Ancient Life-Size Lion Statues Baffle Scientists

news.discovery.com...

Two sculptures of life-size lions, each weighing about 5 tons in antiquity, have been discovered in what is now Turkey, with archaeologists perplexed over what the granite cats were used for.

One idea is that the statues, created between 1400 and 1200 B.C., were meant to be part of a monument for a sacred water spring, the researchers said.

The lifelike lions were created by the Hittites who controlled a vast empire in the region at a time when the Asiatic lion roamed the foothills of Turkey

A search of the surrounding area revealed no evidence of a Hittite settlement dating back to the time of the statues. Also, the sheer size of the sculptures meant that the sculptors likely did not intend to move them very far.

Summers hypothesizes that, rather than being meant for a palace or a great city, the lions were being created for a monument to mark something else – water.

"I think it's highly likely that that monument was going to be associated with one of the very copious springs that are quite close," he said in the interview. "There are good parallels for associations of Hittite sculptural traditions with water sources."

To the Hittites the natural world, springs included, was a place of great religious importance, one worthy of monuments with giant lions. "These things (water sources) were sacred, just as their mountains were sacred," Summers said.

Considering that these statues are in a location that was void of settlement during the time that they were created, and they suspect that they may have been used to mark the location of a natural spring, I wonder if since they saw the springs as well as the lions as sacred, they lions were there to "spiritually protect" the water.

The Hittite's were 'into' lions and they appear at lots of their sites.



One of my favourties

First thought that came up when I did see the picture was.....Göbekli Tepe (Potbelly Hill). Reading further I learned that these statues are located in Turkey..

Just saying...

reply to post by zatara


As near as I can tell there are two places named Karakiz in Turkey one in the central Anatolia and the other down south near the Syrian border-and in the area of Göbekli Tepe- which is also in Turkey. I would suspect this site is the one to the north....

Why does there have to be an assumption that there was any association with religion? Maybe they chose lions because they were bad-ass and cute lil fuzzy wuzzy wasn't quite the male extension. But chicks love lil fuzzy wuzzys.

Maybe it was the gateway to some alpha male's poon palace pool.

reply to post by AMANNAMEDQUEST


Because in many cultures religion is the basis of many/most actions, buildings and purposes. This overlying purpose is now missing to some degree in the west but quite alive in other areas of our modern world.

But yeah at that time Lions would have been the most dangerous thing around (beside bulls).

I've seen this somewhere in my childhood before... oh yeah!

Why do they need to have a purpose? Sometimes people just llike to make and admire beautiful things.

reply to post by AMANNAMEDQUEST


Awesome observation! Thanks

reply to post by isyeye




Doesn't that lion have a harness around its shoulders?

Maybe it's a cart pulling Hattian lion. Or it could just be a shaved lion mane.

reply to post by lostinspace


Now that you pointed it out, it does look a little like a harness...Interesting.

I don't think it would be a mane, as it goes too far down the back of the lion. I may have to do a little research and see if there is any information that lions have ever been used like that. Is it possible that these statues are telling us that they used lions to cart the water from the spring?

Good find.

A good Friend of Mine David B saw this and said, "Duh, they wrote on stone tablets. These lions are just their book ends! You should see their library. The kids had a heck of a time taking their home work home."

Lions represented Kingship as they were regarded as noble beasts, that is the origin of the term king of the jungle. Heres the famous one from babylon
www.atlastours.net...
and one of many from the walls of the city
en.wikipedia.org...
you all may recall quite a famous lion sculpture in Egypt too

Originally posted by lostinspace

Doesn't that lion have a harness around its shoulders?

Maybe it's a cart pulling Hattian lion. Or it could just be a shaved lion mane.

It is a British bulldog, go ask Marduk he is an expert in British Great Empire canine

Originally posted by AMANNAMEDQUEST
Why does there have to be an assumption that there was any association with religion?

I'm going to let you in on a deep, dark, archaeologist's secret. "Ritual Object" is often code for "We don't exactly know what it is because we can't figure out any practical use for it."

But Hanslune is correct. When you lived close to the land, in a world where your welfare was controlled by the elements about you, and you did not have the scientific knowledge for explanation...then it all came down to religion. Fickle Gods that required appeasement.

Sort of like unexplained phenomena generating a belief system even today. (Do you believe in ghosts? UFOs? Religion?)

robertarood.files.wordpress.com...

The Lion Man of Hohlenstein-Stadel. Carved from mammoth ivory, the Lion Man was found in the caves of the Altmuhl valley in southern Germany. It dates from 28,000 B.C.

It is just art. Could you imagine people coming after us trying to figure out what picasso's art represented?

reply to post by sligtlyskeptical


Drug and alcohol use or a really bad set of corrective lenses