ANKARA, Turkey (AP) – A metal monolith that mysteriously appeared in a field in southeastern Turkey has now disappeared, Turkish media reported on Tuesday, four days after it was discovered.
The three-meter-high (about 10-foot-high) metal plaque with ancient Turkish writing was found Friday by a farmer in the province of Sanliurfa. It was discovered near Gobekli Tepe, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, which houses megalithic structures dating from the tenth millennium BC, thousands of years before Stonehenge.
The gleaming structure, however, was declared destroyed on Tuesday morning, days after authorities said they were investigating its appearance through closed-circuit television images and looking for vehicles they may have transported to the site.
It was not immediately clear whether he had been removed by the authorities. Officials in the Sanliurfa governor’s office were not immediately available for comment.
State agency Anadolu quoted the owner of the camp as saying he was baffled by its appearance and disappearance.
“We don’t know if it was placed in my field for marketing purposes or as an advertisement,” said Anadolu citing Fuat Demirdil. “We saw that the metal block was no longer in place. Residents are also unable to solve the mystery of the metal block. “
The agency also quoted local resident Hasan Yildiz as saying that the block was still in the camp on Monday night, but had disappeared in the morning.
The monolith carried an inscription that said: “Look at the sky, you will see the moon” in the ancient Turkish alphabet of Gokturk, according to reports.
Other mysterious monoliths have also appeared and some have disappeared in several countries in recent months.
Gobekli Tepe was the setting for Netflix’s Turkish mystery series, “The Gift”.