New Book Explores Archaeoastronomy and Monumental Architecture of Göbekli Tepe

A comprehensive new research volume examining the world's oldest monumental site, Göbekli Tepe (Girê Mirazan) in Riha (Şanlıurfa), has been released on global book platforms under the title "The Gobekli Gates: The Doors of the Old World." Authored by Swiss physician and researcher Dr. Diogo Sennfelt (D. Sennfelt), the book delves into the celestial alignments, monumental architecture, and ancient symbolic motifs of the prehistoric complex.

According to Amazon, the digital Kindle edition was published on September 13, 2026, spanning 248 pages. The work presents a compelling hypothesis aimed at resolving longstanding archaeological and archaeoastronomical controversies surrounding the orientation of the site's megalithic structures.

The Decades-Long Archaeoastronomical Debate

Located near Riha and dating back over 11,500 years to the Pre-Pottery Neolithic, Göbekli Tepe is widely recognized as humanity's earliest known monumental sanctuary. For years, astrophysicists and archaeoastronomers debated the orientation of the central T-shaped pillars: which celestial bodies were these massive stone monoliths facing?

• The Sirius School: In 2013, renowned astrophysicist Giulio Magli of the Politecnico di Milano proposed that the central T-pillars within the stone enclosures were aligned with the helical rising of Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky. Under this view, early communities erected the enclosures to track Sirius as it returned to the southern horizon after millennia beneath it.
• The Deneb School: Conversely, other specialists, including Spanish astronomer Juan Antonio Belmonte and British researcher Andrew Collins, argued that the primary axis pointed not south toward Sirius, but north toward Deneb in the constellation Cygnus.

Sennfelt's Synthesis: Both Schools Were Correct

In his new volume, Dr. Sennfelt proposes a rigorous synthesis, asserting that both perspectives captured vital truths. According to Sennfelt's calculations, the dual central T-pillars aligned along a single grand meridian axis that encompassed both stars during the same historical era: the rising of Sirius at one horizon and the setting of Deneb at the opposite horizon.

This dual alignment over the skies of Riha occurred specifically between 10,900 and 7,500 BCE, coinciding precisely with the construction, development, and active ritual use of Göbekli Tepe by hunter-gatherer communities.

Precession and Enclosure Reorientations

Due to the axial precession of the Earth, the visible positions of stars shift gradually across the sky over centuries. The builders of Göbekli Tepe accounted for this phenomenon with remarkable precision. When constructing successive stone circles (such as Enclosures A, B, C, and D), they incrementally shifted the orientation of the central pillars to maintain precise alignment with the shifting celestial landmarks.

Ancient Cosmology: The Egg, the Nest, and the Swan

The book also reconstructs the primordial cosmology encoded in the stone reliefs. The symbolic narrative of the cosmic egg, the nest, and the celestial swan (Cygnus) corresponds closely with the animal carvings on the central pillars:

• One central pillar features the fox, the crescent moon, and the Pleiades cluster.
• The paired pillar prominently displays the wild bull (aurochs), representing terrestrial power and vitality.

Regional Context Across Taş Tepeler

Sennfelt extends his analysis beyond Göbekli Tepe to related sites in the broader Taş Tepeler network, including Karahan Tepe, Sayburç, the Urfa Man statue, and sacred springs. The author highlights interconnected ritual traditions and subterranean complexes stretching toward Cappadocia and ancient Anatolian routes.

About the Author: Dr. Diogo Sennfelt

Dr. Diogo Sennfelt is a Swiss physician and specialist psychiatrist with a dedicated research focus on ancient civilizations, geo-archaeology, and archaeoastronomy. His previous published works include the "Memories of Atlantis" series ("Codex Atlantis"), "Moses: The African Origins of the Covenant" (2026), and "The Book of Heaven: The Wisdom of the First Astronomer."

Editorial Overview

"The Gobekli Gates: The Doors of the Old World" offers a fresh perspective on prehistoric human intellect, demonstrating that Neolithic societies possessed advanced astronomical knowledge and sophisticated architectural planning capabilities over 11,500 years ago.

Photo: Amazon