Editing Göbekli Tepe (section)

==Allegations of excavations being halted==
In June 2024 the popular 'Bright Insight' YouTube channel, presented by [[Jimmy Corsetti]], claimed that excavations at Gobekli Tepe had been intentionally all but halted to conceal something.<ref name="Corsetti1">You Won’t Believe This Disturbing Gobekli Tepe Update https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cPNgGnUrCKM</ref>  As evidence of this, Corsetti pointed to a number of news articles from 2008 to 2023 that all said that less than 5% of the site had been excavated.  He did not claim to have visited the site himself, but based his allegations on his interpretations of statements in various official press releases.  He suggested that the [[World Economic Forum]] (WEF) were behind the plan, pointing to the fact that the head of the Doğuş Group, the Turkish construction firm who were investing in the site, was a member of the WEF and had announced the investment at the 2017 WEF meeting in Davos.<ref>https://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/ice-sculptures-promote-gobeklitepe-at-davos-94162</ref><ref name="Corsetti1" />

The claims attracted a lot of publicity, and Turkish authorities responded indignantly.<ref name="Corsetti2">The Gobekli Tepe “Situation” is WORSE Than I Thought https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BXsMgp8KLc</ref>

In an interview with archaeologist [[Flint Dibble]], archaeologist Dr. Lee Clare, who was in charge of excavations at Göbekli Tepe, denied the claims and said that excavation was continuing, although slowly because they were studying small traces such as remains of plant material rather than rushing to excavate more pillars at the expense of other evidence.  He discussed a number of recent discoveries at the site.  He said that the olive trees were monitored and could be removed if their roots were getting close to buried artefacts, and that a few in fact had been removed for this reason.  He defended the policy of leaving some parts unexcavated until somebody had a particular reason to excavate a fresh area, drawing a comparison to the Acropolis of Athens, which had been excavated down to bedrock in the 19th century, so that there were no bones, everyday pottery or carbon-dateable materials that later reseachers could study because those were not recognised as important at the time and had been tossed aside.<ref name="DibbleClare">🚨 What's Happening At Göbekli Tepe⁉️ An update with Field Director Dr Lee Clare (DAI) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHsSyhl_9VI&lc=</ref>