Gobekli Tepe: Genesis of the Gods: The Temple of the Watchers and the Discovery of Eden

by Andrew Collins, Graham Hancock (Introduction)

An exploration of the megalithic complex at Göbekli Tepe, who built it, and how it gave rise to legends regarding the foundations of civilization

• Details the layout, architecture, and exquisite carvings at Göbekli Tepe

• Explores how it was built as a reaction to a global cataclysm

• Explains that it was the Watchers of the Book of Enoch and the Anunnaki gods of Sumerian tradition who created it

• Reveals the location of the remains of the Garden of Eden in the same region

Built at the end of the last ice age, the mysterious stone temple complex of Göbekli Tepe in Turkey is one of the greatest challenges to 21st century archaeology. As much as 7,000 years older than the Great Pyramid and Stonehenge, its strange buildings and rings of T-shaped monoliths--built with stones weighing from 10 to 15 tons--show a level of sophistication and artistic achievement unmatched until the rise of the great civilizations of the ancient world, Sumer, Egypt, and Babylon.

Chronicling his travels to Göbekli Tepe and surrounding sites, Andrew Collins details the layout, architecture, and exquisite relief carvings of ice age animals and human forms found at this 12,000-year-old megalithic complex, now recognized as the oldest stone architecture in the world. He explores how it was built as a reaction to a global cataclysm--the Great Flood in the Bible--and explains how it served as a gateway and map to the sky-world, the place of first creation, reached via a bright star in the constellation of Cygnus. He reveals those behind its construction as the Watchers of the Book of Enoch and the Anunnaki gods of Sumerian tradition.

Unveiling Göbekli Tepe’s foundational role in the rise of civilization, Collins shows how it is connected to humanity’s creation in the Garden of Eden and the secrets Adam passed to his son Seth, the founder of an angelic race called the Sethites. In his search for Adam’s legendary Cave of Treasures, the author discovers the Garden of Eden and the remains of the Tree of Life--in the same sacred region where Göbekli Tepe is being uncovered today.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Ancient History, Science, Anthropology, Religion, Archaeology

663 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 1, 2014

Reviews

[Mehmet]

Göbekli Tepe'ye tüm yönleriyle merak duyuyorsanız, konu ile ilgili çer çöp dahil her şeyi içeren bir arşiv oluşturuyorsanız kütüphanenizde bulunabilir; fakat bilimsel bir kaynak arıyorsanız, bu kitap size hitap etmeyecektir.

Kitap tam anlamıyla bilimsellikten uzak, masal kitabı. Aceleci okur için kısa bir alıntıyla yeterince fikir verebileceğimi düşünüyorum:

"...Tek bildiğim, Yeghrdut'un Kızılağaç adında yarı Kürt yarı Türk bir köy yakınlarında olduğuydu. Bu ismin "kızıl haç" anlamına gelmesi, yakınlarında bir Hıristiyan binasının yer aldığına işaret ediyordu." (s.411)
Kitabın orjinal dilinden aynı bölümüne bakalım:
"All I knew was that Yeghrdut lay somewhere in the vicinity of a village called Kızılağaç (or Kızılhaç, pronounced kiz-a-large), a part Turkish, part Kurdish name meaning “red cross,” a sure sign that a Christian edifice lay nearby."

Yazarın burada kasabanın değil ismin yarı Kürt yarı Türk olduğunu ifade etmesi, eklediği parantezi, çevirmeni sn. Basmacı'nın atlaması apayrı konular, bu yer adının Kızılhaç ile hiçbir alakası yok. Zaten kelimenin de manası Kızılhaç değil. Sözkonusu, Muş'ta bulunan yerin isminin Kürtçesi de Kızıl Ağaç anlamına geldiği gibi, yerin 1890'a kadar kullanılan adı olan Xandris/Xandiris da (anlamını bulamasam da) en azından Ermenice Kızıl Haç anlamına gelmiyor. Index Anatolicus'da, Kürtçe isminin Türkçe'den çevrildiği yazsa da, Kızıl Haç söylentisine yer verilmiş ama kaynağı bulunamadığı yönünde de not düşülmüş. Köyün ismi gerçekte de Kızılhaç olsaydı dahi, Kızılağaç'ın Kızıl Haç anlamına gelmemesi bir yana; bir köyün isminin bu olmasının yakınında bir kilise olduğu çıkarımına varmak bambaşka bir kafa yapısı. Yazar "a sure sign" demiş. Bir yerin ismi Kızıl Ağaç mı? O halde yakınında bir kilise vardır. Kesin. (!)

Kitapta ciddi ciddi kaynak olarak başvurulmuş tonlarca masal, söylenti, hikaye; kitabı 20. bölümden itibaren bilimsellikten tamamen uzaklaştırmış. Bu bölüme kadar ilgi çekici bazı bilgiler yok değil ama sonradan karşımıza çıkan periler, gezginler, gözlemciler ve daha onlarca masal karakterini ciddi manada Göbekli Tepe ile ilişkilendirmeye çalışmak için gerçekten bilimin sınırlarını zorlamak gerekir.

Etnografik kaynaklar, sözlü veya yazılı söylenceler, şiirler, masallar, ninniler bazı konularda araştırmalarda kaynak olarak kullanılabilir. Bunların kaynak olarak sıralaması elbette ana değil, talidir. Yani bunlar ciddi, somut kanıtları desteklemek amacıyla ikincil olarak başvurulabilecek kaynaklardır. Örneğin Nuh Tufanı söylencesinin Gılgamış Destanı'nın somut yazılı metinleriyle karşılaştırıldığı bir çalışmada esas hedef bölgede gerçekten bir tufan olup olmadığını araştırmaksa; söylencelerdeki bir güvercinin uçma menzili yahut bir geminin taşıma kapasitesi üzerinde değil toprağın jeolojik yapısı, toprak katmanları arasındaki sel yahut da baskın izleri üzerinde öncelikle durulması beklenir. Zira sonunda kendinizi bir geminin kaç farklı tür taşıyabileceğine, bir güvercinin ağzında bir dal ile kaç km yol alabileceğine yönelik hesaplamalar içinde yitip gidersiniz. Oysa toprak katmanları arasında bulacağınız bir su baskını izi daha somut, kesin, elle tutulur bir kanıt olacaktır.

Bu bağlamda kitapta başvurulan Tevrat başta olmak üzere bütün dini metinler, Vatikan'ın, Çeşitli kiliselerin yazdıkları yazılar, kitaplar veya bunlar gibi yerel halkın anlattıkları söylenceler de çeşitli mühim olayların toplumsal bellekte uzun zamandır devam eden yankıları olabileceği gibi; hayal gücü yeteneği ciddi manada gelişmiş çeşitli toplumsal kanaat önderlerinin uydurdukları masallar da olabilir.

Özet olarak, bilim insanından beklediğim şey; öncelikle somut (tabletler, çanak, çömlekler, höyüklerden çıkan daha onca şey) üzerinde incelemelerini yaptıktan sonra bunları ana kaynak olarak ele alıp; höyüğün inşa edilmesinden tam 11.000 yıl sonra anlatılan bir halk hikayesini tali kaynaklar arasında en sona atmaktır. Samimi bir şekilde söylüyorum, kitap forumlardaki tartışmaları, facebook sayfalarındaki mesajlaşmaları, wikipedia'yı kaynak olarak almış.

Örneğin;
"Aynı gün, yani 12 Nisan 2012, Perşembe günü AniOnline forumunun bir üyesi Yeghrdut'un coğrafi koordinatlarını gönderdi ve Dera Sor'un yani Kızıl Kilise'nin" [Yukarıdaki manipülasyonu hatırlayın m.b.] "koordinatlarıyla aynı olduklarını gördüm. Söz konusu kişi Muş'tan oraya kadar olan tepeleri yürüyerek geçtiğini söyledi" [Sözkonusu mesafe 21 km. M.B. ] "ve buranın topoğrafik tasvirinin Yeghrdut'un aynısı olduğunu teyit etti. Forumun medyatörü Raffi de Armeniapedia'daki Yeghrdut maddesine Google Earth linkini ekledi ve madde artık Dera Sor maddesine doğrudan bağlandı." (s.. 417)

Google Earth, Forumlar, sözlükler... Yüzyıllardır aranan efsanevi bir yer, bir anda bir üyenin (Kim?) yazdığı mesajla yüzyıllardır aranan yer bulunmuş oluyor. Sözkonusu yerin topoğrafik tasvirinin aynısı olduğu söylense de kitapta bu topoğrafik tasvirlerin karşılaştırılması yapılmamış.

Devam edelim, yorumun uzunluğu neticesinde sıkılmanız riskine karşın gülmeniz açısından eski Batılı hastalıklarından biri olan "Fesli Türk" tasvirinden bir örnek vereyim:

"...başında siyah, Türklere özgü, yıpranmış bir fes olan, gür bıyıklı, uzun boylu, zayıf yaşlı bir adam çıkıp geldi...."..."Rehberimiz fesli adamı ve ailesini selamladı..." (s.453)

Türklere özgü olmayan, (muh. kuzey Afrika kökenli) ve siyah da olmayan Fes karşımızda! Giyen adam, muhtemelen takke diye tabir ettiğimiz başlığı takan birisi olmalı. Tarife uyan, Fes ile karıştırılması muhtemel Kalpak da olabilir zira Kasım ayında takılmış olması muhtemel. Kitabın orjinal metninde "and traditional Turkish fez" denmesi ne yazık ki hala Fesli Türk imajının akıllardan silinmediğinin bir göstergesi.

Kitabın kanıt mantığına tekrar dönelim;
Bakın. 34. bölümde Periler ve Cinler başlıklı bir kısım var. Bu kısımda, orjinal metinde "by my Kurdish contact, Hakan Dalkus dense de Türkçe'ye çeviren çevirmen bu ismi birkaç defa atlamış.

"Dağların eteklerindeki küçük bir köyde yetişmiş bir Kürt bana şöyle dedi: "Belki de Göbekli Tepe'yi inşa edenler onlardır. Veya belki o zamanlar, ya da daha sonra böyle olduğuna inanılırdı. Orası ondan da kutsal olabilir..." (s.393) diyor. Yani bir facebook üyesi, buranın periler tarafından yapıldığına inanıyormuş.

Sözkonusu Hakan Dalkuş adındaki kişi ilerideki bölümlerde yeniden karşımıza çıkıyor, çevirmen yine Dalkuş'un ismini atlamış:

" when I learned from my Kurdish contact, Hakan Dalkus, who had managed to contact the person running the Kızılağaç Facebook page,

Kitabımızda bölüm şöyle;

"Mart 2012'nin sonlarında, Kızılağaç Facebook sayfasını yöneten biriyle görüşmeyi başaran Kürt bir tanıdığımdan Kızılağaç yakınlarındaki dağlarda, Kürtçede "Kızıl Kilise" anlamına gelen Dera Sor adında bir Ermeni harabesi olduğunu öğrendim." (s.411)

Burada ana kaynağımızın ise facebook'ta yer alan, ismi dahi bilinmeyen birisi olduğunu anlıyoruz.

Facebook yazışmaları da kitaba konsaydı iyiydi diye düşünürken; yazar çoktan bu yazışmaları koymuş bile;

"Ben cevap beklerken yazıştığım bir Kürt olan Hakan" [çevirmenimiz Hakan Dalkuş'tan bu defa bahsetmek zorunda kalmış olsa gerek M.B.] "Facebook'taki Kızılağaçlı bir tanıdığından Dera Sor konusunda bir bilgi elde etti:
Suluca ve Kızılağaç'tan Kızı Kilise'ye" [Yazım hatası kitapta var M.B.] "Duvarlarıyla iki kemeri ayakta... Kızıl Kilise'nin bir manastır olduğu söylenir. Burada keşişler, rahipler ve rahibeler vs. eğitim alırmış. Burası çok zengin bir manastırmış. Civarda toprağı olan çiftçiler ürünlerinin yüzde 50'sini manastıra verirmiş. Başka bilgi yok." (s.415)

Yazar buraya bir kaynakça dipnotu düşmüş. 4 nolu dipnotta diyor ki:
"4. Yazarla Hakan Dalkuş arasında 8 Nisan 2012 tarihli kişisel iletişim." (s.415)

Ne kadar da açıklayıcı bir dipnotlama. Bravo. Metne devam edelim:

"Birkaç gün sonra AniOnline forum'un medyatörü Raffi Kojian, Ermeni mimarisi konusundaki Rusça-Ermenice bir sözlükte bulduğu, Yeghrdut Manastırı konusundaki birkaç satırı bana gönderdi..." (s.415)

Yazar burada esas metnin taranmış yahut da çeviri halini edinmek yerine, bir forum üyesinden aldığı mesajı kaynak alıyor.

Daha fazla uzatmak istemiyorum. Bu yaptığım alıntılardan daha da fazlası kitapta bolca bulunuyor. Cinler, periler, gizemli kukuletalılar, gözlemciler, gezginler, büyü, gizem ve benzeri daha onca fantastik öge birbirine girmiş vaziyette. Kullandığı yöntem, Cennet Bahçesi'nin eski Ermenistan Krallığı topraklarında olduğunu ispatlamaya çalışmak, daha sonra buranın sınırlarını bir şekilde Göbekli Tepe'ye ulaştırmaya çalışmak. [...] Sözkonusu sürenin 12.000 yıl olduğu ve bu sürenin en az 5-6.000 yılının tamamen karanlık ve kayıp olduğu göz önünde bulundurulduğunda yazarın masalları kaynak edinmesi son derece doğal. Böyle bir "günümüzden geriye doğru" tarih veya mit yazma anlayışını Geleneğin İcadı kitabında Eric Hobsbawm yeterince anlattığından ben bu konuya değinmiyorum.[...]

Teori, fikir önceden belirlenip; buna dair kanıtlar arayan bilimi ve mantığı tamamen ters çeviren bu yazarın bu kitabını satın aldığıma da pişman oldum. Eskiden Halk Kütüphanesinde önce okur, beğenirsem satın alırdım. Ne kadar güzel bir alışkanlıkmış. Sizlere de aynısını öneririm.

Mehmet Baran

(Yazımı kopyalamadan önce izin isteyiniz)

30.07.2019: düzenlendi.

[Taveri · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to give this book three stars but just can't do it. For the brief part on Gobekli Tepe, I'd give it a five, and I didn't mind the refresher on Solutrean Culture nor details on the Swiderians (post-Solutrean) but the meanderings to bible stories, ancient myths, comets and even Maya references drove me to distaction. The book might have been better called "meanderings and wanderings" or a phrase from page 302 struck me "overlooking the plain of mush..."

Have a read of some of the three star ratings to obtain a better sense of were this book goes (or doesn't go).

[Walt · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book because I enjoyed Tom Knox's Genesis Code (novel). I really want to know more about the place. Collins gives a detailed description of the place. Then he discusses Mesolithic migrations. Finally, he discusses his personal search for the garden of Eden. All three sections are interesting; if the third part does seem a bit too personal. All three sections include a lot of information that can overwhelm and confuse the reader. The book could have been better organized and presented, unless obfuscation was the intention.

Gobekli Tepe was built by Stone Age (Mesolithic) people ca. 12,000 BC. Then, strangely, it was intentionally buried around 8,000 BC. Only a small portion of the area has been excavated. New discoveries alter theories about is purpose. Almost any explanation is conjectural. The excavated area appears to be occultist. No residential areas have yet been uncovered. That really is the extent of the knowledge. Collins adds an explanation. It is a fascinating explanation that is grounded in science, so it is not easy to dismiss his conclusions.

I was a bit surprised to begin reading a forward by Graham Hancock. Hancock is a controversial author who questions prevailing interpretations of history by looking at a multitude of sciences, new discoveries, and arm-chair scholarship. Works by Hancock, Gavin Menzies, and Simcha Jacobovici are sensational and radical. Usually, such scholarship discourages many readers. The style is usually a disorganized jumble of data and facts thrown at the reader intended to overwhelm and overpower. If just a handful of ideas stay with the reader, the reader is more likely to accept some of the revisions the authors are proposing, even if solidly against mainstream beliefs.

That said, Collins begins with a very, perhaps overly detailed description of the existing excavations. He makes a solid case that the animorphic depictions on the rocks correspond to the alignment of the stars according to the gradual changes among the pole stars. It is an interesting concept; but the pole stars (and alignment of other constellations) does not neatly line up with the accepted dating of the occupation o Gobekli Tepe. Depending upon the enclosure, the alignment between the carvings and the pole stars could be hundreds or thousands of years off. He may not say it; but I suspect Collins is very open to the idea Gobekli Tepe is older than previously imagined. He does not spend much space describing the dating of occupation except to say that carbon dating of fill dates to about 8,000 BC.

Collins does a better job at staying focused on his topic, unlike Hancock and Menzies who fly between points of evidence much like a David Gibbons novel. In that sense he is more akin to Jacobovici than Hancock. He remains sensational in his writings. The middle part of this book discusses the migrations of Mesolithic peoples in Eurasia. This is an interesting read. I remain unconvinced because I do not accept that some Mesolithic peoples were more advanced than others. Collins does not clearly demonstrate that some tribes / peoples were more advanced. How many ways can you shape a blade with flint or obsidian? Collins' argument that a "highly-advanced" Mesolithic group, the Swiderians, migrated from Central and Eastern Europe to the Southern Caucus region and overawed the locals with their advanced wisdom is not an easy sell.

However, the third part of the book takes a radical twist. Up until about page 200, or roughly half of the book, Collins was focused on Gobekli Tepe. For the other half of the book he becomes consumed with a quest to discover Biblical Eden. He does find it to his satisfaction. Somewhat reluctantly, I accept his findings. Gobekli Tepe and the Swiderians bardly figure in this part of the book, and that bothers me. Instead, this half of the book tries to interpret the Biblical watchers - briefly mentioned in the Book of Enoch - as the Swiderians who brought their advanced civilzation to the region to dominate the locals.....

Collins has a good grasp of the facts. He acknowledges there are problems with his overarching theory. In this way, he is more humble than any other investigative / revisionist archeologist. He makes a compelling case to locate the Garden of Eden in the Plain of Mush. But my interest in the book was with mysterious Gobekli Tepe. His arguments are subjective. Persuasive, but subjective. Readers will certainly learn about the site; although his discussions on Stone Age peoples is probably the best part of the book.

[Paul Boudreau · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is actually three books in one: Part 1) a description and analysis of Gobekli Tepe, Part 2) a study of human cultural evolution and Part 3) a search for an earthly Garden of Eden.

Starting with Part 1) the book provides an excellent detailed description of the excavated site with needed detail on the location of specific pillars and carvings. The reasoning of Collin regarding their arrangement to the north and the constellation Cygnus is well thought out and supported by the evidence he presents. Nice work!

My main interest in this review is his Part 2) concerning our cultural evolution. This middle section of the Book is fantastic! This is the first author who attempts to take us from the time of Neanderthal/Human interactions to what can be seen as modern humans. He presents a complex hypothesis of the links of various cultures through pre-history. Of great significance he gets away from typical Eurocentric approaches to include significant cultures in Siberia and the middle East. Now to be honest, the complexity of the story and his presentation may make his arguments difficult to follow. For my part I have had to invest a couple of weeks preparing a Blog post that lays out his hypothesis so that I could verify his points and clarify their temporal and geographic settings (http://awhico.com/blog/eurasiatogbekli-tepe). His logic holds together quite well - but more importantly his attempt makes this book worth reading on its own. It is a marvellous effort to counter the commonly encountered, overly simple view that we were once apes in the jungle and then something odd happened which gave rise to cave paintings, pyramids, writing and then along came the Greeks who started Western Civilization. He makes the case that there is a lineage that we can perceive and investigate.

His hypothesis opens the door for more exploration, possible correction and ultimately improved clarification on where we have come from.

As in my book regarding the origins of spirituality (http://www.amazon.com/Awakening-Higher-Consciousness-Guidance-Ancient/dp/1620553945/) our cultural history and evolution is an important piece of the puzzle in how we see ourselves in this World. Pushing the origins back to the end of the last Ice Age is significant and useful in understanding the later human developments.

As for Part 3) regarding an earthly Garden of Eden, this is not my interest, but it a nice addition to the rest of Collins exploration.

[Beth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very interesting reading, especially since I hadn't heard of this dig before. There are a lot of black & white photos, & also a middle insert of glossy, color photos. Read this if you're interested in Ancient History, possible aliens or conspiracy theories. Also, it was published in 2014, so the info is up to date.

[John Sharp · Rating 1 out of 5]

I didn't even make it through the introduction. Graham Hancock wrote the introduction and on page 5 he says that the Younger Dryas period seemed certain to be caused by a large comet. There is no scientific support for this idea. The Younger Dryas was caused by a weakening in oceanic circulation which in turn was caused by all the fresh water coming off the North American continent into the North Atlantic.

This book is pseudo science, not real science.

[Stuart · Rating 3 out of 5]

OK, the author is a bit of a nutbasket, but there is a lot of intriguing information in here. For instance, I was struck by the similarities of the so-called "Watchers" in the book of Enoch with Quetzalcoatl, Viracocha, and those other mythic civlizers of the Americas. And the evidence that some ancient Baltic elites deformed their baby's skulls in a manner very similar to the Mayans, with a resonant connection to serpent cults. And that actual remains like the Brunn skull show (again, like some oddball skulls in South America) that there may indeed have been a race that looked this way naturally, without the need for cranial deformation. And I'm always a sucker for microspherules, SLOs, and the Usselo horizon - evidence that something really, really bad happened to planet Earth around 10,900 BC, the Younger Dyas Boundary event that triggered the last mini Ice Age. Skip the second half of the book, where this guy goes deep on his personal vision that this place is the Garden of Eden, and enjoy the more detached observations of the first half, where he has a bit more objectivity in describing this amazing ancient site and its enigmatic megalithic art.

[Muhsin Dogan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kitaba dair genel fikrim okumadan önce Klaus Schmidt’in kitabını daha okumak daha faydalı olabilir. Benim gibi arkeoloji konusunda “genel okuyucu” kategorisi için Andrew’in Göbekli Tepe tezi bazı noktalarda karmaşık gelebiliyor. Bu sebepten dolayı kazı alanı hakkında “spekülatif bilginin” bu kitabı okumadan önce farklı kaynaklardan da okunması (Babil yaratılış destanı, Young Dryas Impact vb.) iyi bir altyapı olabilir. Genel olarak kitabı beğendim fakat yayınevinin mizanpaj ve tashih hatalarından dolayı bazen metinden kopmalar yaşadım (bu kısım yayınevi sorumluluğunda).

Sonu kendi adıma beni mutlu eden bir mitolojik bağıntı ile bitmekle beraber Göbekli Tepe hakkında detaylı bir araştırma ve çalışma için Collins’in kitabını naçizane tavsiye ederim!

[Mike Luoma · Rating 4 out of 5]

The "smoking gun" for a lost civilization? It is getting more and more difficult to support traditional historical hypotheses regarding the development of humankind. The discovery of Gobekli Tepe has turned the archaeological world on its head. Unfortunately, not many archaeologists have come to grips with this as of yet. And yet, the discovery of what seems to be a ritual site with its T-shaped standing stones embedded in circular stone walls and free standing monoliths, standing stones representing figures of some kind set in twos in the center, dating back to 10,000 BC - when no such site "should" have existed - demands that we reevaluate our traditional concepts of progress and development. Who built it? Why did they build it? How? And How - especially in light of traditional ideas that placed development of temples and organized ritual sites - like Gobekli Tepe - sequentially after the development of cities - did the builders find and feed enough people to maintain the workforce that presumably would have been required to construct - and fill in - this site?

Andrew Collins offers well-researched speculation here in his attempts to answer these questions. The double-edged sword that is the History Channel's "Ancient Aliens" means that Collins and his work is now better known, yet also regarded with some degree of skepticism, fueled by some in the mainstream who are quick to label all of it "UFO quackery". But this exploration of the possibilities of what Gobekli Tepe is and what it means is far more complex and well-researched than those skeptics might credit. As Collins freely admits, sometimes he makes intuitive leaps - and why not? Knowledgeable intuition is responsible for most of humankind's advances.

Unlike some of his critics in academia, Collins is not stating his ideas are unequivocally THE answers. They open up the conversation - what did occur in the period dismissed as "pre-history"? As a reader, I was left wanting more support for some of Collins' hypotheses. Others, I found mind-blowing in their possibilities. I enjoyed the intellectual stimulation involved in entertaining the new paradigms he offered, and having my curiosity stoked.

[Leonide Martin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ancient cities, the Biblical Watchers, and searching for Eden. Gobekli Tepe is a 12,000 year old megalithic complex in Turkey, between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers and near the plain of Mush. It contains some of the oldest stone architecture in the world, with rings of T-shaped monoliths weighing 10-15 tons. The site challenges archeologists because its sophisticated architecture precedes the rise of ancient great civilizations such as Sumer, Babylon, and Egypt.

Andrew Collins proposes in this heavily documented book that Gobekli Tepe was built at the end of the last ice age as a reaction to a global cataclysm, perhaps the Biblical Great Flood, to serve ritual purposes of averting future disasters. The builders, he hypothesizes, were the Watchers of the Book of Enoch; actually an advanced Swiderian culture migrating south from regions now in Russia. They possessed knowledge of astronomy, metal working, agriculture, pottery, etc. that impressed local Anatolian residents, who saw them as demigods. Collins connects archeological facts with Biblical accounts of the Garden of Eden and fallen angels; the Watchers broke laws of heaven by descending among mortals, taking women and having offspring, the giant Nephilim, thus getting the Adamic line thrown out of the Garden.

A thought provoking book, it lags due to repetition and crossover facts. Better organized presentation and tightening of details would make it more readable.

[Nox Prognatus · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely brilliant book if you are interested in Human kinds beginnings. This book explores who the builders of this temple were 11000 years ago. why they built the temple, and why. It also tries to logically find who they were, making key findings and some suppositions along the way.

I have an interest in the Anunnaki, and the post Neolithic builders at the time , were a leading Shamanic elite, and were indeed the very same people that later built cult centres in other pats of Mesopotamia. Also known as the watchers, from the book of Enoch.
The author also managed to put forward good evidence that the areas around Gobekli Tepe. In ancient Armenia, is indeed the site of the biblical Garden of Eden, on the Mush Plain.

A very interesting read that I would have given 6 stars if I could. Enjoy, Nox

[Corey Gerein · Rating 2 out of 5]

The first half of this book is great. Full of facts and academic theories on Gobekli Tepe and the possible people who build the monument 10,000 years ago. Sure, like most of these types of books, there's a certain amount of speculation but it's usually nothing too egregious. Which brings me to the second half of the book.

It kicks off with the author describing a vivid religious dream that quickly spirals into a theory on the garden of Eden, the book Enoch, the Watchers, and on, and on. Like all great bullshit theories, it comes up with the conclusion first then tries to rearrange the facts to fit the narrative.

In the end it devolves from speculation to pure fantasy. Read the first half and skip the padding.

[Thoth · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was interesting, but if you've already read or watched anything on Gobekli Tepe, the first third of this book will be a basic refresher. It's frustrating to me that any guesses as to what Gobekli Tepe was, will just be empty theories, as we may never truly know. Especially since new areas are being uncovered all the time which discount or alter earlier theories. Collins makes some interesting arguments as to what different parts may be used for, but again, they are just guesses.
Fortunately, that was only the first part of this book. As he gets deeper into his search for the origins of the Garden of Eden, it picks up and by the end, I honestly believe he found what he was looking for.

[Bill Thompson · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you can read this book and not come away with a mind full of questions about how and why ancient, technologically-absent people built huge megalithic stones, you're too jaded to the subject!

I constantly wonder what technologies people had thousands of years ago that have been lost over time. It's obvious there was far more here than a bunch of backwards people with axes and chisels and ropes. There's a major mystery at Gobleki Tepe, something much older than say Stonehenge, and it's fascinating.

[Jena · Rating 3 out of 5]

El autor utiliza el nombre de Göbekli Tepe para dirigir al lector hacia temas que a él le interesan y que, difícilmente tienen relación con las ruinas en territorio turco encontradas en la década del 80.
Fue hasta 1994 que el arqueólogo alemán Klaus Schmidt, empezó la excavación. Por medios satelitales, se descubrió la existencia de 16 círculos parecidos a Stonegenge, pero menos rústicos, pues algunas de sus 12 columnas constan de figuras de animales en alto relieve. Y como siempre, cuando los arqueólogos no tienen información, inventan y dicen que las ruinas son templos u observatorios. En fin, que, en un principio plantea que estos pseudo templos fueron construidos por los hombres del Solutrense; de grupos humanos venidos de alguna parte de Rusia, o, tal vez, de sus descendientes los llamados Swinders. De ahí, nos lleva al tema que le interesa: la búsqueda de del paraíso terrenal, de su ubicación geográfica, y así como Schliemann con la "Ilíada" de Homero en la mano encontró el asentamiento de las 9 Troyas, así el autor Collins, con la Biblia judía, la Biblia cristiana, los Apócrifos de la primera Biblia citada, los libros gnósticos de Nag Hammadi, pretende haber encontrado el sitio del paraíso en medio del territorio turco, desechando la teoría que dice que el paraíso terrenal se encuentra en la isla de Bahrein. También encontró la cueva donde se refugiaron Adán y Eva y vivieron sus descendientes , luego de su destierro del paraíso. Lo más curioso es la forma en que dice que Caín y Abel tuvieron descendencia. La Biblia dice que tuvieron hijos, pero no dice con qué mujeres. Siempre me pregunté si eran hermafroditas o si se reprodujeron por partenogénesis. El autor dice que cada uno nació con su gemela. ¡Shale! (así, en inglés) ¿de dónde obtuvo el autor esa información?
También habla de los Anunnaki, de los ángeles caídos, de sus descendientes los Nephilim y demás creaciones de los sumerios, cuya existencia apenas se remonta a 2500 años AC, y da como un hecho histórico verdadero la teogonía sumeria, en la actualidad se considera literatura y no historia, si no que le pregunten al señor Kramer ("La Historia comienza en Sumer").
Finalmente, hace una crónica de su visita a Turquía buscando el sitio del paraíso terrenal, la cueva, y el árbol de donde salió el leño para construir la cruz de Cristo :).
Creo que no se vale utilizar un descubrimiento arqueológico como Göbekli Tepe, construido en el año 10,800 AC, abandonado y enterrado en el 8000 AC, del que se carece de toda información escrita (tablillas, papiros, etc.), para exponer teorías no relacionadas.

[Nick Brink · Rating 5 out of 5]

Book Review – Göbekli Tepe: The Temple of the Watchers and the Discovery of Eden by Andrew Collins, Rochester, VT: Bear & Co., 2014
I was brought to review this book because of an image on pillar 18 of the Göbekli Tepe archeological site. In my work with ecstatic trance and the ecstatic trance postures, the pillar 18 figure is an example of the birthing posture with the hands resting on the lower belly, a posture that provides an initiation or death-rebirth experience when in a state of trance brought about by stimulation to the nervous system from rapid drumming or rattling. But beyond this attraction to the book, it also hooked my deep interest in anthropology and archeology.
Most fascinating is Andrew Collins’ extensive worldwide research, and his interpretation of the meaning of what has been found at Göbekli Tepe and elsewhere in the Anatolia and Armenian areas of Turkey. I feel such deep grief that so much dissension is going on in the Near East that has inhibited or has brought to an end such research. There are so many sites of importance, some being destroyed and most no longer available for study because of the wars that have continued for nearly twenty years.
The Göbekli Tepe site is most unusual because of its monumental structure and the massive pillars dated to the period of the hunter-gatherers in this area of Anatolia in southeastern Turkey. The construction of Göbekli Tepe began soon after the mini ice age that ended around 9600 BC, and it took many centuries to build, but it was apparently abandoned around 8000 B.C. when it was intentionally buried with debris from the area. Since hunters and gatherers are continually on the move throughout the year following the seasonal nature of their food sources, what brought these people together in large enough numbers required to build such a monumental structure is surprising and would seem next to impossible. Collins’ amazing journey to find answers to how and why these structural enclosures were built took him through the 42 chapters of this book, with each chapter providing small pieces of the puzzle to answer these questions, each ending with further questions to be pursued in the following chapters. The first few chapters examined the structure itself with pillars showing leaping foxes, vultures and other animals and birds along with other symbols to be deciphered. Each of the six enclosures so far uncovered had two central pillars most frequently set in such a manner that a person’s attention was directed towards the north. Collins’ careful research recognized that at the time of construction the polar star was Deneb and that the structures were built to sight on this star. The Milky Way also became recognized as an important feature in interpreting the meaning of many of the symbols found in the enclosures. Collins’ systematic research bringing him to these conclusions was most fascinating, making the book superbly exciting in solving these mysteries.
Collins’ search for what motivated the people of the time to come together to construct Göbekli Tepe led him to believe that there had been some great catastrophe. Again the pieces of this puzzle come together in his research, and the catastrophe is found, but describing the nature of this catastrophe in this review would take away from the excitement for potential readers in the search for “who done it.”
Collins’ research took him to all corners of the Earth, to places that provided him with clues that led him to answers, e.g. the stories and myths of the indigenous people of the Americas and Asia. Several tribes of Europe and Asia that migrated into the area of Anatolia and Armenia at the time provided significant clues. Some of the clues were found in the myths of the Norse people and from stories of the ancient reindeer herders of Europe and Russia, herders that apparently populated the area not far from Göbeki Tepe soon after the end of the mini ice age. These stores were especially important and personally meaningful to me since I have found great resonance in Nordic Mythology that has led me to write three books on the subject. Also a National Geographic genome test has shown that I have a gene that is found in over 50% of the Sami reindeer herders.
I was also impressed with the fact that Collins had a nighttime dream that he took seriously, a dream that led him on an important segment of this journey to find answers. Dreams are not something that many researchers would take seriously, but from my work as a psychologist and writer, I have gained great faith that dreams and the experiences of other altered states of consciousness such as hypnosis and ecstatic or shamanic trance can teach us a lot about life when we open ourselves to these experiences. In Collins’ research of the impact that myths, religions and the origins of civilization had on the story of Göbeki Tepe he had a dream of a church and monastery where the monks believed that the landscape around the monastery was the actual Garden of Eden. Though he questioned the connection between the Garden of Eden and Göbeki Tepe, he began to search for the location of the monastery and the actual Garden of Eden of his dream that when he located them they turned out to be only 170 miles from Göbeki Tepe. Again Collins’ extensive reading of the history of the area and the legends of its people led him to these discoveries. The place names of the many places he considered, e.g. the Biblical names of the four rivers that ran from the Garden of Eden and the lands through which they ran, have changed so many times over the last 4000 years that finding their true locations was a major challenge. Collins’ research of others who have over the centuries searched for the Garden helped in bringing the pieces of this puzzle together to eventually lead him to it and the springs that are the source of these four rivers. The water flowing from these springs have been found to be healing as experienced by many people including Alexander the Great. This fascinating journey culminated in the final chapters when he visited the Garden and the remains of the monastery, and made a return visit to Göbekli Tepe where new enclosures were beginning to be uncovered.
As mentioned above, the intrigue of this book is the research that brings together the answers to many questions that led to solving the mysteries of Göbekli Tepe and the location of the Garden of Eden, solutions that I seek to avoid revealing in order to maintain the intrigue for potential readers. I did not expect to find information that I could use in my current writing that uses ecstatic trance for pursuing deeper mythical understanding of the book of Genesis, a journey that describes our return to the Garden of Eden as we enter the New Age. Yet, I found the book especially valuable in providing me with new insights that I will be used in my writing.

[Steve Cran · Rating 4 out of 5]

A short while ago there was an ancient temple unearthed in Southern Anatolia and it was called Goblek Tepi. It challenged and changed our perception of humanities history. Common though is that the first three civilizations were the Sumerians, Egyptian and Indi. This temple is saying that there was developed humanity even before the Sumerians.

The temple was hidden inside a tel or a mound as if it had been buried over purposely. It has a ring of stones an altar and several rooms to this complex place. Very complex . There are representation of twelve for each of the months and the temple design suggests rather advanced knowledge of astronomy. Back in those days the pole Star was the Signus Star but over the thousands of years things have changed we have a new Pole Star but the name eludes me.

Who built this temple? Why was it build and why was it buried? The author puts forth a very intricate and exciting hypothesis. Y pulling together various pieces of archaeology, mythology and historical record. It will challenge several notions we have about humanities development. I will say it makes more sense than ancient aliens.

In a nutshell, there was a group of Neanderthal/HumAn hybrids called the Swaderians who were basically reindeer hunters. They forged specialized arrowheads and they leave a trail going from the Carpathian Mountains all the way to Goblek Tepi. This group had an elite priesthood that wore hoods or feathers and they taught a bunch of hunter gatherers how to build a temple and many other elements of civilization. But why would a bunch of hunter gatherers want to listen to strange looking people from a distant land.?

There is a ring of stones that represent hooded figures. These figure are wearing the insignia of foxes. What do the foxes mean? Foxes are interchangeable with wolves. Both are known to be tricksters and in many mythologies wolves bring bad news. Transitioning into the Neolithic period the world was faced with disasters. Comets, a mini ice age lead to frightening times.

The Swaderians would migrate from there and spread into the Levantine and Armenia. They, according to the author would later become the watchers. What follows next is a reexamination if ancient texts that changes the setting of many mythology from the levant.

If tracing human development is your thing this book is definitely for you. I thoroughly enjoyed it. With ancient history it is hard to say that certain things definitely occurred and lots of it is speculation at best. The author met with some scholars and a few had differing opinions but that’s ok.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gobekli Tepe: Genesis of the Gods was a curious read. This would properly be classified as Fringe Archaeology or Controversial Knowledge.

What the author, Andrew Collins, is investigating is the Gobekli Tepe archaeological site in South East Turkey, not far from the border of Syria. What makes the site so startling is not simply the fact that the architecture is monumental, it is that it dates back to the end of Younger Dryas period [a mini Ice Age which lasted for approximately 1,300 years and ended about 12,000 years ago]. What is disturbing about this is that the site throws the theory of the development of civilization [urban culture] into question. The essential theory is that agriculture enabled food surplus which enabled hunter-gatherers to settle down and develop urban culture and all the technologies that went with this. What Tepe suggests is that it wasn’t farming, because Tepe was active before farming emerged, but religion which began the rise of civilization.

The site was used for religious and final/death rites ceremonies. Villages were settled nearby to allow the construction of the temple complex and this spurred on the development/domestication of wild grains which encouraged longer stays until the area was permanently settled.

Mr. Collins’ book is fascinating and provocative but sometimes tends to push his argument too far. That being said, it is a fascinating read.

Rating 4 out of 5 stars.

Highly Recommended for those interested in speculative history/archaeology.

[Becca Stanoszek · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Finding Eden, ultimately, is not about putting pins in maps and saying, “This is it- I have found Paradise.” It is about an inner journey- it is about returning to the source of human experience and understanding g exactly who we were before someone, somewhere, conditioned us to feel guilt and shame for the first time- shame about who we are as individuals, how we should act and behave, and what we should do with our lives. This is not a declaration of anarchy or a license to do what you want. It is a call for us to try to regain some small sense of the innocence and purity of heart that prevailed in the past, and I glimpsed just for a moment among the Alevi people who still occupy the Garden of Eden today, for their world seems a happier place than ours.”

[Richard J · Rating 3 out of 5]

Challenging Ideas

Redundant and repetitious in places. Good summary, overall, of a huge amount of ancient history. Humbling in terms of the universality of the ancient myths and legends of the earliest human times. Much pause for thought midst the sometimes repetitious points. Could have used a good editor but some good thoughts and analysis.

[Gail Wanner · Rating 3 out of 5]

Detailed archaeological information on this site is provided in the first part of the book but the rest is a mish-mash of myth and conjecture pulled from various times and locations. Disappointing.

[Graham Bear · Rating 5 out of 5]

A controversial archeological anomaly. Collins puts forward his theory well however I would read Graham Hancock first.

[Debbie Mcclelland · Rating 2 out of 5]

The first part is great.

How a book that starts out so great, can sink into so much babbling about Watchers and Annunaki, I couldn't tell you. Yikes!

[Pinar G · Rating 2 out of 5]

Kötü çevirisi mi, yazarın rüyasında gördüğü şeyleri ispatlamak için kullandığı saçma sapan kaynakları mı, yalan yanlış bilgileri mi yazsam bilmiyorum. Göbeklitepe bu kitaptan okunmamalı.

[Cem Yüksel · Rating 2 out of 5]

Kitabın başlığı , Göbeklitepe’nin inanç sistemlerine katkısı konusunda bilgi verecek gibi gözüküyor. Göbeklitepe’nin neolitik çağda tarımın başlangıcında , bir kült yerinin ihtiyaçlarını karşılamak gereği ile etkili olduğu teorisi dikkate alınınca, bu kült yerinin inanç üzerindeki etkisi de merak edilir hale geliyor. Maalesef kitap bu beklentiyi karşılamaktan ziyade efsane, hikaye ve mitleri birbirine karıştırıp havada kalan bir senaryoyu işliyor. Mitlerin ve efsanelerin toplumların geçmişinden bir çok yansımayı sembolik veya açık bir şekilde dile getiren çok önemli malzemeler olduğunu bilenler için dahi, mitlerin böylesi kullanımı biraz havada kalıyor. Kitabın ilk bölümü Göbeklitepe buluntularını anlattığı için biraz daha elle tutulur durumda. Buradaki bir takım kült teorileri tartışılabilir nitelikte. Nitekim konunun uzmanı arkeolog ve tarihçilerin yaptığı da bu. Ancak sonrasında , Avrupa üzerinden Swiderian kültürünün buraya gelişi gibi Hint Avrupa göçlerinin yönleri teorisi ile ters çalışan bir zorlama , geldiği varsayılan bu kültürün nedense sadece obsidyen kullanımı (yazarın da belirttiği gibi obsidyen kaynakları yanardağlar bölgede iken) ile daha üstün olup , diğerlerine yol gösterici kukuletalılar olmaları , yüz şekilleri vs gibi mistik arayışlar çok ciddi gözükmüyor. Sonrasında hikayenin büyük kısmının cennet bahçesinin buralarda olduğunu göstermeye kayması , iki ayrı kitap okunuyor hissi veriyor. Bunun Göbeklitepe ilintisi çok zorlama hale geliyor. Güneydoğu Anadolu’nun zengin mitlerinin ve tarihinin bu kadar birbirine karıştırılıp , Anunnakilerden , perilere varan ve çok kaynak göstermekle beraber büyük çoğunluğu fantastik hikaye yazarlarının yorumları ile yürüyen bir kitabın ciddiyeti tartışılabilir. Belki ilk kısmı ayrı , ikinci kısmı da bahsedilen fantastik hikaye yorumu olarak yazılsa daha iyi olabilirmiş. Netice de sadece hikayeleri bilmeyenler için olabilir ama onlar için de daha iyi kitaplar var. Yorum dahi olsalar daha iyi bağlantılara , dile , inanışa ve sembolizme dayanarak bu yorumları toparlayan bir şeyler okumak daha uygun. Arada Göbeklitepe’yi kazan Klaus Schmidt ile yaptığı konuşmada Schmidt’in sözlerini de bu hikayeye uydurmaya çalışmak gibi bir problem de hissediliyor. Göbeklitepe’yi ölümünden bir süre önce beraber gezdiğim Schmidt düzgün bir bilim adamıydı. Muhtemelen onun yazdığı Göbeklitepe kitabı da yapılan yeni kazılar üzerine , bu işi bilim olarak yapanların yazacakları yeni kitap ve yorumlara kadar , konunun doğru referansı olmaya devam edecek.

[Audrey Parker · Rating 2 out of 5]

Fanciful notions

I really did want to enjoy this book but it is heavy going and the authors style of writing became distracting (and quite grating when listening to the audible version). There is plenty of speculation, and a litany of dates, place names and distances which clog up the narrative. And then the second part. All based upon a dream and written in the first person. Again, this undermines his "quest" for acceptance as scientific fact. It really did spoil the book for me. What could have been very good further paled into nothingness really. The ending was a total anticlimax and came quite unexpectedly with a personal reflection (and more speculation) rather than any rooting in the earlier attempts at laying out a case. Add to this that in reality there is not all that much about Gobekli Tepe and almost a full quarter of the book is simply footnotes and I am left very disappointed. I had planned on further reading of his work but now, I think I will move on elsewhere. I am annoyed that Graham Hancock pulled me down into this rabbit hole!!!

But what *really* did it for me was his statement regarding the "fanciful notion" of ancient astronauts (p278 on the kindle mobile version), considering the author's 37 appearances for the series ancient aliens, made from the year the book was written, to date (2020). You really can't have it both ways Andrew.

[Mehmet Fayiz Fayiz Hatipoğlu · Rating 1 out of 5]

Kitap tam anlamıyla ismini hakketmeyen, okumak için zamanınızı kaybetmemeniz gereken bir şey (kitap demeyi yakıştıramadım). İsim yanlış Seçilmiş bence; Ermenilerin Tanrı’ları daha doğru bir isim olurdu. Göbeklitepe gibi dünya tarihini değiştirecek bir anıtın, Stonehenge’in önüne geçmesini, önleme çalışması gibi görünüyor. 12000 yıllık anıtları Obsidyen’den yürüyerek Ermeni propogandasına dönüştürmesi kabul edilemez.
MÖ 10000 ile 35000 yıllarını anlatırken coğrafya isimlerinde herhangi bir yerde takip edebileceğimiz isimler yerine gereksiz tekrarlara girerek Ermenice ve Kürtçe isimlerde ısrar ediyor.
Sayfa 307’de Hz. İbrahimin Kur’an-ı Kerim’de bile anlatılan kıssa’sını Ermeni halk hikayesi olarak anlatıyor.
Ermeni soykırımı yalanı ile mücadele ederken 310. Sayfada Süryani soykırımı yalanını dillendiriyor.
Türk coğrafyasında yaşayanları aşağılamak için ne olduğuna bakmadan başında Fes’i ile diyerek Suluca/Muş köyü yakınındaki insanları tarif ediyor.
Özetle neredeyse Adem ile Havva’nın Ermeni olduğuna ikna olacakken Tanrı’nın Ermeni olduğuna karar verdim.
Ama sonuçta bir çay içimi sohbette Alevilerin ulviyetini anlayacak kadar ( Yeghrdut manastırını da rüyasında görerek bulmuştu) ruhani yeteneğindeki sahip yazarı tebrik ediyorum.
Zaman kıymetli boşa harcamayın!

[Julya Savina · Rating 4 out of 5]

So I gave this four stars but I’m still not sure of it. I’ll start with this then: this is the first book I read by this author and I am definitely going to read his earlier works after this. So for that, a star on “interesting ideas.” What happened with this book though was that it began all on gobekli tepe (and I was surprised at how down to earth the writing and descriptions were,) and then it went on to so many different ideas. I found them immensely interesting: the “coincidences” of star placements and known cultural mythologies both current and historical, the mapping of the garden of eden and biblical canon and apocrypha, etc. At the end of the book, it seemed that Gobekli tepe wasn’t the ultimate point of the book but just a starting off point for writing about the whole region of eastern turkey. Was it still super interesting? Yes! Was it what I thought I would read on Gobekli tepe? Not exactly. But, if you’re a lover of ancient mysteries, I am sure you’ll like this read and his others (I’m about to find out myself.)
Final note: I do realize after the fact that the "discovery of Eden" is very much in the subtitle of the book. Maybe I just expected a different parallel between Gobekli Tepe and Eden. Still wholly interesting.

[Aykut Karabay · Rating 3 out of 5]

Göbeklitepe üzerine okuduğum en kötü kitap....

Her şeyden önce kitap Göbeklitepe üzerine bilimsel birtakım verilere dayansa da öte yandan dikitlerin ve taşların üzerindeki simge ve motiflerin yazarın kendine göre mistik yorumlarına dayanmakta ve bu yorumlar üzerinden bir sistematik geliştirmiş. Dolayısıyla bu da kitabın bilimselliğini ve gerçekçiliğini oldukça zayıflatıyor. Ayrıca Güneydoğu Anadolu'dan bahsederken sık sık satır aralarında açık açık PKK ve Ermeni Soykırımı güzellemesi yapması ciddi bir rahatsızlık veriyor. Sonuçta Göbeklitepe hakkında bilimsel gerçekleri öğrenmek için okuyorsunuz... (Yayınevi editörünün kitabın girişinde (7.sayfada) bu konuda tarafsızlıklarını koruduğu hakkında bir not'da bulunmakta)

Klaus Schmidt gibi çok daha önemli yazarların Göbeklitepe hakkında kitapları bulunsa'da, farklı bakış açıları ve bazı bilimsel gerçekleri öğrenmek için (temkinli ve sorgulayan bir okuma ile beraber) okunmasını tavsiye edebilirim.

[Ltopo McFly · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very speculative psuedoscience but never devolves fully into kookism or conspiracy theory. It has a great subject with an unusual spin that touches on very interesting themes. Its very well-researched but none of its claims have much credibility or even originality or controversy.

The writer uses the oldest megalithic structures to interpret the Bible as a history of European caveman culture that was motivated by a scientifically rejected (if not debunked) theory that the Earth experienced a catastrophic event caused by comets in the Ice Age. He's really trying to salvage the very old, extremely offensive Christian Fundamentalist doctrine that the Bible's figures are white people and the Chosen People of God to find some rational ragument or scientific evidence for Zionism. He fails.

I learned quite a bit about megaliths, astrology, extinct folk religions and Jewish apocrypha, but its all cribbed from better books with less racist rhetoric.