Mystery monolith appears at Turkish world heritage site Gobekli Tepe

Turkish police officers guard a monolith, found on an open field near the temple from the 10th millennium BC. Photo / Bekir Seyhanli, AP

Turkish authorities are investigating the appearance of a mysterious monolith in southeastern Turkey.

The metal block was found by a farmer on Friday in Şanlıurfa province with old Turkic script that reads "Look at the sky, see the moon." The monolith, 3 meters high, was discovered near the UNESCO World Heritage site named Gobekli Tepe, which has megalithic structures dating to the 10th millennium BC, thousands of years before Stonehenge.

Turkish media reported Sunday that gendarmes were looking through CCTV footage and investigating vehicles that may have transported the monolith.

Other mysterious monoliths have popped up and some have disappeared in numerous countries in recent months.

Last year there was an outbreak of 'Monomania' following the sensational discovery of a sculpture in a remote part of Utah's Red Rock desert. Announced by the Utah Department of Public Safety photos sparked a rush on the area by day-trippers. Similar events happened with 'monolith' sculptures being planted by artists in countries as far a field as Romania Ukraine and Australia.

Turkey's Gobekli Tepe temple is the latest place to be caught up in the viral trend.

The original monoliths of Gobeli Tepe. Photo / Supplied UNESCO, CC

In Şanlıurfa governor Abdullah Erin said that an investigation is taking place as to how the object arrived unseen.

"Authorities will release a statement soon. We too are curious about the [origin of the] object," he told local news.

The Unesco world heritage site built 12000 years ago is the oldest known structure in history, made from a series of standing stones. Now monoliths are enjoying a new lease of interest, the standing stone mania has returned to the place where it all began.

- Associated press with additional reporting