Central Asian archeology research expert Prof. Dr. Semih Güneri stated that traces of stone tool technology used in Siberia were found in Göbeklitepe. “This technology has obviously been moved from east to west about 7 thousand kilometers.”
Professor Semih Güneri, retired faculty member from Dokuz Eylul University (DEU) Caucasus Central Asia Archeology Research Center, made the first presentation of the Siberia-Göbeklitepe hypothesis that they have developed in recent years at the Preliminary Turkish Congress Bringing Culture to the World held in Istanbul on 11-13 June. He held two separate sessions with his colleague Prof Dr Ekaterine Lipnina.
Noting that more than 20 scientists attended the international meeting with his own group, Prof. Dr. Güneri noted that there was a migration that started from Siberia 30 thousand years ago and spread to all of Asia and then to Eastern and Northern Europe, and stated that they followed these migrations through archaeological documents. Emphasizing that the most important branch of migration extends to the Near East, Prof. Dr. Güneri said:
“The relationship of the Göbeklitepe high culture with the carriers of Siberian pressed microblade stone tool technology is no longer a secret. The results of the genetic analyzes of the Zagroslar region confirm the traces of the Siberian/North Asian indigenous peoples, who reached the Zagros via the Central Asian mountainous corridor and met and fused with the Göbeklitepe culture through Northern Iraq. Siberia-Near East Upper Paleolithic migrations is a process that has been confirmed by material culture documents.
The stone tool production technology we mentioned has obviously been moved from east to west about 7 thousand kilometers. It is not clear whether this technology was transmitted directly over long distances by Turkic speaking peoples or traveled long distances by being transported to intermediate stations, but still, according to archaeological documents, we know that Siberian peoples reached the Zagros region. Relationships seem to have existed between Siberian hunter-gatherers and native Zagros hunter-gatherers. The results of genetic studies already show that the Siberian peoples reached as far as the Zagros.”
Did Turks make these Siberian tools?
Prof. Dr. Semih Güneri’s statement also raised a new question. Was this technology transfer from Siberia to Göbeklitepe a human migration and were there Turks among them?
Prof. Dr. Osman Karatay (Ege University): “There have been three waves of migration of Turkish tribes from the Southern Siberian belt to Europe. The third wave is between 2600-2400 BC. Most of them assimilated. The majority of the last wave came among the Germanic tribes. Therefore, there is a genetic kinship between the Germanic tribes and the Turks. We also know that a technology migration or tool transfer from Siberia is headed to the Göbeklitepe region. There are findings. However, we do not yet know whether the people came or if they were Turks. Already 12 thousand years ago, there would be no ‘Turk’ as we know it today. However, there may be tribes that we can call our ‘common ancestors’.”
Associate Professor Murat Öztürk (İnönü University): “While we are talking about thousands of years ago, it was impossible to identify and classify nations in today’s sense, especially 30 thousand years ago. It is not possible to determine who came to where in the migrations that are accepted to have taken place thousands of years ago from Siberia.”