Tepe Gobekli was an astronomical observatory

What is it about?

Tepe Gobekli in SE Turkey, the world's earliest-yet-discovered religious sanctuary (c. 10,000 BCE), was located on the highest hilltop for miles around. It comprised enclosures consisting of monolithic T-shaped pillars standing in circle around an even taller T-shaped pillar that stood in the middle of the circle. The pillars are decorated with images of various wild animals, geometric patterns, and as yet undeciphered symbols. The Hodder and Meskell (2011) thesis is that the primary theme of the Tepe Gobekli imagery is the human male's virility and nature's dangerousness, as evidenced by the pillar images of dangerous animals, such as auroch, vipers, lions, bear, and boar and the central pillars being of a human male. I point out that pillar imagery of the fox outnumbers imagery of all other animals except for snake imagery, and the fox is not dangerous to humans. Moreover, imagery of the wolf, an apex predator, is not depicted. I suggest that Tepe Gobekli's primary function was to serve as an astronomical observatory. The ancient people believed that the celestial sphere was divine, and that wild animals, as well as human-created geometric imagery, reflected the divine sky.

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Photo by Frank Samol on Unsplash

Photo by Frank Samol on Unsplash

Why is it important?

I am possibly the only one to argue that astronomical observance was the reason for Tepe Gobekli's construction. That systematic astronomical observance appeared when people first became sedentary and at the dawn of plant agriculture suggests that the people hoped to control the weather to ensure good harvests by the construction of Tepe Gobekli.

Perspectives