Originally posted by JoshF
Can someone please answer this, What about this structure is unexplained?
I'll let the fellow at
www.atlantisevidence.com... answer for me:
At present, Gobekli Tepe raises more questions for archaeology and early prehistory than it answers. We do not know how a force (ie: a population
base) large enough to construct, build, and maintain such a massive complex was organised and fed in the conditions of pre-Neolithic society. We
cannot "decipher" the pictograms, and have no idea what meaning the animal relief's had for the builders of the site; the variety of fauna depicted,
from lions and boars to birds and insects, makes any single explanation difficult. It is hard to imagine why more and more walls were added to the
interiors while the sanctuary was in use, with the result that some of the engraved pillars were hidden. The reason the complex was eventually buried
also remains unexplained. Considering that only a fraction of the site has so far been excavated, these and other mysteries may eventually be
solved.
The date of ~10,000 BCE has been confirmed both by carbon dating at this site, and is comparable to a site not far away called Catal Huyuk, dated at
around 9,000 BCE.
The three oddities that stand out for me are these:
1) Rather than the stone carvings being engravings, where stone is chiseled out, these carvings are in bas relief, where 90% of the stone is carved
away to leave an image standing out from the stone. This is far more time consuming, and is extremely rare even thousands of years later. Why did they
do these figures the more difficult way?
2) Some of the carvings contain images of what are described as bird-headed humanoids. These are similar to the descriptions recorded by the First
Dynasty Egyptians, who claimed that the most ancient ancestors in their area were bird-headed gods, from the "First Time" after the Great Flood,
called Zep Tepi. Is there a connection between these bird-headed creatures, separated by thousands of years and hundreds of miles?
3) For whatever reason, the site was filled in, ever so carefully, with millions of small had-placed stones. Why did the people who worshiped there
decide to cover the place up so gently? They could have pulled down the stones, smashed things to pieces, or even just poured rubble in to fill the
place up. Yet, they took the time to wedge these small stones into place over an extensive period of time, almost -- one would say -- respectfully.
One more unanswered question.
Of course, the real unanswered question: how was all this accomplished by people who supposedly had no language and were still mired deep in the Stone
Age, without the benefits of animal husbandry, agriculture, or city building?
The more you study this site, the more questions it raises.
EDIT: There's an even more detailed and much more artwork-supported site at
redicecreations.com...
Here's their take on why the site's unique:
But the real reason the ruins at Göbekli remain almost unknown, not yet incorporated in textbooks, is that the evidence is too strong, not too weak.
'The problem with this discovery,' as Schwartz of Johns Hopkins puts it, 'is that it is unique.' No other monumental sites from the era have been
found. Before Göbekli, humans drew stick figures on cave walls, shaped clay into tiny dolls, and perhaps piled up small stones for shelter or
worship. Even after Göbekli, there is little evidence of sophisticated building...Çatalhöyük is probably about 1,500 years younger than Göbekli,
and features no carvings or grand constructions. The walls of Jericho, thought until now to be the oldest monumental construction by man, were
probably started more than a thousand years after Göbekli. Huge temples did emerge again—but the next unambiguous example dates from 5,000 years
later, in southern Iraq.
They also point out an intriguing new possibility:
Schmidt’s thesis is simple and bold: it was the urge to worship that brought mankind together in the very first urban conglomerations. The need to
build and maintain this temple, he says, drove the builders to seek stable food sources, like grains and animals that could be domesticated, and then
to settle down to guard their new way of life. The temple begat the city.
Bold indeed: That Gobekli Tepe was the focal point that launched Western Civilization.
Is that explanation enough for you, Josh?
edit on 8-2-2012 by TemplarScribe because: Added second reference site