Gobekli Tepe

37.2231°N, 38.9225°E.

Megalithic complex on a limestone ridge in Sanlıurfa Province, southeastern Turkey. The oldest monumental architecture currently known on Earth, with the earliest excavated enclosures radiocarbon-dated to approximately 9600 BCE — predating Sumerian cities by 6,000 years, the pyramids of Giza by 7,000, and the invention of pottery, metallurgy, writing, and the wheel. The site consists of multiple circular and oval enclosures ringed by T-shaped limestone pillars up to 5.5 metres tall and weighing up to 20 tonnes; many pillars are carved in low relief with foxes, vultures, scorpions, snakes, wild boars, and abstract symbols. Around 8000 BCE the entire site was deliberately and carefully buried under tonnes of fill, sealing the enclosures intact. No domestic structures, hearths, or refuse pits have been identified in the immediate vicinity.

The first thing humanity built that we know of was a temple — and the people who built it returned to bury it before they walked away.