Highly doubt that all of a sudden an ancient settlement suddenly wanted to erect massive monuments that would take a tremendous amount of energy and food and time. I believe I read elsewhere that there are other similar sites like it in the surrounding areas, though made from wood, which points to a long tradition before Gobekle Tepe. Also, the site existed for around 1000 years I believe until all at once it was buried. Either the belief systems crumbled or a different culture took over.
I’ve long been fascinated by this site. The fact that it existed around 12,000 years ago is astounding
Ancient Homo Sapiens continue to surprise us today. I wonder what researchers will think about us in 12-13,000 years as they excavate the remains of our societies?
Congratulations! You are at least TWO DECADES out of date re: Tas Tepeler finds info you provide. Now I can understand researchers being conservative, but they seem to have veered right into medieval by mistake.
Examples:
1) Yes it was astronomical. Very, very much so. And not only astronomical, turns out they had the Eratosthenes method nailed down ten millennia (!!!) before Eratosthenes. Proven independently by the astronomical analysis by Howard Crowhurst (he is on YT) AND by the sheer abundance of proto-astronomical (some may say proto-astrological, but the two were bit distinct at the time anyway) iconography all over the Tas Tepeler.
2) It was not the Göbekli Tepe culture, or even the Tas Tepeler culture. See, all thise were basically "mountain chapels". The true center (as withessed by the crossing of a veritable sh...load of extrapolated astronomical lines) was NOT anywhere in the hills, but at Harran in the plain below. Harran and not the Tas Tepeler was the true center of that civilization, making it comfortably the oldest city on Earth.
3) To show above on example: Göbekli Tepe Pillar 43. All astronomical. The vulture is the Cygnus constellation (used at that time as a "Northern cross" to identify the true north, as there was no single North Star at the time of the Tas Tepeler. The sphere on the vulture's wing is the Cygnus Loop. The two birds at the right side are the constellation Sagittarius, still known as "two ostriches" in Arab folk astronomy. The wavy strip of stylized water "connecting them: well that's the Milky Way. Line of squares superimposed with it probably denote the lunar months. The lower part of pillar has the exact same animals representing constellations that one can find on the Roman Mithraist tauroctony from the Late Roman Empire: a bird, a snake, a scorpion and a dog (the latter still incorrecly officially misidentified as "fox".) The pillar is thus a proto-star map and a proto-calendar.
4) Hugh Newman and JJ Ainsworth were able to ascertain that a Roman quarry seems to have resulted in finding some of the Tas Tepeler material, which the Romans then preserved. Seems extra interesting because elements of Harran / Tas Tepeler iconography do show up in Roman times on at least 3 separate occasions:
4a) The death of Marcus Licinius Crassus the Triumvir. He was beaten and killed by the Parthians at Carrhae. Well, turns out Carrhae is just the Roman name for - Harran. They definitely had a skull cult there during the Tas Tepeler era. And in the eons later Roman era, Crassus was decapitated and his head sent to Ctesiphon where it was used as a prop in a play by Sophocles. Such careful separation of head would not mean much in any other place, but in a place where it is well known people used to deyach then rebuild heads, there is a betond tantalizing possibility that the locals merely sacrificed Crassus "in the ancient manner."
4b) Roman Mithraism. The mystery religion that nearly became the late Roman religion (in the end Christianity won, chiefly because they did not exclude women.) The constellations they depicted used are the exact same as on the Göbekli Tepe Pillar 43, lower part. Mithras killing bull is essentially a depiction of Orion and Taurus (and one with an apparent depiction 7 millennia older than even the Harran / TasTepeler culture, deep in the Lascaux cave...) There is a depiction of a human and a bull in Sayburç in the Tas Tepeler that, while inverting the left and the right side (does that mean they used still water or thin ice to project an image of the stars onto reflective surface?), definitely depicts a human facing a bull - known to us today as Orion and Taurus. Rise of Orion denoted the advent of winter.
Best candidate for what exactly happened when late Romans unearthed some of the Tas Tepeler.
4c) The Jewish Bar Kochba rebellion during the rule of the Roman Emperor Hadrian. Depictions of Bar Kochba's folllowers show togas with a curious H/I symbol (depending on the orientation) that is all over the Tas Tepeler. Best guess is that it represented the constellation Gemini.
5) The beyond bizarre number of important cognates of the name "Harran" exist all over different later religions and mythologies, witnessing very eloquently about its importance in the development of religion. While some may not be 100% certain cognates, most probably are, and the sheer number and diversity is beyond impressive:
-Harran/Orion (clip initial "h", alter the vowels - mostly not written in Semitic abugidas anyway.)
-Harran/Aaron the brother of Moses - ditto.
-Harran/Ouranos the Greek deity of sky
(same method, add Greek ending -os)
-Harran/Chronos the Titan of time (clip first vowel, alter 2nd vowel, add Greek ending.)
-Harran/Charon the Greek ferryman of souls over the river Styx.
-In the super ancient Basque language whose speakers have the highest genetic percentage of the Early European Farmers a.k.a. the direct descendants of the Tas Tepeler prople on the continent, the word "harana" means "valley". And Harran is located in the fertile valley below the Tas Tepeler!
There are probably many more.
Now, a question for all the good folks reading this: would you be interested in reading a paywalled version of the synthesis of best available Harran/Tas Tepeler data written to the best of my ability? Am toying with the idea of finally writing it all down and publishing, but am a little pressed for funds so would have to paywall it if I am to seriously embark on that project. So, if you would like to be able to read my stuff, please do let me know!
To understand or to guess at the purpose of the very unguessable Gobekli Tepe site, modern minds have to concentrate on what the mindset of the people who built it, was at that time. From what I have read above, it seems that the writers/archeologists have preconceived notions based on their current mindset. This is a strong no-no. The main task of the archeologists/interpreters is to discover some rough idea of their attitude to life was when they cut the stones, moved them into positions and built the site. They were not hunter-gatherers; that assumption is too convenient.
Ritual, burial or any other purpose comes way after that. Who were they and what were they thinking? Don't assign them to what your preconceived notions are. That will only take you away from the correct guess. I cannot stress this point more strongly than I have.
The task is never easy and this one is exponentially harder.
Of course the evidence is right in front of you, but hidden and interpretable. Talk to few colleagues and welcome them to see what I'm suggesting. You may become a hero!
Most likely, Gobekli Tepe reflects history's vicious cycle where oppressive rulers are replaced by rebels who then become oppressive rulers themselves, continuing an endless pattern of rulers and treacherous rebels.
This is not a primitive site. It’s very complex, futu🛸ristic!
Highly doubt that all of a sudden an ancient settlement suddenly wanted to erect massive monuments that would take a tremendous amount of energy and food and time. I believe I read elsewhere that there are other similar sites like it in the surrounding areas, though made from wood, which points to a long tradition before Gobekle Tepe. Also, the site existed for around 1000 years I believe until all at once it was buried. Either the belief systems crumbled or a different culture took over.
I’ve long been fascinated by this site. The fact that it existed around 12,000 years ago is astounding
Ancient Homo Sapiens continue to surprise us today. I wonder what researchers will think about us in 12-13,000 years as they excavate the remains of our societies?
Whatever the underlying function was.. the place is amazing and clearly rewrites the narrative of our past.
Congratulations! You are at least TWO DECADES out of date re: Tas Tepeler finds info you provide. Now I can understand researchers being conservative, but they seem to have veered right into medieval by mistake.
Examples:
1) Yes it was astronomical. Very, very much so. And not only astronomical, turns out they had the Eratosthenes method nailed down ten millennia (!!!) before Eratosthenes. Proven independently by the astronomical analysis by Howard Crowhurst (he is on YT) AND by the sheer abundance of proto-astronomical (some may say proto-astrological, but the two were bit distinct at the time anyway) iconography all over the Tas Tepeler.
2) It was not the Göbekli Tepe culture, or even the Tas Tepeler culture. See, all thise were basically "mountain chapels". The true center (as withessed by the crossing of a veritable sh...load of extrapolated astronomical lines) was NOT anywhere in the hills, but at Harran in the plain below. Harran and not the Tas Tepeler was the true center of that civilization, making it comfortably the oldest city on Earth.
3) To show above on example: Göbekli Tepe Pillar 43. All astronomical. The vulture is the Cygnus constellation (used at that time as a "Northern cross" to identify the true north, as there was no single North Star at the time of the Tas Tepeler. The sphere on the vulture's wing is the Cygnus Loop. The two birds at the right side are the constellation Sagittarius, still known as "two ostriches" in Arab folk astronomy. The wavy strip of stylized water "connecting them: well that's the Milky Way. Line of squares superimposed with it probably denote the lunar months. The lower part of pillar has the exact same animals representing constellations that one can find on the Roman Mithraist tauroctony from the Late Roman Empire: a bird, a snake, a scorpion and a dog (the latter still incorrecly officially misidentified as "fox".) The pillar is thus a proto-star map and a proto-calendar.
4) Hugh Newman and JJ Ainsworth were able to ascertain that a Roman quarry seems to have resulted in finding some of the Tas Tepeler material, which the Romans then preserved. Seems extra interesting because elements of Harran / Tas Tepeler iconography do show up in Roman times on at least 3 separate occasions:
4a) The death of Marcus Licinius Crassus the Triumvir. He was beaten and killed by the Parthians at Carrhae. Well, turns out Carrhae is just the Roman name for - Harran. They definitely had a skull cult there during the Tas Tepeler era. And in the eons later Roman era, Crassus was decapitated and his head sent to Ctesiphon where it was used as a prop in a play by Sophocles. Such careful separation of head would not mean much in any other place, but in a place where it is well known people used to deyach then rebuild heads, there is a betond tantalizing possibility that the locals merely sacrificed Crassus "in the ancient manner."
4b) Roman Mithraism. The mystery religion that nearly became the late Roman religion (in the end Christianity won, chiefly because they did not exclude women.) The constellations they depicted used are the exact same as on the Göbekli Tepe Pillar 43, lower part. Mithras killing bull is essentially a depiction of Orion and Taurus (and one with an apparent depiction 7 millennia older than even the Harran / TasTepeler culture, deep in the Lascaux cave...) There is a depiction of a human and a bull in Sayburç in the Tas Tepeler that, while inverting the left and the right side (does that mean they used still water or thin ice to project an image of the stars onto reflective surface?), definitely depicts a human facing a bull - known to us today as Orion and Taurus. Rise of Orion denoted the advent of winter.
Best candidate for what exactly happened when late Romans unearthed some of the Tas Tepeler.
4c) The Jewish Bar Kochba rebellion during the rule of the Roman Emperor Hadrian. Depictions of Bar Kochba's folllowers show togas with a curious H/I symbol (depending on the orientation) that is all over the Tas Tepeler. Best guess is that it represented the constellation Gemini.
5) The beyond bizarre number of important cognates of the name "Harran" exist all over different later religions and mythologies, witnessing very eloquently about its importance in the development of religion. While some may not be 100% certain cognates, most probably are, and the sheer number and diversity is beyond impressive:
-Harran/Orion (clip initial "h", alter the vowels - mostly not written in Semitic abugidas anyway.)
-Harran/Aaron the brother of Moses - ditto.
-Harran/Ouranos the Greek deity of sky
(same method, add Greek ending -os)
-Harran/Chronos the Titan of time (clip first vowel, alter 2nd vowel, add Greek ending.)
-Harran/Charon the Greek ferryman of souls over the river Styx.
-In the super ancient Basque language whose speakers have the highest genetic percentage of the Early European Farmers a.k.a. the direct descendants of the Tas Tepeler prople on the continent, the word "harana" means "valley". And Harran is located in the fertile valley below the Tas Tepeler!
There are probably many more.
Now, a question for all the good folks reading this: would you be interested in reading a paywalled version of the synthesis of best available Harran/Tas Tepeler data written to the best of my ability? Am toying with the idea of finally writing it all down and publishing, but am a little pressed for funds so would have to paywall it if I am to seriously embark on that project. So, if you would like to be able to read my stuff, please do let me know!
To understand or to guess at the purpose of the very unguessable Gobekli Tepe site, modern minds have to concentrate on what the mindset of the people who built it, was at that time. From what I have read above, it seems that the writers/archeologists have preconceived notions based on their current mindset. This is a strong no-no. The main task of the archeologists/interpreters is to discover some rough idea of their attitude to life was when they cut the stones, moved them into positions and built the site. They were not hunter-gatherers; that assumption is too convenient.
Ritual, burial or any other purpose comes way after that. Who were they and what were they thinking? Don't assign them to what your preconceived notions are. That will only take you away from the correct guess. I cannot stress this point more strongly than I have.
The task is never easy and this one is exponentially harder.
Of course the evidence is right in front of you, but hidden and interpretable. Talk to few colleagues and welcome them to see what I'm suggesting. You may become a hero!
just how does one date a site like this - genuine enquiry. the age of the stones themselves will not tell you when they were piled up. So......
They honored the Goddess.
Most likely, Gobekli Tepe reflects history's vicious cycle where oppressive rulers are replaced by rebels who then become oppressive rulers themselves, continuing an endless pattern of rulers and treacherous rebels.
The oldest Epic unknown to scholars.
https://www.academia.edu/165176119/The_Oldest_Epic_unknown_to_scholars
https://medium.com/@dtango/the-οldest-εpic-unknown-to-scholars-9503f9376d4c