Gobekli
Tepe is Turkish for “Potbelly Hill”, and refers to an archeological site in the
SE Anatolia Region of Turkey. The ‘hill’ is 49 ft tall and about 980 ft in
diameter. It is located 2,490 ft above sea level.
The
construction of this site is believed to date back to the 10th to 8th millenium
BC. It was built before pottery was invented in this area, and contains massive
T-shaped stone pillars, the world’s oldest known megaliths. Surveys have
discovered more than 200 pillars in about 20 circles. Each has a height up to
20 ft and weighs 10 tons. They are fitted into sockets that were hewn out of
the bedrock.
The
2nd phase of this site was still pre-pottery, but newly erected pillars were
smaller and stood in rectangular rooms with floors made of polished lime. The
location was abandoned after that.
Dating
of the site was accomplished by charcoal samples found in the lowest levels of
the site. It is likely this charcoal indicates the end of the active phase of
occupation, and that the actual structures were older.
The
site sits on a flat, barren plateau connected on the north to a neighboring
mountain range by a narrow promontory that shows evidence of human impact. In
all other directions, the ridge descends steeply into slopes and steep cliffs.
The
pillars were carved from the plateau edges, where several quarries have been
identified, and 3 t-pillars found. The largest of these has been severed from
the surrounding rock, and the other 2 are identified as t-pillars, but not yet
separated.
At
first I thought the article was talking about something like Stonehenge;
monoliths standing on end, some with a cap stone balanced atop 2 of them, but
further on, the article had details that belied that thought. A large number of
t-pillars were embedded in thick walls made of unworked rock that formed a
circle, approximately 8 t-pillars per circle. Four of these circles have been
discovered so far, with indications of another 16 not yet uncovered. It is
unknown if these walled circles had a roof.
But the t-pillars
were not just used in walls; in the center of each circle, 2 taller t-pillars
faced each other. Stone benches were also found inside the circles. Many of the
limestone t-pillars were decorated with symbols or depictions of many animals
that may have been present at the time, but which no longer live in the area
today. It is likely the area was forested at the time, with a large variety of
animals, but millennia of human habitation and cultivation has reduced the area
to a dust bowl environment.
Some
of the floors of the circles were made of burnt lime, while others were
bedrock.
After
8800 BC, the people stopped making circles and constructed small rectangular
rooms. Rectangles are a more efficient use of space than circles, and are often
associated with the emergence of the Neolithic age. However, t-pillars are
still present, indicating these probably served the same purpose as the earlier
circles, perhaps as a sanctuary. Several adjoining doorless and windowless
rooms have floors of polished lime.
No
evidence of domesticated plants or animals have been found at the site. It is
assumed the inhabitants were hunters and gatherers who lived in villages part
of the year. Still, very little evidence of residential use has been found. It
is believed that the locations may have been used as a spiritual center even
earlier than the dates given here.
So,
here is a site that was created before pottery, metallurgy, writing, the wheel,
agriculture or even animal husbandry. It would have taken organization of an
advanced order, as it is estimated that up to 500 people would have been needed
to extract and move the heavy pillars. I don’t know if that number includes the
people doing the hunting and gathering to feed the people doing the heavy
construction.
But
around 8000 BC, the site ceased to be a ceremonial center to the people.
Instead of simply abandoning the site, they deliberately filled it in with
whatever rubble they had at hand, including animal and human bones. It was used
for agriculture from then until the present.
It
has been suggested that Gobekli Tepe was a place for remembering the dead, of
putting them to rest in some way. (No obvious graves have yet been found.) It
seems fitting, then, that when the Neolithic people ‘moved on’, when they
invented pottery, agriculture and animal husbandry, they made an effort to bury
their past.
