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Stone reliefs found at Göbekli Tepe

A Monumental Cover Up? Why did Gobekli Tepe End Up in the Dirt?

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In the farmlands of southeastern Turkey there is a hill that rises out of the landscape. Unlike the surrounding plateaus, it has a gentle slope like a mound. At its top is a depression which looks like a belly button, hence the name Gobekli Tepe which means “potbelly hill.” Potbelly Hill looks unnatural to the landscape and it is. The depression has been found to be artificial by archaeologists. It is in fact a monumental structure complete with T-shaped pillars and artwork consisting of a variety of predator and prey animals. It was built around 9,000 BC, well before the rise of agriculture and it is this age that has brought its fame, as archaeologists believe that it represents the earliest temple in the world. The temple was mysteriously abandoned around 8,000 BC and filled in with dirt containing scattered human bones. One of the many mysteries regarding the site is why it was abandoned and whether it was buried by nature or by humans.

Massive megaliths of Enclosure D. Credit: Alistair Coombs

Massive megaliths of Enclosure D. Credit: Alistair Coombs

The ‘World’s Oldest Temple’ Conclusion

When the site was first surveyed by archaeologists from Istanbul, it was thought to be little more than an abandoned Medieval cemetery. In 1994, the German archaeologist Klaus Schmidt re-examined the site and found that it was more extraordinary. He discovered a series of limestone pillars in a circle containing artistic depictions of lions, bulls, spiders, scorpions, snakes, gazelles, and donkeys among other creatures. He also found an abundance of stone tools and crushed bones from animals and humans. Based on comparison between artifacts at the site and artifacts found at other sites with known radiocarbon dates, he determined that it was built during the late Paleolithic, when the region was still inhabited by hunter-gatherers.

During the excavation, Schmidt and his collaborators did not find any evidence of regular habitation. There were no hearths, trash pits or other features indicating that people were living there long-term. Based on this evidence, he and other archaeologists have concluded that the site was not a regular habitation site but that it had a special, perhaps religious function. Schmidt in fact believes it was a temple.

The whole area was filled with stones and dirt

The whole area was filled with stones and dirt (CC BY-SA 3.0)

The Pre-Agriculture Temple Anomaly

If it is a temple, it is a very interesting site because it appears to go against the archaeological convention that temples and other monumental structures were built after the rise of agriculture. According to archaeological consensus, hunter-gatherer societies did not have the time and resources to build monumental structures. Temples, palaces, and similar institutions did not appear until after the rise of agriculture when a food surplus allowed enough people to leave food production and take to other full-time professions such as construction, masonry, and priesthood.

The ‘Vulture-Stone’. Credit: Alistair Coombs

The ‘Vulture-Stone’. Credit: Alistair Coombs

The age of Gobekli Tepe suggests that agriculture is not required for the emergence of complex societies. Archaeologists Klaus Schmidt and Ian Hodder even go as far as to say that “all our theories are wrong.” Hodder and Schmidt suggest that rather than social complexity being a response to a change in subsistence patterns (ie. foraging to farming), subsistence patterns could have changed to accommodate emerging social complexity. The argument goes that people wanted to build temples, so they eventually developed agriculture to feed the builders.

Besides the fact that this is difficult to prove scientifically, since we can’t get inside the heads of the people who built the Gobleki Tepe complex, the suggestion of there being temples before agriculture might not be such a radical step for archaeology as the above scholars suppose. Archaeologists have known for decades that there were large settlements built by hunter-gatherers who harvested wild grain and hunted wild sheep, goats, and gazelles at places such as Jericho and Ain Ghazal. It has been proposed that these settlements were possible because of the extraordinary abundance of the Fertile Crescent during the late Paleolithic. There was enough wild grain and game that the food surplus necessary to facilitate social complexity could be created without agriculture.

Golbekli Tepe, Stone pillar with animal relief

Golbekli Tepe, Stone pillar with animal relief (CC BY SA 3.0)

This is not to say that human ideas could not have played a greater role than previously believed in the rise of civilization, but it is not necessary to completely abandon current archaeological theories regarding the relation between social complexity and subsistence patterns.

Why Was Gobekli Tepe Abandoned and Buried?

If we accept the argument that the area was some kind of religious center, it seems likely to have been abandoned due to a change in beliefs. For hitherto unfathomable changes in thinking, the monuments had lost their relevance.

The next mystery is why the entire site was buried. It is possible that the site was buried naturally after being abandoned but its position makes this unlikely. Sediment does not usually collect on hilltops, which tend to be zones of erosion not deposition. As a result, it is likely that the monuments atop Gobleki Tepe were intentionally buried. Having determined this, the tricky question of why remains, for which explanations are mainly theoretical.

All of the temple areas were buried

All of the temple areas were buried (CC BY-SA 3.0)

It is possible that it was buried to be preserved for future generations. It may also have been buried because a new religion emerged in the area and the sanctuary of an old religion needed to be destroyed. Another reason might have been because after a while, it was considered a taboo place.

Another possible reason that seems sensible if the site was a religious sanctuary, is that the burial was a part of some sort of de-sanctification process. There are examples in many cultures where objects or buildings considered to have supernatural or divine power must be destroyed or otherwise neutralized if they are no longer in use. In many Christian traditions, the alter of a church that is about to be abandoned or repurposed must be ritually de-sanctified lest someone accidentally use a sacred table for mundane use and be guilty of sacrilege.

Drawing Some Comparisons

In the end, searching for answers concerning motives and reasons from such an ancient time involves a great deal of speculation, since we cannot go back in time and probe the perpetrators. Where we might find some firmer ground is by using our knowledge of de-sanctification processes in known cultures such as the Olmec culture or Medieval Christendom. By looking at cultures that we know well and have written records to inform us, we might identify telling similarities.

A possible comparison of this de-sanctification might be made with the case of intentionally mutilated and buried Olmec heads. Many archaeologists who study the Olmec believe that the giant stone heads that they built served a religious function such as protecting a village or city from harm. Interestingly, many Olmec Heads have been found defaced and buried a good distance away from Olmec settlements.

A Olmec Colossal Head found buried and defaced near San Lorenzo, Mexcico (Pre- 900 BC)

A Olmec Colossal Head found buried and defaced near San Lorenzo, Mexcico (Pre- 900 BC) (CC BY 2.0)

One suggested reason for their defacement and burial was to deactivate the power in them. If they were not disenchanted they might be dangerous to someone who unwarily stumbled upon them without knowing the power they held. It would be similar someone accidentally stepping into the Holy of Holies in the ancient Jewish Temple.

In the same way, Gobekli Tepe may have been considered so sacred that it was thought necessary to bury it so that no one accidentally did something that would be sacrilegious to whatever spirits, gods, or cosmic powers dwelt there.

If the cross-cultural comparison holds then this could be a good explanation but ultimately, without further proof, the speculation on the monumental cover-up continues.

Top image: Stone reliefs found at Göbekli Tepe. Credit: Vincent J Musi/National Geographic

By Caleb Strom

References

“Gobleki Tepe: The World’s First Temple?” by Andrew Curry (2008). Smithsonian Magazine. Available at:  http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/gobekli-tepe-the-worlds-first-temple-83613665/

“Gobleki Tepe” by Robert Todd Carrol (N.D.). Skeptic’s Dictionary. Available at: http://skepdic.com/gobeklitepe.html

Grove, David C. "Olmec monuments: Mutilation as a clue to meaning."  The Olmec and Their Neighbors:

Essays in Memory of Matthew W. Stirling (1981): 49-68.

 

Comments

All due respect….but my sincerest hope is that modern scientific community will soon shake off the chains of site/artifact interpretations based on 18th =20th century European religious-centric conceptions.  Characterization of Gobekli Tepi as a “temple,’ is an example where there is no definitive evidence that it was a temple, or holy or anything else religious.  Why not a mundane municipal center or veterinary clinic?  Why not just an observatory?  What makes it a temple is pre-conseption and nothing more.

Truth is unless there’s a tablet that says “Established 20,000 BC, this is our really holy religious temple...”  its just personal views biased by upbringing that are being ascribed and that then skews any other possible understanding of the site/artifact. 

Even if there is a tablet the identification of temple should be reserved.  Other what if’s need to be considered.  How did the tablet get there?  Did someone drop it on a mule trip to another country or was it actually part of the complex?

Suppose today while out walking my dog I sit and eat a candy bar and give my dog a drink of water from a plastic jug or bottle.  And while we’re relaxing I pick a bunch of wild flowers.  And I leave the bottle and candy wrapper and flowers.  We go on with our walk. and time goes by and time goes by and more time and then there is a flood or floods and the stopping place gets covered over.  5000 years later the wrapper/bottle/flowers stash is found.  Would the conclusion be that it was a stopping off point for holy pilgramages because someon left offerings?

Do,o;st;u. 5000 years in the future if the Keck Observatory complex in Hawaii was discovered what would be the conclusion?  Would Keck be described as a religious site built at the top of the tallest mountain so as to be nearer to the worshiped and unknown god?

This is just a personal quirk of mine but I really feel that terms mean something and that they should be used accurately and without known or unknown bias creep.

Need2Knw

Pete Wagner's picture

Well, the only plausible explanation is that Gobekli Tepe was an Atlantis era cultural center, obviously a prominent one, probably inhabited by thousands of ancient Greek type aboriginals, who along with the Atlanteans, perished in the global calamity that brought on the Ice Age, suddenly, around 115k BC (adding the zero back to Plato’s timeline).  That calamity brought global death and destruction, and left everything in ruin for 100,000 years, with some areas being buried in dirt or sand, and some left exposed (e.g., Pyramids and mountaintop temples) and later resettled.  Gobekli Tepe was mostly ignored or unknown by the new civilization, probably due to it being covered up, along with its somewhat secluded location and lack of beauty or value to the passing eye. 

Nobody gets paid to tell the truth.

Garry Denke's picture

Gobekli Tepe is an Above-ground Man-cave Shoring-university.

Stonehenge is a Stone-age Cave-shoring Branch-campus.

T-Pillars-shoring and Lintels-shoring for Caves taught.

Every shore-Caveman knows it. Why don’t you?

Cave-creatures Kids-carved during Class.

Homes went wood. Schools closed.

The people who lived there were the pelasgians/Thracians. I believe the best way to understand their past is to look at the language, culture and way of life of their descendants who can be found on the Balkans. Bulgaria is one place to start, as well as Romania etc. There was indeed a flood which turned the big lake into the now Black Sea. Many fled and migrated to other lands bringing their knowledge in there and creating civilizations similar to the one on the Balkans.

According to the Book of Enoch, some of the pre-flood peoples were aware that a flood was coming. The stones of Gobekli were protected from this flood, by burying them. No other reasoning can compare to this..

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Caleb Strom's picture

Caleb

Caleb Strom is currently a graduate student studying planetary science. He considers himself a writer, scientist, and all-around story teller. His interests include planetary geology, astrobiology, paleontology, archaeology, history, space archaeology, and SETI.

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