# Bruce R. Fenton's Göbekli Tepe – northern Australia thread: transcript Source: posts by Bruce R. Fenton (@GenomicSETI) on X, 24–26 February 2025. Thread start: . The wording below was transcribed from 33 phone screenshots supplied on 9 September 2026 (`inputs/fenton/IMG_8503`–`IMG_8535`). Spelling and punctuation follow the posts. Square brackets mark editorial notes. One passage was not captured by the screenshots and is marked as a gap; nothing has been supplied in its place. A later exchange of September 2026, captured in one further screenshot, is transcribed in the addendum at the end, followed by the identifications this project has made since publication. Images attached to the posts are listed by their published file names (`docs/img/inputs/fenton/`). Nine are the original attachments saved from the posts and are published unchanged; five were only captured inside screenshots and are published as crops of those screenshots, with the crop boxes recorded in `research/images.json`. ## Thread A · 24 February 2025 · "the bird and ball" ### A1 · opening post > Right, the famous pillar 43 from Gobekli Tepe, and left sacred art from Arnhem Land, Northern > Australia. > > The one on the left is older. There are two interesting stories: the meaning of that bird and > ball and how that same sacred art appeared millennia later, thousands of miles away across the > ocean. 😉 > > A thread 🧵 Image: `bird-and-ball.jpg` (IMG_8503). Post shown as "Last edited 3:10 PM · Feb 24, 2025 · 192.2K Views". [The screenshot begins at this line; if any text preceded it, it was not captured.] ### A2 · buckets > The famous bags/buckets are another key element of pillar 43 at Gobekli Tepe, a site famously > covered in serpent art. One example is given below right. > > Buckets and serpents portrayed on large rocks are a tradition that goes back much further than > 12,000 years ago. > > The three animals above the buckets on pillar 43 are also important, being clan totems—more on > that later. Below left is an image of an ancient bark bucket used in prehistoric times in > Australia. The text below is a snippet of prehistoric lore, making the links clearer. We will > tackle the importance of the sacred yam later. Image: `bush-bucket.jpg` (IMG_8506). The image contains a drawing of a painted bark bucket, a detail of one handled shape on Pillar 43, and this printed excerpt, which the post does not attribute: > Bush buckets, as attributes of primeval heroes and portrayed in rock pictures, appear as local > totems of the clan territories (támbun) of Ayángara on the Lower King Edward River and Yálamba, > that is said to be situated somewhere on the Prince Regent River. Just as in Ayángara, there too > the pictorial representation of a karáki is to be seen under a ledge. We were told abut this, > that Wúrulawúrula, the mythical ancestor of the sprouting big yam (kanmángu) and local Wóndjina > [74] of Yálamba, had gone about in the bush and dug up yams. He hung his bush bucket filled with > many tubers up on a massive stone and then he lay down to rest. At this spot Wúrulawúrula also > went into the ground and became an Ungud serpent. The pictures of himself and the filled bush > bucket then remained behind on the rock in the usual form. [The rivers, the Wóndjina and Ungud terms and the orthography match Andreas Lommel's ethnography of the Unambal (Wunambal) of the north-west Kimberley, first published in German in 1952 and in English in 1997. The attribution is this project's inference, not the post's.] ### A3 · churinga and body art > The symbolism found on Aboriginal churinga and in body art appears on various pillars at Gobekli > Tepe; while these examples are not identical, it is obvious that we are dealing with symbols > sharing a common root. Image: `churinga-symbols.jpg` (IMG_8508). ### A4 · T-shaped pillars > Let's not ignore the most glaring elements of the Gobekli Tepe complex, the 'T' shaped pillars > with carved human features like arms. Again we can turn to Northern Australia and find a wealth > of linked symbolism including men with T head coverings and art depicting what look like > T-shaped stone columns with human legs. Image: `t-shapes.jpg` (IMG_8511), a montage carrying its own caption: > Photographs of Australian Aboriginals recorded in a 1920's publication show men decorated with > bullhorn-like symbols and large T-shaped headdress. Bullhorn symbolism is common at Gobekli Tepe > and closely related sites in Turkey, as are large T-shaped stone constructions. Bruce R. Fenton - > www.AncientNews.com ### A5 · Yinganna > We must introduce a key figure, Yinganna, a creation spirit and mother goddess figure. She > carried her bark buckets across the landscape; inside each was a tribe of people and their > associated animal totems and lore. > > Yinganna is an alter-ego of the infamous rainbow serpent, generally represented as a snake but > sometimes portrayed as a chimaera. Notice her strange head, which is shaped like a sacred yam > leaf. Image: `yinganna.jpg` (IMG_8513). ### A6 · the female figure > It is well established that Gobekli Tepe has a glaring absence of female art. However, one image > of a presumed goddess is known from the 'Lion Building'. > > This engraving has two essential features. The first is the position, which indicates childbirth > (the female genitalia are prominent and cartoonish). The second feature is the head, which > appears almost like a mushroom. However, in return to Northern Australia and Yinganna, here we > see her represented in the same birthing position, including exaggerated genitalia. > > What looks like a mushroom is none other than a sacred yam leaf, often depicted instead of her > head. We can see more of these yam leaves erupting from the back of a rainbow serpent painted in > its chimaera form (note the two feathers on the head; it is a feathered serpent). Image: `birthing-figure.jpg` (IMG_8515). ### A7 · snakes > Gobekli tepe is covered in snakes. There is no getting away from them. Clearly, snakes played a > singularly important role in the local belief system, far beyond any other animal represented. > But there is something strange about many of these snakes - their weird mushroom-like heads. > That's because this is no ordinary snake; it is a rainbow serpent, and the head is again akin to > what we have seen in art representing the serpentine mother goddess Yinganna. Note here that > rainbow serpents are dual, with male and female forms. Image: `serpent-heads.jpg` (IMG_8517). ### A8 · the story > While there is much more to this exploration, including a deep dive into the origins and meaning > of the bull symbolism at Gobekli tepe, we started out with the bird and ball on pillar 43, and > the promise of an explanation. > > The story here (credit Mark Jones, on the ground in Arnhem Land) is a very deep story that > proceeds the global flood accounts and coincides with the anthropomorphic art. If we are to go by > the dating thus far, this all falls at around LGM (18,000 - 20,000 years bp). > > The story is about the Emu (man in Northern tradition, woman in the Southern) who steals the > sacred fruit. It is a deep Original story that was known about in all Original cultures. It is > when humanity went from the Original feminine Lore into the Law of Man. > > Essentially all humanity shared a story pre 20,000 years bp (Serpent, Tree, Spring, 7 sisters and > 3 brothers). When the ceremonies became corrupted and stolen by man, we humans took a very > different path. Here in the Kimberley we began to paint people, lots of them. Indeed, it is all we > painted for nigh on 7,000 years. During this time there were hardly any plants and animals > painted, and there were NO serpents. Gods/deities were painted as people. This ends in war which > lasts for around a 1000 years and then the flood which wipes out humanity. Humans were punished > because they had left the LORE. > > Australia was like an ark, isolated from the rest of the planet. Whilst Europe froze and the > [GAP: the rest of this passage was not captured by the screenshots] yams are. With this in mind, > all the international sites then begin to make sense, because they are increments from the > original story. > > Gobelki Tepe is where we left the animism of the bush and cultivated the grasses i.e. Barley and > created Ergo after it was threshed. The ceremonies would have been during the halloween period > when we go through the Taurid belt (same as Aboriginal ceremonies). Indeed, GT is in the Taurus > mountains. > > See below a map of the domesticated grains surrounding the ancient dites of the pre-pottery > neolithic culture in Anatolia. Moving away from the matrilineal system and mother goddess > including breaking the covenent of trust in earth supplying all needs (hunter gathering) to the > taboo practice of widespread farming (both animals and crops). Image: `cereal-map.jpg` (crop of IMG_8519). The map is captioned "Cereal Domestication" with wild einkorn, emmer and barley distributions and "Markers of the ritual community of Göbekli Tepe"; "GIS and Layout: Th. Götzelt, DAI". ### A9 · ergot and beer > Just to clarify the ergot ceremonies indicated, we know that the gobekli Tepe hosted some kind of > ritual beer festivals. It is a fact that where you grow grain you encounter the psychdelic ergot > fungus. Beer laced with ergot would have been a very potent ritual brew and seems extremely > likely. Quoted article excerpt shown in the post: > The Göbekli Tepe site in southwestern Turkey, meanwhile, dates to nearly 11,000 years ago. > Neolithic hunter-gatherers worshipped ancient deities through dancing and feasting at the temple > site, which is filled with t-shaped pillars carved with animal shapes and other ancient cultic > designs. The site also had what appears to be a primitive kitchen with large limestone troughs > that held up to 42 gallons (160 liters) of liquid. The troughs held traces of oxalates, which are > produced during the fermentation of grain into alcohol. > > At both sites, the idea of a beer-soaked party must have been a real treat, Crewe said. > > "There must have been a real sense of anticipation within the community when you knew a big beer > event was coming up," she said. The thread then quotes the opening post of Thread B. ## Thread B · 25 February 2025 · "a lost civilization and a LOT of lost land" ### B1 · opening post > To understand the shared lore stories, symbolism and astronomy/astrology observed between > Northern Australia and Gobekli Tepe (and many other regions), we must factor in a lost > civilization and a LOT of lost land. x.com/GeologicalSETI… > > This 'vanished' civilization was centred on neither of those regions. Instead, it encompassed all > of Island Southeast Asia, a maritime culture that had already mastered sea travel 40,000 years > ago. As with all naval cultures, its influence spread as far as its people could sail—globally. > > A thread 🧵 Image: `seafaring-article.jpg` (IMG_8522): a Popular Mechanics article by Tim Newcomb, "Archaeologists Found Ancient Tools That Contradict the Timeline of Civilization", reporting a Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports study by Ateneo de Manila University researchers. ### B2 · the drowned heartland > Over thousands of years, this advanced maritime culture of Island Southeast Asia expanded its > reach and sphere of influence to encompass the northern coast of Australia and the southern > coasts of Asia, even carrying cultural elements as far afield as Africa and the Americas. Then, a > series of catastrophes (likely a combination of comet impact and solar outbursts) initiated a > profound climatic shift and a 130-metre sea level rise. > > While this did not destroy their world overnight, the coastal settlements that constitute > maritime civilizations sank beneath the ocean one by one. The idyllic equatorial heartlands of > their world, the Sunda plate, almost entirely vanished. Image: `sunda-shelf.jpg` (IMG_8524): two paragraphs from the same article above a bathymetric map with the land exposed at lowered sea level coloured red. ### B3 · many human species > We must remember that the Sunda, Sahul, and the Islands of Southeast Asia 40,000 years ago were > like Middle Earth. The region was not limited to modern humans; instead, many human species were > potentially linked by boat journeys. > > We know there were Denisovans, possibly multiple sub-species, Neanderthals, Homo erectus, Homo > floresiensis and maybe still Homo luzonensis, plus ghost populations inferred by DNA studies. > Siling would have almost certainly brought different populations into contact, potentially > explaining much of the unexpected genomic data from the region, including Papuan modern human > genomes having up to 6% Denisovan DNA from at least three divergent source populations! Image: the first page of Jacobs et al. (2019), "Multiple Deeply Divergent Denisovan Ancestries in Papuans", Cell 177(4). Not republished; the paper is cited instead. ### B4 · Australasian ancestry in South America > We can now explain another profound mystery: the detection of ancient Aboriginal Australasian > DNA in several South American tribes. Remember that no signature of these early Aboriginal > arrivals is detected in North America, despite claims that all modern humans in America arrived > from Beringia. > > How could people from Oceania reach Brazil tens of thousands of years ago and not even pass > through North America? > > In a ship, that's how—possibly bringing with them either Denisovan and Neanderthal crewmates or, > more likely, being themselves hybrids, as suggested by the evidence of DNA segments unique to > these human cousins. > > There are clear indications of a northward migration of these prehistoric populations. Image: `australasian-signal.jpg` (crop of IMG_8528): a news graphic of archaic ancestry in South American genomes, text on the University of São Paulo study of the Australasian "Y" signal (Ypikuéra) in the Karitiana, Suruí, Chotuna, Guarani Kaiowá and Xavante, and a map with arrows from north-east Brazil towards Panama and from Lagoa Santa towards Ilave. ### B5 · Olmec heads > This revised history also addresses the mysterious 'African-looking' Olmec heads of central > America. Rather than African faces, these are representations of mariners from Oceania or their > later descendants. As stone can't be directly dated, these giant heads are all dated to the layers > in which they are found or cultures of the region - in reality, their actual age is unknown. I > would suggest some may be well over 10,000 years old. > > As Graham Hancock has noted, ancient Central American art also includes representations of other > foreign-looking people, including bearded Eurasian faces, East Asians, and others. This is > precisely as we might expect if ships were plying the coasts of many regions, bringing together a > melting pot of ethnic groups as their crews. Image: `olmec-heads.jpg` (crop of IMG_8530): four colossal heads. ### B6 · Serpent Mound and the feathered serpent > Have you watched Ancient Apocalypse? > > You may recall Graham Hancock highlighting that the snake depicted at Serpent Mound has two > strange protrusions just behind its head. Well, I can tell you what these are - they are > feathers. > > Any Australasian Aboriginal people watching must have been shouting at their television screens > that day, as the rainbow Serpent is almost always depicted in their art as having these two > feathers erupting from its neck. Sometimes, it also includes two horns. > > Below, you can see the mound as it appears (likely the cosmic serpent swallowing the sun), and a > second image shows the feathers more clearly. Beneath those are two examples of Aboriginal > Rainbow Serpents. > > Of course, for Rainbow Serpent lore to reach Ohio, it had to be brought up from South America, > passing through Central America. It is no surprise that Mesoamerica had a strong feathered or > plumed serpent mythology, with this entity considered a primary force. The Mesoamerican feathered > serpent also had lore, indicating its origins were from over the ocean to the east. This is none > other than the Rainbow Serpent, carried to prehistoric South America by Oceanian sailors. Image: `feathered-serpents.jpg` (crop of IMG_8532): an aerial view of Serpent Mound, Ohio; a nineteenth-century survey drawing of the mound; a Mesoamerican feathered-serpent head; two Rainbow Serpent rock paintings. ## Post C · 26 February 2025 · "Human Bottleneck" > Human Bottleneck (99% population collapse) ~900,000 years ago??? > > This finding baffles mainstream archaeology. What catastrophe could have led to a sudden collapse > of human populations by 99%? Why did the number of human occupation sites globally not fall in > line with this astonishing decline? > > Unlike them, I was not baffled or even surprised. If they had read my 2017 book, The Forgotten > Exodus, they would know I EXPECTED this finding years ahead. > > Because my model argues that our ancestors were a small population that split away from Homo > erectus in Southeast Asia, entering Oceania approx 900,000 years ago, this would appear identical > to a population collapse and bottleneck event! > > A series of profound genomic changes gave rise to the ancestor of ALL large-brained human species > in Oceania around 800,000 years ago. Later, back-migration to mainland Asia brought the new humans > into contact with archaic hominins, making it appear that suddenly, the population size exploded. > It's no mystery. > > When your model is accurate, it fits the objective evidence, eradicating the anomalies. Posted 4:47 PM · Feb 26, 2025 · 4,749 views. Image: `bottleneck.jpg` (crop of IMG_8535): a composite of a Natural History Museum news page on the bottleneck study, a map of Sunda and Sahul with the Wallace, Weber and Lydekker lines, a brain-size chart, a "tangled family tree" diagram, and a caption on the chromosome 2 fusion. ## Screenshot inventory | File | Content | | --- | --- | | IMG_8503.JPG | Attachment: Arnhem Land figure beside the Pillar 43 bird and disc | | IMG_8504.PNG | Screenshot: A1 text | | IMG_8505.PNG | Screenshot: A2 text and image | | IMG_8506.JPG | Attachment: bark bucket, Pillar 43 detail, printed excerpt | | IMG_8507.PNG | Screenshot: A3 text and image | | IMG_8508.JPG | Attachment: churinga and body-art montage | | IMG_8509.PNG | Screenshot: A4 text, start of A5 | | IMG_8511.JPG | Attachment: T-shape montage with Fenton's caption | | IMG_8512.PNG | Screenshot: A5 text, start of A6 | | IMG_8513.JPG | Attachment: rock painting identified as Yinganna | | IMG_8514.PNG | Screenshot: A6 text and image | | IMG_8515.JPG | Attachment: female figures and Rainbow Serpent bark painting | | IMG_8516.PNG | Screenshot: A7 text and image | | IMG_8517.JPG | Attachment: four serpent carvings | | IMG_8518.PNG | Screenshot: A8 text, first part | | IMG_8519.PNG | Screenshot: A8 text, second part, cereal map | | IMG_8520.PNG | Screenshot: A9 and the quoted opening of Thread B | | IMG_8521.PNG | Screenshot: B1 text | | IMG_8522.JPG | Attachment: Popular Mechanics article | | IMG_8523.PNG | Screenshot: B2 text and image | | IMG_8524.JPG | Attachment: article excerpt and Sunda shelf map | | IMG_8525.PNG | Screenshot: B3 text and Cell paper | | IMG_8526.PNG | Screenshot: Cell paper page enlarged | | IMG_8527.PNG | Screenshot: B4 text and graphic | | IMG_8528.PNG | Screenshot: B4 graphic enlarged | | IMG_8529.PNG | Screenshot: B5 text and heads | | IMG_8530.PNG | Screenshot: B5 heads enlarged | | IMG_8531.PNG | Screenshot: B6 text | | IMG_8532.PNG | Screenshot: B6 montage enlarged | | IMG_8533.PNG | Screenshot: Post C text, first part | | IMG_8534.PNG | Screenshot: Post C text, second part, composite | | IMG_8535.PNG | Screenshot: Post C composite enlarged | IMG_8510 is absent from the supplied sequence. ## Addendum · 9–10 September 2026 · the V-neck A later exchange on X, captured in one screenshot supplied on 10 September 2026 (`inputs/fenton/Screenshot 2026-09-10 at 4.43.40 AM.png`; the file name has macOS's narrow no-break space before "AM"). Both posts showed "7h" when the screenshot was taken; their URLs are truncated in it. Fenton's post quotes an earlier post of his (`x.com/GenomicSETI/st…`) and carries a photograph of Urfa Man. Bruce R. Fenton (@GenomicSETI): > For anyone doubtful that pillar 43 also depicts an amphropomorthic bird-man or bird-lady just > look closer, note the V-neck top it is wearing, this same outfit is represented on the oldest > life-size human statue in the world – Urfa man from 11,000 years ago, Sanliurfa, Turkey. > x.com/GenomicSETI/st… Archaic Lens (@ArchaicLens), quoting the above: > Agreed, the bird on pillar 43 is not only wearing a v-neck robe it's knees are bent at front > which of course birds knees bend backwards Image: a photograph of Urfa Man (Şanlıurfa Museum), head and torso, showing the V-shaped double line at the neck; photographer not credited. Not republished: the site uses its own Commons photograph of the statue. The two claims are examined on the main page under "Bird, or bird-man?". | File | Content | | --- | --- | | Screenshot 2026-09-10 at 4.43.40 AM.png | Screenshot: Archaic Lens's reply quoting Fenton's post, with the Urfa Man photograph | ## Identifications and checks made since publication · 10 September 2026 Made by this project by text search and by comparing the pictures with published images. None of this comes from the thread. - `yinganna.jpg`: the Yingarna painting on Injalak Hill beside Gunbalanya (Oenpelli), western Arnhem Land. The rock face, the headband and the fifteen striped dilly bags match a photograph published in 2007 and the published descriptions of the painting. Taçon, May, Jalandoni and Mungulda (2026, *Australian Archaeology*) count it among the region's recent, post-contact Rainbow Serpent paintings. - `churinga-symbols.jpg`: the painted man is Wellcome Collection reference 21428i, "A shaman or medicine man with extensive body painting, Worgaia, Central Australia", a process print captioned "The wizard of the Worgaia, a great medicine man of Central Australia, as the signs on his body show. He instructs tribes in mysteries." Its date and first publication are not recorded there. - `australasian-signal.jpg`: the text is Kaleena Fraga's article "Ancient Australian DNA found in Indigenous South American tribes", *All That's Interesting*, 2 April 2021; the maps are figures from Castro e Silva et al. (2021). - `bush-bucket.jpg`: a Google Books search inside Lommel, *The Unambal* (1997) returns one page for "bush buckets", which supports the attribution; the page itself was not inspected. - `t-shapes.jpg`: the headdress photographs match the subjects and style of Spencer and Gillen's Arrernte ceremony photographs of the 1890s (compare the Commons file `Corroboree.jpg`, before 1900); the exact plates were not identified. The rock painting was not found. - `olmec-heads.jpg`: matched to museum photographs as San Lorenzo Colossal Head 1 (top left, Xalapa) and Head 6 (top right, Mexico City); the lower two resemble Head 5 and Head 3 (Xalapa) but are less certain. - Not identified: the Arnhem Land painting in `bird-and-ball.jpg`; the two paintings in `birthing-figure.jpg`; three of the four carvings in `serpent-heads.jpg`; the stone head and the two paintings in `feathered-serpents.jpg`. - Checked: Urfa Man's V-shaped double line is described in the reference literature as a collar or necklace. The excavation team's published description of Pillar 43 calls the large bird a vulture lifting one wing and does not discuss its neck lines or legs.