Gobeckli Tepe update..

[Brandy]

It's been a couple of years since I visited this topic and there have been some insights gained.
The eggheads have been fighting over whose vision is the clearest..lol.

MIDDLE EAST
“The World’s First Temple” – New research from Göbekli Tepe

By Sean McShee | September 21, 2021
The Wild Hunt is exclusively supported by readers like you. No advertising. No corporate sponsors. Your support helps us pay our writers and editors, as well as cover the bills the keep the lights on. We cover the community because of your generosity. Consider making a one-time donation - or become a monthly sustainer. Every amount helps. Thank you for reading The Wild Hunt!




TWH – Göbekli Tepe straddled the transition from hunter-gatherer culture to farming culture, and is considered the world’s oldest known monumental complex.

The first findings from Göbekli Tepe claimed that in 9000 B.C.E., people built it as a ritual center and before they had begun to settle in villages or to invent farming. Some archaeologists labeled the site as “The World’s First Temple.” They argued that religious rituals drove the invention of farming.

Panoramic shot of Göbekli Tepe – Image credit: Rolfcosar – CC BY-SA 3.0

More recent finding have challenged that World’s First Temple model.

Klaus Schmidt, a German archaeologist, began the excavations in the 1990s. He died in 2014. Lee Clare, Ph.D., coordinator of research and fieldwork at Göbekli Tepe, replaced him. Schmidt is associated with the World’s First Temple model. Clare is associated with challenges to that model based on new findings.

Göbekli Tepe and its importance
Located in southeastern Turkey, Göbekli Tepe lies 90km (about 55 miles) east of the upper Euphrates. People used it from roughly 9000 to 8200 B.C.E.

Schmidt found 20 circular enclosures made of stone pillars. The largest enclosure had a diameter of 20m (~65.6 ft). At the center of the enclosure, two T-shaped pillars stood 5.5m (~18 ft) tall. Carvings covered the pillars. Some depicted animals, others highly stylized humans.

Carved animal reliefs – Klaus-Peter Simon – CC BY-SA 3.0

According to Tepe Telegrams, the transition from hunting and gathering took hundreds of years or longer. People had to first experiment with cultivation, processing, storing, and cooking plants. To process grains, people had to experiment and invent grinding stones.

This transition first occurred in the areas around the upper Euphrates and Tigris rivers (Turkey, Syria, and Iraq). Wild varieties of Einkorn, emmer wheat, barley, and other “founder crops” grow in this region. DNA evidence has confirmed that people had domesticate wheat in this area.

The World’s First Temple model
Tepe Telegrams reported that after excavations began in the 1990s, Schmidt began to interpret Göbekli Tepe as a ritual site without permanent residents.

According to the BBC, Schmidt theorized that the hunter-gatherers would gather at the site for communal feasting. While there, they would build the site. Then, they would disperse.

Aerial view of the archaeological site of Göbekli Tepe: main excavation area with four monumental circular buildings and adjacent rectangular buildings – Image credit: German Archaeological Institute, photo E. Kücük. – Dietrich L, Meister J, Dietrich O, Notroff J, Kiep J, Heeb J – CC BY 4.0

This diversion of labor from hunting and gathering created challenges. When building the site, people were not hunting and gathering, but still needed to eat. This challenge would have led to experimenting with growing plants. Domestication would have begun.

Archaeology noted that Schmidt promoted the idea that “complex social organization and the performance of rituals actually predated permanent settlement.”

Schmidt argued that Göbekli Tepe functioned as an innovation center. From that center, knowledge of new farming tech spread outwards. In his view, ritual activity drove the invention of farming and settlements in the Neolithic. He said, “First the temple, then the city.” These theories became “The World’s First Temple” model.

New findings challenge The World’s First Temple model
Clare argues that the World’s First Temple model rests on several characteristics. First, archaeologists found no evidence of settlement at Göbekli Tepe. Second, they failed to find any evidence of a nearby water source. Third, they found no evidence of domesticated plants or animals. Fourth, when people left Göbekli Tepe, they buried the enclosures and pillars in an abandonment ritual.

New findings have called into question all the above characteristics.

Settlement
Archaeology reported that roof canopies were built to protect the excavation areas. The post holes for those canopies required digging down to bedrock.

Clare said, “We found middens, fireplaces, hearths, lithics—all smelling very domestic. For me, there was domestic activity from the beginning right to the very end.”

Clare commented that the tool types found at Göbekli Tepe were similar to those of a settled population.

Water source
Clare said archaeologists found a pit carved out of the rock, diameter 8m (~26.2 ft) and a depth of 2.8m (~9.1 ft). This structure has similarities to the rainwater harvesting structures in nearby sites.

Archaeology reported that archaeologists found a channel carved out of rock similar to other channels used to collect rainwater on other sites.

Plant Domestication
In Göbekli Tepe, archaeologists have found over 7,268 grinding stones. According to Tepe Telegrams, a grinding stone has two parts: a hard, flat surface and a handheld object, a “hand stone.”

The grinder would place the grains on the hard, flat surface. The handheld objects would act like a potato masher. Experiments showed that one worker grinding for eight hours could produce enough to feed five to ten people.

Tepe Telegrams reported that archaeologists found evidence of the upper parts of grass plants, which would be consistent with cereals gathered in sheaves.

Abandonment ritual or erosion
Archaeology also reported that German Archaeological Institute archaeologist Moritz Kinzel argued against the ritual backfilling of the site. Ritual backfilling would have occurred evenly throughout each enclosure. The data shows an unequal pattern. Parts of the enclosure closest to the hill slope show the most damage. That would be consistent with hill erosion. Earthquakes occur in this area, making soil disturbances likely.

New interpretations
Clare argues in that same magazine article that Göbekli Tepe was a last stand of hunter-gatherers against the Neolithic Revolution. He based that on the animals carved on the T-shaped pillars. They show wild, threatening animals, stylized humans, phalli, and human skulls.

Notches on the pillars indicated that the enclosures had roofs. This would have made the ritual space dark. Archaeologist Thomas Zimmermann, interprets this darkness and the sculptures of threatening animals to indicate male dominance.

Vuture carving – Image credit: Sue Fleckney – CC BY-SA 2.0

According to this interpretation, by 8200 B.C.E. the Neolithic had won. People then abandoned Göbekli Tepe.

In that same Archaeology article, archaeologist Barbara Horejs said, “It’s impossible to understand 12,000-year-old symbols in such a direct way.”

Archaeologist Mehmet Özdoğan interprets the animal carvings as protective rather than threatening.

Archaeologist Laura Dietrich analyzed the grinding stones found at the site. She claimed that people at Göbekli Tepe had developed ways to process and cook grains. Horejs rejects a binary division between hunter-gatherers and the Neolithic.

“Sociocultural processes like this aren’t either-or; they’re continuous,” she said. “Hunter-gatherer life doesn’t stop immediately because people start cultivating grain.”

 

[Brandy]

An immense mystery older than Stonehenge - BBC Travel

Gobekli Tepe: The World’s First Temple? | History | Smithsonian Magazine

 

[toolmanmike]

It's been a couple of years since I visited this topic and there have been some insights gained.
The eggheads have been fighting over whose vision is the clearest..lol.

MIDDLE EAST
“The World’s First Temple” – New research from Göbekli Tepe
View attachment 1197266 By Sean McShee | September 21, 2021
The Wild Hunt is exclusively supported by readers like you. No advertising. No corporate sponsors. Your support helps us pay our writers and editors, as well as cover the bills the keep the lights on. We cover the community because of your generosity. Consider making a one-time donation - or become a monthly sustainer. Every amount helps. Thank you for reading The Wild Hunt!




TWH – Göbekli Tepe straddled the transition from hunter-gatherer culture to farming culture, and is considered the world’s oldest known monumental complex.

The first findings from Göbekli Tepe claimed that in 9000 B.C.E., people built it as a ritual center and before they had begun to settle in villages or to invent farming. Some archaeologists labeled the site as “The World’s First Temple.” They argued that religious rituals drove the invention of farming.

View attachment 1197267
Panoramic shot of Göbekli Tepe – Image credit: Rolfcosar – CC BY-SA 3.0

More recent finding have challenged that World’s First Temple model.

Klaus Schmidt, a German archaeologist, began the excavations in the 1990s. He died in 2014. Lee Clare, Ph.D., coordinator of research and fieldwork at Göbekli Tepe, replaced him. Schmidt is associated with the World’s First Temple model. Clare is associated with challenges to that model based on new findings.

Göbekli Tepe and its importance
Located in southeastern Turkey, Göbekli Tepe lies 90km (about 55 miles) east of the upper Euphrates. People used it from roughly 9000 to 8200 B.C.E.

Schmidt found 20 circular enclosures made of stone pillars. The largest enclosure had a diameter of 20m (~65.6 ft). At the center of the enclosure, two T-shaped pillars stood 5.5m (~18 ft) tall. Carvings covered the pillars. Some depicted animals, others highly stylized humans.

View attachment 1197268
Carved animal reliefs – Klaus-Peter Simon – CC BY-SA 3.0

According to Tepe Telegrams, the transition from hunting and gathering took hundreds of years or longer. People had to first experiment with cultivation, processing, storing, and cooking plants. To process grains, people had to experiment and invent grinding stones.

This transition first occurred in the areas around the upper Euphrates and Tigris rivers (Turkey, Syria, and Iraq). Wild varieties of Einkorn, emmer wheat, barley, and other “founder crops” grow in this region. DNA evidence has confirmed that people had domesticate wheat in this area.

The World’s First Temple model
Tepe Telegrams reported that after excavations began in the 1990s, Schmidt began to interpret Göbekli Tepe as a ritual site without permanent residents.

According to the BBC, Schmidt theorized that the hunter-gatherers would gather at the site for communal feasting. While there, they would build the site. Then, they would disperse.

View attachment 1197269
Aerial view of the archaeological site of Göbekli Tepe: main excavation area with four monumental circular buildings and adjacent rectangular buildings – Image credit: German Archaeological Institute, photo E. Kücük. – Dietrich L, Meister J, Dietrich O, Notroff J, Kiep J, Heeb J – CC BY 4.0

This diversion of labor from hunting and gathering created challenges. When building the site, people were not hunting and gathering, but still needed to eat. This challenge would have led to experimenting with growing plants. Domestication would have begun.

Archaeology noted that Schmidt promoted the idea that “complex social organization and the performance of rituals actually predated permanent settlement.”

Schmidt argued that Göbekli Tepe functioned as an innovation center. From that center, knowledge of new farming tech spread outwards. In his view, ritual activity drove the invention of farming and settlements in the Neolithic. He said, “First the temple, then the city.” These theories became “The World’s First Temple” model.

New findings challenge The World’s First Temple model
Clare argues that the World’s First Temple model rests on several characteristics. First, archaeologists found no evidence of settlement at Göbekli Tepe. Second, they failed to find any evidence of a nearby water source. Third, they found no evidence of domesticated plants or animals. Fourth, when people left Göbekli Tepe, they buried the enclosures and pillars in an abandonment ritual.

New findings have called into question all the above characteristics.

Settlement
Archaeology reported that roof canopies were built to protect the excavation areas. The post holes for those canopies required digging down to bedrock.

Clare said, “We found middens, fireplaces, hearths, lithics—all smelling very domestic. For me, there was domestic activity from the beginning right to the very end.”

Clare commented that the tool types found at Göbekli Tepe were similar to those of a settled population.

Water source
Clare said archaeologists found a pit carved out of the rock, diameter 8m (~26.2 ft) and a depth of 2.8m (~9.1 ft). This structure has similarities to the rainwater harvesting structures in nearby sites.

Archaeology reported that archaeologists found a channel carved out of rock similar to other channels used to collect rainwater on other sites.

Plant Domestication
In Göbekli Tepe, archaeologists have found over 7,268 grinding stones. According to Tepe Telegrams, a grinding stone has two parts: a hard, flat surface and a handheld object, a “hand stone.”

The grinder would place the grains on the hard, flat surface. The handheld objects would act like a potato masher. Experiments showed that one worker grinding for eight hours could produce enough to feed five to ten people.

Tepe Telegrams reported that archaeologists found evidence of the upper parts of grass plants, which would be consistent with cereals gathered in sheaves.

Abandonment ritual or erosion
Archaeology also reported that German Archaeological Institute archaeologist Moritz Kinzel argued against the ritual backfilling of the site. Ritual backfilling would have occurred evenly throughout each enclosure. The data shows an unequal pattern. Parts of the enclosure closest to the hill slope show the most damage. That would be consistent with hill erosion. Earthquakes occur in this area, making soil disturbances likely.

New interpretations
Clare argues in that same magazine article that Göbekli Tepe was a last stand of hunter-gatherers against the Neolithic Revolution. He based that on the animals carved on the T-shaped pillars. They show wild, threatening animals, stylized humans, phalli, and human skulls.

Notches on the pillars indicated that the enclosures had roofs. This would have made the ritual space dark. Archaeologist Thomas Zimmermann, interprets this darkness and the sculptures of threatening animals to indicate male dominance.

View attachment 1197270
Vuture carving – Image credit: Sue Fleckney – CC BY-SA 2.0

According to this interpretation, by 8200 B.C.E. the Neolithic had won. People then abandoned Göbekli Tepe.

In that same Archaeology article, archaeologist Barbara Horejs said, “It’s impossible to understand 12,000-year-old symbols in such a direct way.”

Archaeologist Mehmet Özdoğan interprets the animal carvings as protective rather than threatening.

Archaeologist Laura Dietrich analyzed the grinding stones found at the site. She claimed that people at Göbekli Tepe had developed ways to process and cook grains. Horejs rejects a binary division between hunter-gatherers and the Neolithic.

“Sociocultural processes like this aren’t either-or; they’re continuous,” she said. “Hunter-gatherer life doesn’t stop immediately because people start cultivating grain.”

Very fascinating!

 

[1967coronet]

thanks for posting it.
I've been hunting Indian artifacts since I was a kid. Sand bars , riffles , plowed fields after a rain.
I have always found this stuff interesting.

 

[Brandy]

Me too. I once owned a couple of acres along Indian Point, Missouri and would go down to the river and dig around for arrowheads and stuff.

 

[ACME A12]

I like the Stegosaurus carving that they found there. That one upsets everyone's apple cart...

 

[Brandy]

While all of these hypotheses seem likely, given the physical evidence and prior history of similar sites, I doubt that it tells the whole story.
I still find truth in the Graham Hancock interpretations of the site and the carvings. Mainly because I have learned to distrust the rock and sand diggers who create narratives solely to cement their own careers in place and then bulwark their findings continuously in support of those careers... as opposed to telling the truth and not gaining fame in their area.
Look at it like this.... What did ancient peoples worship the most? Find to be unexplainable and mystical the most?
The SKY of course. Day and night. And animals. Not stones, stones were like writing paper. A tool.
We know this to be true across all cultures and times.
Yet, in the rock hounds interpretation of this site.....no mention of the sky and only a little credence given to animals and only then as sources of food.
See the problem? Remember that during this era, 11,000 years ago, the planet was just coming out of a long ice age period. It hadn't been warm for very long. Only about a 1000 years. These weren't Einstein's here...
During and era when we KNOW for a fact that cosmic debris and extraterrestrial objects impacted the Northern Hemisphere and did colossal damage to the planet across all metrics, the rock chippers say nothing about the site as having any correlation to these momentous events that the occupants would SURELY have been aware of.
Think about it, put yourself in these peoples dusty sandals for a minute. An ice age was coming back with a vengeance because of these impacts. Your way of life was spiraling down the sink hole and you with it. Ice was coming your way and you had to MOVE South. Everything you had built had to now be abandoned. You would want to leave a record for the next shift. It's human nature.
Here you are, a nomadic people who are on the cusp of becoming farmers and villagers. You're clearly diverting time and energy from hunting and gathering in order to build this vast complex. While you're doing so, the sky, and the animals are changing. There are less animals to hunt because you have been staying more in one place and depleting the supply. The ever changing night sky is now being viewed from ONE viewpoint as opposed to looking up from wherever you find yourself in your travels. Now you can chart the sky, pay more attention to how the stars move across the expanse. This is your TV, your internet. You can now assign some clever wanker to study the night sky full time without that person having to hunt to feed himself or his family.
It's beyond belief that this person, and anyone else would miss the comets/asteroids incoming and plowing into the planet day OR night or that this would not be instant and impactful NEWS across the world. We know for a FACT that it was indeed so. Every culture has a legend or myth surrounding the great flood, the impacts of objects during this period. All over the world.
In a high desert Northern hemisphere observation site where a person, or group of people are dedicated to watching the sky 24/7 there's no way they would have missed it, or that they wouldn't have immediately documented it! Like the tribes people seeing the Enterprise rise out of the water....come on man!

They would have been carving rocks like madmen over that ****. Getting it down as the most important events in living freaking memory. Yet, the rock chippers say nada about it. THAT tells you all that you need to know about archeologists.

 

[Budnicks]

Interesting read again

 

[Richard Cranium]

Very fascinating!

 

[Brandy]

Update:

Well they found another 24 chamber complex in Turkey older than Gobekli Tepe. They are oriented to Sirius the bright star. Over thousands of years as the alignment angle changes in each enclosure. 10,900-10,800 BC. About 1000 years before Gobeckli Tepe and during the Younger Dryas. In my view the carvings and astro alignments of these and other temples across the planet are warnings for us to watch the heavens for star progression to be ready for the NEXT cataclysm at a future date. Warnings we are ignoring like the fools we are.

 

[Brandy]

Around 10,000 years ago BOTH complexes were deliberately buried. A manmade hill formed over top of it until we rediscovered it. Like a time capsule. Like all time capsules it contains an important message. We need to heed it.

 

[RemCharger]

Well that seals the deal... I'm not going outside anymore.

 

[mpgmike]

The one inconsistency with the early hunter-gatherer-turned-domesticated is that they were still using rudimentary grinding stones for their bread, yet had the ability to form the large standing stones, AND carve them intricately! This is the stage where they were painting on the walls with mashed flowers for paint. You'd think they would have had some form of mill. There seems to be a juxtaposed melding of "just emerging" with "existing sophistication". Graham Hancock was mentioned, but previous observations from Zecharia Sitchen also brought to life ancient writings that portrayed a different picture. I think the Flood probably had more contribution to the back-filling than human labor. Yes, I believe it predates Noah's Flood. I also believe that "God" was the master architect behind the design, and the methodology of construction.

 

[Budnicks]

& there's nothing we can 'probably do' about
those impending celestial stellar catastrophies
or planet killers

hell,
mother earth may just 'shake us off like fleas' herself

or
Hell, when not if, Yellowstone super caldera erupts again
taking out everything north & east (hemisphere) of it,
burried it all in ash/silt or sulfuric acid rains, or nuclear winters
particulates/ash-filled clouds blocking the sun for decades
killing off vegetation poisoning waters/oceans

**** like what took out 'who knows what' loooong before us
our ancient history is still being written
it's all speculation & conjecture "science" educated guesses

maybe prolong (the big one) it or push them/it (?) to a different path
& take out some other planet or solar system, by our actions
what in turn will come out of that & it's causes/effects ?

deep truly deep

 

[Scott Engelhardt]

Listen to Rogans podcast #1897 with Graham Hancock and Randal Carlson. Well worth the time.

 

[Brandy]

The turning of the planet and progression will keep going regardless of what we do and the Taurid meteor shower will keep coming back until it wipes us out ...again. Or a rock from outside the solar system will take us out. The only way to survive it would be to be lucky in location and to live high enough in altitude. Why anyone would WANT to survive it is another matter...

 

[Detective D]

Saw this thread at the bottom of the page. Recalled this news. WEF strikes again!

EDIT: FF to the 20 minute mark, this was a stream.

 

[padam]

I wish you guys would post a synopsis on these videos so we don’t have to watch so much nonsense to get the point.

 

[Brandy]

I wish you guys would post a synopsis on these videos so we don’t have to watch so much nonsense to get the point.

WEF has decided to create a tourist attraction rather than keeping such an important site to humanity free from such nonsense and the excavations ongoing. The pillars are telling a story of the planet and humanity at the time and only 72 out of 200 have been uncovered and examined. What are they trying to keep hidden? Why? The pillars depict several forms that are also present in many other cultures on different continents. Why did those who built/used the site suddenly bury it on purpose? An area the size of 90 football fields. No small task. Building concrete roads and walkways over the top of unexcavated areas tells me they do not WANT those things dug up. This makes me want to see them even more...

 

[Brandy]

So, it turns out that Graham Hancock, who the mainstream "Big Archeology" snobs all said was a fantasist, may have been right all along.
Gobekli Tepe is very probably a calendar of events from the time period and also a warning for the future.

This 12,000-Year-Old Monument Turned Out to Be the World's Oldest Calendar
Story by Ben Campbell • 2d


Gobekli Tepe in Turkey is revered for its megalithic pillars and intricate carvings, which showcase the architectural and artistic abilities of humans over 10,000 years ago. But to this day, the reason behind the site’s construction remains somewhat of a mystery to researchers.
A new study from scientists from Scotland proposes the 12,000-year-old structure was more than a ritualistic or ceremonial site comprised of enormous stones. Instead, it may have been constructed to help ancient people track the passage of time. In 1964, a team conducting a geographical survey at a site around 9 miles northeast of the Turkish city of Sanlıurfa was the first to record what would become Gobekli Tepe.
In 1994, the German archaeologist Klaus Schmidt recognized the significance of the site after an initial inspection, and excavations began the following year. What Schmidt and his team unearthed would go on to be labeled one of the most impressive discoveries of the 20th century. After years of excavations, Schmidt and his extensive team slowly unearthed the remains of an enormous site consisting of large pillars laid out in intricate circular formation.
The site has numerous T-shaped limestone tons, some of which stand up to 16 feet tall and weigh over 50 tons. Initial dating conducted at the site led researchers to suggest that it could be up to 11,000 years old, making it one of the oldest known man-made structures ever discovered.
Many of the pillars showcase fascinating carvings of animals, from lions to scorpions, foxes, and geometric symbols, all of which have captivated the attention of researchers over the years. Professor Schmidt, who worked on the site until his death in 2014, never believed Gobekli Tepe was a settlement. Instead, he was adamant the site in Anatolia was some kind of religious or ceremonial structure.
When asked about the site's original purpose at one point in his career, Schmidt said, “This is the first human-built holy place.” Despite his belief, others continue to propose a range of theories surrounding Gobekli Tepe’s function. Now, a new study published in the journal Time and Mind proposes an entirely alternative theory.

Researchers from the University of Edinburgh have put forward a compelling theory. They claim that certain carvings found at the site indicate that Gobekli Tepe was associated with the passage of time, serving as an enormous man-made calendar. The scientists meticulously examined the numerous carved symbols found at the site, suggesting that every “V” represents a day of the year. This thorough examination led them to suggest that one pillar featured 365 “V’s,” making it a total of one solar year.
A separate carving featuring a bird-like beast wearing a V around its neck may represent the summer solstice constellation during the era in which the site was occupied. According to the researchers, Gobekli Tepe’s function as a calendar is preoccupied with day, night, and seasonal changes that may have come following a cataclysmic event.

This may align with the Younger Dryas impact hypothesis, which suggests fragments of a comet hit Earth around 10,800 years ago, ushering in a mini-ice age that eliminated numerous species. In a statement, Martin Sweatman, the lead study researcher from the University of Edinburgh’s School of Engineering, further emphasized their beliefs, suggesting that the ancient inhabitants of Gobekli Tepe were not just builders, but knowledgeable astronomers.
“It appears the inhabitants of Gobekli Tepe were keen observers of the sky,” he said. Sweatman continued, their observation of the sky “is to be expected given their world had been devastated by a comet strike. The event might have triggered civilization by initiating a new religion and by motivating developments in agriculture to cope with the cold climate.”
He added, “Possibly, their attempts to record what they saw are the first steps toward the development of writing millennia later.” According to the scientists, the carvings suggest the inhabitants of Gobekli Tepe tracked the cycles of the Sun and the Moon, which pre-date all other known calendars by “many millennia.”
They even suggest that ancient astronomers may have held some understanding of the increased potential of meteor strikes when Earth’s orbit passes by circling comment fragments, which has been backed up by modern science. In conclusion, the researchers propose that the carvings at Gobekli Tepe clearly showcase the ancient inhabitants' recording of precise dates and following the movement of constellations.
The researchers based in Scotland even propose that ancient civilizations knew of the wobble in Earth's axis, a discovery that wouldn't be documented until Hipparchus of ancient Greece theorized the process in 150 BCE. This suggests that these ancient astronomers were well ahead of their time.