World’s first religious hotspot: In Turkey’s Gobeklitepe theories run galore
In 9600 BC, before the agricultural revolution, before the wheel was invented, pre-dating pottery and metalwork, on a plateau in the eastern part of Germus Mountain chain of modern Turkey, a site existed, which is now considered to be the oldest temple of the World. Unearthed by archaeologist Klaus Schmidt, Gobeklitepe raised alarming questions against the prevalent theories of human evolution. Merely 20 kilometres from the city of Sanliurfa, I am here at Gobeklitepe, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2018.
On the arid land, from the parking point a walkway has been constructed which take tourists towards the site. The walkway ends midway and the rest of the journey on foot happens under the harsh glare of the afternoon Sun. The authorities constructed a state of the art visitors’ center, a café, a restaurant, a souvenir shop & a bookstore, parking spaces and washrooms after the site was recognized as one of the most important parts of history.
The plateau is dry, without any trees, populated only by some shrubs and dead grasses. It overlooks the plains of Sanliurfa province. I wonder if they would turn green if they receive continuous rainfall for a week (the way it happens in Maharashtra, India). Closer to ground zero, the wooden walkway starts again, and circles the entire archaeological site, sheltered by a modern roof system to prevent the ancient constructions from direct exposure to Sun and rain.
Among piles of rocks, stand series of magnanimous T-shaped pillars arranged in 4 circles measuring 10-20 metres in diameter. Around 12 T-shaped pillars enclose 2 T-shaped pillars in each circle. Though only 4 such circles have been excavated and opened to visitors, research and radio carbon analyses reveals there exists 16 more such circles of T-shaped pillars in the region.
Discovery of the site
The site was first noted by Istanbul University in collaboration with the University of Chicago in 1964. However, they thought it was a burial ground of the middle ages. The surrounding plateau area is composed of hard rock, but in Gobeklitepe, it was superimposed soil. In 1995, the oddity of the superimposed soil attracted the attention of German archeologist Klaus Schmidt who was working on rescue excavation of Ataturk Dam. In collaboration with the Sanliurfa Museum, he started excavating here too, thus finding the greatest twist of history.
Ancient carvings
Most of these T-shaped limestone monoliths, some as heavy as 7 tons, have carvings of animals—chickens, cranes, foxes, wild boars, snakes, deer, vultures, ducks, lions, wild asses, millipedes and six-legged spiders. The two centrally positioned T-shaped pillars have carvings that imitate human hands and arms. Klaus Schmidt interpreted that these were the earliest representations of man and woman. They are stylized humans. Many flint stones recovered in the area proves that the humans had used these flint stones to etch the carvings.
The inconsistency of history
According to popular history, when humans realized they could grow food and domesticate animals, they started settling down in one place instead of moving around as nomads. With a steady supply of food, humans then got the time to think about other things. They streamlined their various imagined realities— religions, scripts, social structures and state laws. These thought institutions helped humans in co-operating. Thus, paving the path for construction of temples, buildings and production of various other goods and services. The discovery of Gobeklitepe makes this popular theory inconsistent.
Classism in the ancient times, one of the Gobeklitepe theories
12000 years ago, when Gobeklitepe was built, humans were still hunters and gatherers. They didn’t know how to grow food. They were nomads. Yet, they managed to build such a massive architectural complex. There are probably more than 200 T-shaped pillars in the entire complex. These heavy pillars were cut out of rocks, from a quarry around 500 metres away from Gobeklitepe. Cutting the rocks and hauling them to the site required manpower, organization, co-operation and dedication. It is baffling that hunters and gatherers managed this feat 12000 years ago! This also indicates there was already a leader class and follower class among the population.
Cult Rituals
Though a huge number of animal bones were found at the site, all of them showed traces of struggle, indicating they were all hunted. Except dogs, no other domestic animals were found in the area. There is no chance that domesticated animals were used to carry the rocks from the quarry. But, this raises another question. Why were there so many hunted wild animal bones in the area? Experts say some religious feasts took place at the site that might involve ritual sacrifice.
Inter-band collaborations
Given the size of the complex, historians also infer that building such a large sanctuary would have required lots of people. It is impossible for one single forager band to develop this on their own. Which means that several independent hunter-gatherer groups came together and co-operated with each other for the sake of erecting these strange buildings. It also means the organization had reserves of enough food and water for the workers.
Role of the world’s most ancient piece of architecture
Historians had a lot of trouble trying to determine the function served by Gobeklitepe. A site that brought together forager bands, forced them to co-operate with each other, do such hard-work and build enormous food and water reserves, must have a very significant and important purpose in their lives. Klaus Schmidt concluded that the structure was the earliest representation of a temple. It was nothing but a cult hotspot. Different bands came here at different time of the year and performed religious ceremonies and rituals. No evidence of human settlement was found in Gobeklitepe. The site solely served a religious purpose.
World’s first farmers
10000 years ago, 138 kilometres from Gobeklitepe, on the slopes of Mount Karacadag, archeologists found the site of world’s first wheat cultivation—the oldest agricultural crop. Wild einkorn wheat was cultivated in this region, heralding the agricultural revolution. Is it a coincidence that just two thousand years after the founding of Gobeklitepe, suddenly farmers and permanent settlers appeared in the world? That too, so close to Gobeklitepe?
12000 years ago, the region around Gobeklitepe was not arid but green and fertile, fed by streams and rivers. The area was ideal for cultivation. It is a mystery if the idea of farming first appeared in their mind during the task of constructing Gobeklitepe. Their want and need to live near this religious site might have forced them to think out of the box and try something new. In Klaus Schmidt’s words —“first came the temples, then the city.”
And this is not the last question that the site raises.
Abandonment
A thousand years of usage later, Gobeklitepe was entirely covered with earth. So perfect and convincing was the covering that no amount of natural disasters or human destructions could touch these delicate prehistoric constructions, even though the Greeks and Romans used the nearby area as a quarry. It is not entirely clear if the superimposition of soil on the site was a deliberate human action or caused by nature. Given it was a hilltop, a geographical feature that is more prone to erosion than deposition, chances are that humans deliberately buried Gobeklitepe under the earth. Speculators opine that the rise of a new cult in the region might have made this old cult site a taboo in their society and hence abandoned and de-sanctified by burying.
Overwhelmed with so much history and questions circling in my head, I leave the site of Gobeklitepe and move towards Harran, after which I head straight to Hotel Dedeman in Sanliurfa, to get ready for the Sira night.
To watch my Sanliurfa video on Youtube, please click here.
Have you read about Gobeklitepe before? Did you find the site fascinating? Do you wish to visit Gobeklitepe once in your life? Comment below and let me know!
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Disclaimer: Tania was hosted by Turkey Tourism Board. All thoughts and opinions expressed in the post are of her own.
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Tania Banerjee
Tania is a freelance writer based in India who tinkers with words here and there but mostly focused on travel, food, arts and crafts. She writes for several Indian dailies and magazines.
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