with carvings of animals or abstract symbols. Extensive excavation is still required; surveys of the hill suggest that around 250 more megaliths remain buried in the vicinity.
Speculations have been made linking Göbekli Tepe to the biblical Garden of Eden. However, two key points indicate otherwise:
Firstly, attempting to connect the Garden of Eden with any existing location, including Göbekli Tepe, presents challenges. According to Genesis 2:10–14, “A river watering the garden flowed from Eden; from there it was separated into four headwaters. The name of the first is the Pishon; it winds through the entire land of Havilah, where there is gold. (The gold of that land is good; aromatic resin and onyx are also there.) The name of the second river is the Gihon; it winds through the entire land of Cush. The name of the third river is the Tigris; it runs along the east side of Ashur. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.”
There are present-day rivers named the Tigris and Euphrates, and Göbekli Tepe is positioned between them. Nonetheless, there isThere is no way to know if the modern-day Tigris and Euphrates are the same rivers mentioned in the Bible. The flood of Noah’s day certainly changed the topography of the whole earth. Furthermore, the modern Tigris and Euphrates originate from different sources and eventually converge; the river mentioned as flowing out of Eden came from one source and then divided into four different streams. The details of Genesis 2:10–14 do not seem to allow for Göbekli Tepe as a possible site for the Garden of Eden.
Another biblical detail that makes Göbekli Tepe an unlikely candidate for the biblical Eden is the absence of any construction at Eden. After Adam and Eve sinned against God, their punishment included a forced expulsion from the garden: “So the LORD God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life” (Genesis 3:23–24).
Adam and Eve had no opportunity to construct a place of worship at Eden. Once they were expelled from the garden, they were denied reentry. Instead, the Garden of Eden remained an uninhabited garden or orchard, likely until the flood in the time of Noah (Genesis 6–8). At that point, Eden was likely completely destroyed.
Whether Göbekli Tepe was built before or after the time of Noah’s flood is uncertain; what is certain is that it matches neither the location nor the description of the biblical Garden of Eden.
