SANCTUARY

EPILOGUE- GOBEKLI TEPE

When archaeology discovered the surprising constructions of Gobekli Tepe, it demolished our entire conception regarding the end of the Paleolithic.

The image of the hunter-gatherer who at a certain moment becomes a sedentary farmer-farmer, and from there begins to build temples and cities, was completely wrong.

This discovery has shown that the tribes of nomadic hunters joined forces to work together, erecting an enormous sanctuary, whose purposes are still unknown.

In Gobekli Tepe the houses or temples are round megalithic buildings. The walls are made of stone and include numerous monolithic T-shaped limestone pillars more than three meters high. Another pair of larger columns is placed in the centre of the structures; there is evidence that they were covered by roofs supported by columns. Geomagnetic surveys indicate that there are about 200 buried pillars. The floors were of terrazzo (polished lime) and there is a low bench attached around the entire exterior wall.

The reliefs of the pillars include foxes, lions, wild boars, wild asses, herons, ducks, scorpions, ants, spiders, many snakes and a few anthropomorphic figures. Some of these reliefs have been deliberately erased, perhaps in preparation for superimposing new designs on them. There are also exempt sculptures that could represent wild boars or foxes, although, as they are much inlaid with lime, it is difficult to say. Similar statues have been discovered in Nevali Çori and Nahal Hemar.

The quarries of the statues were located on the same plateau, as well as some unfinished columns, the largest of which with 6.9 meters long, but are supposed to reach 9 meters. It is much larger than any of the finished pillars found so far. The rock was extracted with stone peaks. The concave depressions that appear in the limestone rock could have been used as mortars or to make fire. There are also some geometric designs and phalluses engraved on the rock, but their dating is uncertain.

Although the structures are mainly temples, recently small domestic buildings have been discovered. Despite this, it is clear that the primary use of the site was ritual, a place of pilgrimage that attracted devotees from more than one hundred and fifty kilometers away. Excavations found large numbers of cut and torn bones of local species such as deer, gazelle, wild boar and geese, identified as remains of hunting and ritual banquets.

The place was deliberately abandoned sometime after 8000 BC.

The buildings were covered with debris from a settlement, which could be brought in from elsewhere. Such deposits include flint tools such as scrapers and arrowheads, as well as animal bones. The stone inventory is characterized by Byblos points and numerous Nemrik points, as well as Helwan points and Aswad points.

Its inhabitants were hunter-gatherers who would, however, live in villages for at least part of the year. Several archaeologists suggest that the site played a key role in the transition to agriculture, as there was good social organization and organized exploitation of wild plant products. To ensure the subsistence of its large population, wild cereals were consumed more intensively than in previous times; it is suspected that they were already beginning to be cultivated. Recent analyses of the DNA of our modern domestic wheat compared to that of wild wheat have shown that this DNA is very close in structure to the wild wheat found in Mount Karaca (Karacadag), about 30 kilometers from the site, reaching the conclusion that it was there that modern wheat was first domesticated and the so-called Neolithic revolution began to gestate.

Gobekli Tepe is considered to be a centre for the cult of the dead, suggesting that carved animals would be there to protect the dead. Although no tombs or burials have been found, they are presumably still to be discovered beneath the sacred circles.

It is assumed that nomadic groups in this area were forced to cooperate with each other to protect the primitive concentrations of wild cereals from the herds of animals such as gazelles and onagres (wild asses). This effort may have led to the creation of an incipient social organization of various groups in the Gobekli Tepe region. Thus, the Neolithic would not begin on a small scale, in the form of particular cases of orchard cultivation, but immediately began as a social organization of large proportions (a large-scale revolution).

All conclusions about this site have to be considered preliminary, since only about 5% of its total area has been excavated so far. Excavation can continue for another fifty years, so far it has barely scratched the surface. It can be said that the beginning of the occupation of the site has been estimated around 11000 B.C. or even before.

Thus, these structures would not only anticipate the invention of ceramics, metallurgy, writing or the wheel, but were raised before the so-called Neolithic Revolution, the beginning of an agricultural and livestock economy above 9000 B.C. But the construction of Gobekli Tepe implies an organization at a level of complexity not associated, until now, with pre-Neolithic societies. Archaeologists estimate that more than 500 people were needed to extract the 10-20 ton columns (although some weigh more than 50 tons) from local quarries, and move them between 100 and 500 meters to the site. Archaeologist Ofer Ben-Yosef of Harvard said he would not be surprised if the evidence revealed that they had used slave labor, which would represent the first finding that hunter-gatherer communities (traditionally considered egalitarian) practiced slavery. It is widely believed that elite of religious leaders would supervise the work and then control any ceremonies that took place there. Thus, this could be the earliest known evidence of a priestly caste, prior to the appearance of any other social distinction in the Near East.

Abruptly, the complex was abandoned and deliberately buried under 300-500 cubic meters of earth. We do not know the reason for this behavior, but it preserved the monuments for posterity.

Gobekli Tepe is an archaeological discovery of the utmost importance, from which our understanding of a crucial stage in the development of human societies changes profoundly. It seems that the construction of monumental complexes was among the capacities of hunter-gatherers and not only among the sedentary communities of farmers, as had been assumed previously. In other words, as his digger Klaus Schmidt estimates:

- First came the temple, then the city. This revolutionary hypothesis may be supported or modified by future research.

This place is unique and not only because of its large dimensions, but also because of the existence of multiple chapels. There are no comparable monumental complexes for this period. Nevali Çori, a well-known Neolithic settlement and also excavated by the German Institute of Archaeology, submerged by the Ataturk dam since 1992, is 500 years later, its T-shaped pillars are much smaller and its chapels were next to the village. Jericho's almost contemporary architecture is devoid of artistic merit or large sculpture. And Catal Huyuk, possibly the most famous of the Neolithic settlements of Anatolia, is about 2000 years later.

According to an ancient Sumerian belief, agriculture, animal husbandry and fiber weaving was delivered to humanity on the sacred mountain Du-Ku, where inhabited the deities Annuna, very ancient gods without individual names. Klaus Schmidt identifies this history as a primitive oriental myth that would preserve a partial memory of the Neolithic. Apparently, animals and other images provide no indication of organized violence; there are no representations of hunting or wounded animals, and the pillar reliefs ignore species such as the deer, a major food source, in favor of fearsome creatures such as lions, snakes, spiders, or scorpions.

Today, Gobekli Tepe raises many questions and few answers. We do not know how a human group so large as to build and maintain this considerable complex was mobilized and fed in the social conditions prior to the Neolithic. It is not known why more and more walls were added to the interiors while the sanctuary was being used, with the result that some of the engraved columns were hidden from view... The reason the complex was finally buried remains inexplicable. So, to conclude: until more evidence is accumulated it will be very difficult to deduce anything really true about the culture that originated this site.