GÖBEKLI TEPE - EDEN, HOME OF THE WATCHERS
Adriano Forgione, editor of HERA magazine, interviews Andrew Collins on Göbekli Tepe, the Oldest Temple in the World, constructed as early as 11,500-11,000 years ago in southeast Turkey. Is it the true Garden of Eden?Do you really believe that through the correct study of Göbekli Tepe we will be able to understand the origins of the biblical narration?
Göbekli Tepe is the oldest stone temple anywhere in the world, and has to be a key to understanding the symbolism of the story of the Garden of Eden.
It is strange that the snake appears as an important symbol in the Book of Genesis's story of Adam and Eve. Here in the Old Testament it symbolizes the knowledge of awareness that Adam and Eve are naked, and that they should cover themselves. I feel it is a metaphor for the manner in which the incoming ruling elite of Upper Mesopotamia, the suspected Watchers of the Book of Enoch, gave mortal kind forbidden knowledge, which forever changed the way they thought about life. However, it was a case of too much knowledge too soon, and so Adam and Eve were cast out of Eden, which we know to have been a real kingdom focused on Lake Van, a huge inland sea in Eastern Turkey. From here the Euphrates and Tigris, two of the rivers of paradise, take their course before flowing down into Iraq's Fertile Crescent. Indeed, author and archaeologist David Rohl - a colleague of yours - is convinced that Göbekli Tepe is the biblical Eden. Do you agree with him? If so, how could you explain this relationship?
David is very familiar with the themes outlined in my previous books FROM THE ASHES OF ANGELS (1996) and GODS OF EDEN (1998), which cite the original Garden of Eden as an area encompassing mainly Upper Mesopotamia (Southeast Turkey, Northern Syria and Northern Iraq). In his own book LEGEND (1998) David saw the land of Eden as a much bigger region covering not only the whole of Upper Mesopotamia, but also large parts of Western and Northern Iran and Armenia as well. He was adament that I was wrong about my choice of area, since it contradicted his own theories on the four rivers of paradise, said to flow out of the land of Eden. If David now believes that Göbekli Tepe is the Garden of Eden, then he has changed his position somewhat. Yet I suspect he is correct, for I say more-or-less the same thing in THE CYGNUS MYSTERY, which opens with my own visit to Göbekli Tepe in 2004.
Could you tell me about the stone Karibu that guards the tree of life? This reminds me a lot of the cherub that guards the Ark of the Covenant and a similar image found also among the Babylonians. Is Göbekli Tepe really the origin of those biblical symbols?
Karibu and Cherubim are the same - angelic beings, and ultimately their roots can be traced back to memories of the priestly or ruling elite at places such as Göbekli Tepe. Clearly, there is more to the story of the cherub that guards the Tree of Life in the Garden of Eden, for it might also relate to either archaeoastronomy or a global catastrophe around the end of the last Ice Age. Much more knowledge about this epoch is contained in the Book of Enoch and Book of Giants, both found among the Dead Sea Scrolls and probably first recorded down in the region of Southeast Turkey, where Abraham, the ancestor of the Hebrew race is said to have come from. A cave shrine marking his alleged place of birth can be visited in Sanliurfa (Urfa, the ancient city of ancient Edessa), where various PPN sites have been discovered. There is powerful evidence, supported by David Rohl, to demonstrate that Sanliurfa, ancient Urfa, was the original Ur of the Chaldees, where Abraham is said to have been born. It is very possible that the story of the Watchers, as found in the Book of Enoch, was carried out of Upper Mesopotamia, the true site of Chaldea, when Abraham and his family, the ancestors of the Israelites and Jews, set out from the city of Harran on their epic journey to Canaan, the future land of Israel.
I read also that at Göbekli Tepe has been found one of the first representations of an angel. Could you tell me about it? Do you think that this site could be connected with the WATCHERS?
I can only repeat what I have said above. We are talking about a cult of birdmen, vulture shamans, who would eventually be remembered as the Watchers of the Book of Enoch and the angels of biblical tradition. No 'angel' has been found at Göbekli Tepe, simply carved statues of men with wings on their backs. These hybrids are likely to be shamans wearing wings, not supernatural beings. It is worth noting that originally angels never had wings - these were added to existing stories by the early Christians during the fourth century AD. In fact, there are some accounts of Watchers wearing cloaks of feathers, which in one case was altered in Christian times to read 'wings' instead of feathers. The adaptation is clumsy, and obvious in its intent.FULL STORY at http://www.andrewcollins.com/page/articles/Gobekli_Tepe_interview.htm
(According to Chapter 7 of the book of Enoch at http://www.johnpratt.com/items/docs/enoch.html the watchers were the sons of heaven, the fallen angels, that went into women and produced a race of giants. There is also more information about them in chapters 8-19.
The angels in Genesis 19:1 who warned Lot about Sodom's destructiion also looked like men to the men of the city in Genesis 19:4-5. The angel of the Lord that appeared to Samson's mother in Judges 13:3 also looked like a man according to Judges 13:6. We also know that angels have wings. The Seraphim in Isaiah 6:2 had 6 wings, and the Cherubim in Ezekiel 1:4-6 each had 4 wings. However, I think the Cherubim covering the mercy seat upon the ark of the covenant may had 2 wings in Exodus 25:17-22 like those Cherubim described in 2 Chronicles 3:11-12 who had 2 wings each. Since the Watchers were angels, why wouldn't they also look like men who have wings? Below are 2 other articles about Gobekli Tepe.)
Gobekli Tepe - Paradise Regained?
TURKEY: DISCOVERY OF 12,000-YEAR-OLD TEMPLE COMPLEX COULD ALTER THEORY OF HUMAN DEVELOPMENT