The story of a major scientific discovery, solving one of the greatest puzzles on Earth. Connects geoscience and astronomy with ancient archaeology to uncover an astronomical code used for over 40,000 years. Explains the meaning of some of the greatest ancient artworks, including the Lion-man of Stadel Cave, the Lascaux cave Shaft Scene, Gobeki Tepe’s megalithic pillars and the Great Sphinx of Giza.An extinction-level cosmic catastrophe engulfed Earth around 13,000 years ago, plunging the world into darkness and a new ice-ageIt was more than a thousand years before the climate, and mankind, recovered. The people of Göbekli Tepe in present-day southern Turkey, whose ancestors had witnessed this cataclysm, built a megalithic monument formed of many hammer-shaped pillars decorated with symbols as a memorial to this terrible eventTheir community watched the skies for several thousand years, recording their observations in stone. Before abandoning Göbekli Tepe, they covered it with rubble t