Our story should never be set in stone, it should be allowed to grow and change and shift as we learn more and more about where we come from and how we got where we are. We must remind ourselves that we have not searched every millimeter of dirt and earth, we have not preserved every manuscript, document, monument that recorded the histories and legends of our ancestors, worse, we have destroyed more of our story than we have ever preserved. So we should never judge as if we have or know it all.
One of the most illustrious examples of this arrogance among respected experts concerns Dr. Zahi Hawass, the former Minister of State for Antiquities Affairs in Egypt. He has been pompously insistent about the Sphinx dating from ~3500BC; one of his primary arguments when someone suggests an older date due to geological finds or other evidence regarding the pit and monument, is the utter lack of any other comparable structure proven to be older not just in the region, but anywhere in the world...
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| Gobekli Tepe via aa.com.ti |
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| Pillar 43 via phys.org |
Well, Dr. Hawass.....I present Gobekli Tepe, dated and peer accepted to be at least ~11,500 years old. As the pictures show it also seems to out shine the Sphinx in size and skill, both technical and artistic; thus, based on the liner procession that you claim limits the ability of the Sphinx to be older than ~3500BCE, I do believe that you stand corrected.
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| via YouTube |
As for what makes Gobekli Tepe so special....
First, the site, itself, is absolutely amazing, there are dozens of circular enclosures that were built over the span of centuries covering the area. There are a couple theories about the alignment of the enclosures being astronomical in nature. And a new theory that uses Pillar 43 to show the compilation of historic 'event markers' using astronomical alignments (the most accurate means of dating any moment in time).
Secondly, there is the craftsmanship of some of the pillars in some of the enclosures that are advanced by our standards, and phenomenal when placed in the context of how we see man 10-15,000YAG. (See above) Some of the pillars are ~3m tall and single pieces of stone. Most of the art work is protruding reliefs, in case you are wondering, it is easier to create sunken reliefs on stone as you are working a positive image as opposed to protruding reliefs that require the crafter to work in the negative.
Next, the location of the site. Gobekli Tepe is located in southeastern Turkey, or ancient Anatolia, and by some providences in the Northern reaches of the Fertile Crescent. That being said, there are things that we have believed in the past that we do not believe anymore and why is not clear. First, place names have changed over time and by those writing about previous events. Most of our histories are not written by witnesses to either the events or exact locations and times of the events. Up until the middle ages most scholars believed that most of the place names of the Old Testament were places much further north than are believed today.
An example of this is the description of the Garden of Eden, which most modern scholars and laymen alike would tell you is located in Iraq, based on the flow of the Tiger and Euphrates Rivers, some will even suggest that the location is the bottom of the Persian Gulf due to the presence of extinct and now submerged river beds there, however, the accounts tell us that the 4 rivers flowed away from the Garden, thus it is the headwaters and not the deltas that should be sought when seeking the Garden...and the headwaters of the Tiger and Euphrates are north, in the Armenian Highlands, in the East Taurus Mountains.
Finally, the standing theory is that once man learnt to farm, roughly 10,000YAG according to dates in the Fertile Crescent region, then he had the time and resources to become 'civilized' or to build and create cities and societies, yet the dates and information from Gobekli Tepe counter that theory, there does not appear to be any major or even minor organized farming at the site prior to the confirmed dates of some of the believed earliest enclosures. (Not all the known enclosures have been excavated and or dated.) Thus, it cannot be said that Gobekli Tepe was built because the local men had time on their hands due to their new farming lifestyles.
So what was the purpose of the enclosures? And why at some point after their constructions were the enclosures systematically filled in and buried? How and why were the enclosures built in the middle of nowhere void of permanent settlements? Who built the enclosures and where did their skills of construction originate? Interestingly enough, some of the more precise and technologically advanced of the enclosures seem to be the oldest ones with the skill and level of excellence declining over the subsequent centuries; this is something that some will tell you is clear at Giza as well. And questions that we will be taking up in future articles and podcasts.
To learn more check out the official site of the research staff The Tepe Telegrams or pick up "Gobekli Tepe Genesis of the Gods" by Andrew Collins.
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| via GrahamHancock.com |
First, the site, itself, is absolutely amazing, there are dozens of circular enclosures that were built over the span of centuries covering the area. There are a couple theories about the alignment of the enclosures being astronomical in nature. And a new theory that uses Pillar 43 to show the compilation of historic 'event markers' using astronomical alignments (the most accurate means of dating any moment in time).
Secondly, there is the craftsmanship of some of the pillars in some of the enclosures that are advanced by our standards, and phenomenal when placed in the context of how we see man 10-15,000YAG. (See above) Some of the pillars are ~3m tall and single pieces of stone. Most of the art work is protruding reliefs, in case you are wondering, it is easier to create sunken reliefs on stone as you are working a positive image as opposed to protruding reliefs that require the crafter to work in the negative.
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| Fertile Crescent via NASA Earth Observatory |
Next, the location of the site. Gobekli Tepe is located in southeastern Turkey, or ancient Anatolia, and by some providences in the Northern reaches of the Fertile Crescent. That being said, there are things that we have believed in the past that we do not believe anymore and why is not clear. First, place names have changed over time and by those writing about previous events. Most of our histories are not written by witnesses to either the events or exact locations and times of the events. Up until the middle ages most scholars believed that most of the place names of the Old Testament were places much further north than are believed today.
An example of this is the description of the Garden of Eden, which most modern scholars and laymen alike would tell you is located in Iraq, based on the flow of the Tiger and Euphrates Rivers, some will even suggest that the location is the bottom of the Persian Gulf due to the presence of extinct and now submerged river beds there, however, the accounts tell us that the 4 rivers flowed away from the Garden, thus it is the headwaters and not the deltas that should be sought when seeking the Garden...and the headwaters of the Tiger and Euphrates are north, in the Armenian Highlands, in the East Taurus Mountains.
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| Neolithic Farming via radiolemberg.com |
Finally, the standing theory is that once man learnt to farm, roughly 10,000YAG according to dates in the Fertile Crescent region, then he had the time and resources to become 'civilized' or to build and create cities and societies, yet the dates and information from Gobekli Tepe counter that theory, there does not appear to be any major or even minor organized farming at the site prior to the confirmed dates of some of the believed earliest enclosures. (Not all the known enclosures have been excavated and or dated.) Thus, it cannot be said that Gobekli Tepe was built because the local men had time on their hands due to their new farming lifestyles.
So what was the purpose of the enclosures? And why at some point after their constructions were the enclosures systematically filled in and buried? How and why were the enclosures built in the middle of nowhere void of permanent settlements? Who built the enclosures and where did their skills of construction originate? Interestingly enough, some of the more precise and technologically advanced of the enclosures seem to be the oldest ones with the skill and level of excellence declining over the subsequent centuries; this is something that some will tell you is clear at Giza as well. And questions that we will be taking up in future articles and podcasts.
To learn more check out the official site of the research staff The Tepe Telegrams or pick up "Gobekli Tepe Genesis of the Gods" by Andrew Collins.
Thus, it cannot be said that Gobekli Tepe was built because the local "men" had time on their hands due to their new farming lifestyles.
ReplyDeleteOf course, like Dr. Hawass' presumptions, it could not have been women who contributed to the building of Gobekli Tepe, even though hunter-gatherer lifestyles are notoriously egalitarian.
Actually, I used the term man/men as mankind, not as the male gender of the species. That being said, I find it encouraging that you are willing to think against the norm and outside of the box when hypothesizing about the who of Gobekli Tepe.
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