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Gobekli Tepe
Posted: Mon Apr 21, 2008 4:11 pm
by Beagle
http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbc ... 03/FOREIGN
Compared with Stonehenge, they are humble affairs. None of the circles that have been excavated, four out of an estimated 20, is more than 100 feet across. Two of the slender, T-shaped pillars tower at least three feet above their peers.
What makes them remarkable are the carved reliefs of boars, foxes, lions, birds, snakes and scorpions that cover them, and their age. Dated at about 9500 B.C., these stones are 5,500 years older than the first cities of Mesopotamia and 7,000 years older than Stonehenge.
Nevermind wheels or writing, the people who erected them did not even have pottery or domesticated wheat. They lived in villages, but were hunters, not farmers.
"Everybody used to think only complex, hierarchical civilizations could build such monumental sites and that they only came about with the invention of agriculture," said Ian Hodder, a Stanford University anthropology professor who has directed digs at Catalhoyuk, Turkey's most-famous Neolithic site, since 1993.
Michelle has posted this article in the Newsroom, about this
very ancient temple complex in Turkey. It dates to 9,500 BC, which most researchers say is pre-agricultural. We've all read about this site but it hasn't had it's own thread. There is a lot of info and pics on the internet that we can add here.
These people obviously had an organized religion of sorts, and we have an opportunity to observe the earliest manifestation of human religion, which may be hard wired into our brains.
Posted: Mon Apr 21, 2008 4:21 pm
by Minimalist
They don't say how they dated the site, though.
Posted: Mon Apr 21, 2008 4:42 pm
by Beagle
I'll see if I can find anything on that Min. Tonight maybe.
Posted: Mon Apr 21, 2008 5:05 pm
by Minimalist
If you can, great. I'll be out tonight. I'll check in later.
Posted: Mon Apr 21, 2008 5:16 pm
by Barracuda
I'll put that on my list of places to visit if I ever get back to Turkey
Posted: Mon Apr 21, 2008 7:06 pm
by CShark
Dating
Posted: Mon Apr 21, 2008 7:11 pm
by Cognito
Dating Gobekli Tepe:
There are a number of radiocarbon dates (presented with one standard deviation errors and calibrations to BCE):
Lab-Number / Date BP / Cal BCE / Context
Ua-19561 / 8430±80 / 7560-7370 / enclosure C
Ua-19562 / 8960±85 / 8280-7970 / enclosure B
Hd-20025 / 9452±73 / 9110-8620 / Layer III
Hd-20036 / 9559±53 / 9130-8800 / Layer III
The Hd samples are from charcoal in the lowest levels of the site and would date the active phase of occupation. The Ua samples come from pedogenic carbonate coatings on pillars and only indicate a time after the site was abandoned- the terminus ante quem.
Source:
http://www.canew.org/uppermesop14cbox.html
Posted: Mon Apr 21, 2008 9:02 pm
by Beagle
Hey Cogs, thanks for the dating. Wiki has the same numbers, and a pretty good review of Gobleki Tepi.
The original article says that the two statues are facing the southeast. I wonder what that's all about.
Posted: Mon Apr 21, 2008 9:54 pm
by Minimalist
The original article says that the two statues are facing the southeast. I wonder what that's all about.
Mecca?
Statues
Posted: Tue Apr 22, 2008 6:30 am
by Cognito
The original article says that the two statues are facing the southeast.
Beags, the site is an ongoing archaeological dig with more to be found. Don't read too much into anything until it's complete.
Posted: Tue Apr 22, 2008 11:11 am
by kbs2244
Would South East be the raising of the Sun at a particular hunting season?
Posted: Tue Apr 22, 2008 8:36 pm
by woodrabbit
Whew.....!?! Thanks for turning me on to this site. Check out this film on youtube, in german but the visuals really make you wonder:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TU2qwoMfq-U&NR=1
Posted: Tue Apr 22, 2008 8:46 pm
by Beagle
Thank you for that Woodrabbit. You're right, the German narrator didn't matter a bit. Great pics.
Re: Statues
Posted: Tue Apr 22, 2008 8:53 pm
by Beagle
Cognito wrote:The original article says that the two statues are facing the southeast.
Beags, the site is an ongoing archaeological dig with more to be found. Don't read too much into anything until it's complete.
Thanks Cogs, but that just wouldn't be like me.
Actually though, I'm not reading anything in to it, I'm fascinated about the site and I'm "wondering " about a lot of things.
I am anxious to see what alignments, if any, that they may find, as there seems to be an eery similarity to stonehenge. And especially how formalized their spiritual rituals and beliefs were. This will be exciting to watch.
Posted: Tue Apr 29, 2008 8:02 pm
by Interested Onlooker
There's been references to Nevali Cori, a contempory site to Gobekli Tepe. I went to Google Earth to see where the site was in relation to Gobekli Tepe and found it 20-22 miles to the NW.
I was surprised to see that Google Earth was pointing to the site within a lake. Unfortunately, Nevali Cori has been at the bottom of a dammed up Euphrates river since 1994. Bummer.