How do archaeologists know that Gobekli Tepe was buried on purpose?

I guess my title says it all. How can the scientists be sure that it was buried intentionally and not from a tsunami?

I figured there are a lot of smart people on here and someone would know.

reply to post by Stari


Gobekli Tepe is about 200 miles inland, I tried looking for old sea level maps to see if this was a possibility. From what I can tell, it is unlikely that Gobekli Tepe was ever in danger of a tsunami. It looks like it has been at least 50,000 years since it was close enough to the shore line to be threatened.

From what is known so far, the site is at most 12,000 years old. So I would hazard to guess that a tsunami is not likely.

I'll give it a shot. Generally, if we were to dig into naturally placed and undisturbed soil to make a clean cross-section, layers of deposition may be very apparent. This is called soil stratification and here's what it can look like:
www.anra.gov.au...
It's pretty cool to consider that, as you're looking at a cross section of a hill that what you're seeing is the passage of time and the variations within the climate for each phase or line. A layer of thin grey--that could be ash deposited by a volcano. Dark black--the area was quite possibly a swamp at one time. All sorts of things can go into making those layers.

Applying this to Gobekli Tepe, when they say that it was deliberately buried, then there is no natural stratification within the soil. It could be homogenous (all the same time period) or it could be all mixed up together. Stratification--naturally filled in. No stratification--it was filled in within a short time frame.

Hope that helps.

Originally posted by Stari
I guess my title says it all. How can the scientists be sure that it was buried intentionally and not from a tsunami?

I figured there are a lot of smart people on here and someone would know.

I don't know a lot about it, but it could it be possible that they simply built a large earthen temple at the top of the hill and extreme rains washed it all down covering the site?

Just my best guess, as the other 2 posters have already ruled out the ocean, and brought up about layers of soil being deposited over time.

I would think it a lot more interesting to know why they buried it on purpose if they did.

I remember a threat a while ago about it, and have wondered why they would bury it in the first place ever since.

It would be like the Egyptians burying their cities, it wouldn't make a lot of sense. Well to us at present any how, maybe that was the norm to them, and the city was created over generations, just so it could be ceremonially buried to honor their god or gods.

Or perhaps, some change in their culture, that demanded the old must be hidden, so the new could make a new path in the world, without being tied down by ancient myths.

I am eager to see what others have to say about this though.

I'd like to know why, too. Unfortunately, such things tend to be permanent mysteries unless they happen to leave a nice book detailing the rationale. It's kind of along the same lines as the Ancestral Puebloan abandoning their pueblos and deciding the living in cliff dwellings was the way to go. The predominant theory is drought (same reason for the Mayan abandonment, too, btw) but I think that archaeologists tend to default to something measurable when there is an absence of evidence. In the case of the Ancestral Puebloan (probably better known as Anasazi), they destroyed their kivas (their holy places) and the guess was that they were basically sealing their holy places from misuse.

Could be the same reason for Gobekli Tepe. Maybe they had to leave and buried it to keep others from using/harming their holy place.

buried a stargate? stop the goa'uld?

who knows... perhaps a shaman told them too?

your rain and earthern temple idea is cool too..

reply to post by WhiteAlice


Thank you all for this information. It really has helped me to understand how they could tell the structures where deliberately covered up.

reply to post by Stari


Hee hee, you're welcome. It puts all those geology classes I took to good use at least. It's also why they are very, very careful and slow about digging up archaeological finds. If you find a stone artifact at a layer that you have already had placed in a specific time period, then it helps with the dating of that artifact. I partook in a couple of university run fossil digs where they pointed out the different layers in the soil and gave time periods to estimate the ages of fossils we found so pretty darn sure on this one.

One theory is that due to drought or famine the had to migrate from the area and covered up their site - hoping perhaps at sometime to return. We'll have to wait for 10-15 years for the excavation to be completed and the studies done before a more practical answer comes about

reply to post by Hanslune


Drought or famine, but covered up 22 acres before they left? That's a lot of dirt to move before you starve to death. If hunter-gatherers wouldn't have they just moved on?

Originally posted by Druid42
reply to post by Hanslune

 

Drought or famine, but covered up 22 acres before they left? That's a lot of dirt to move before you starve to death. If hunter-gatherers wouldn't have they just moved on?

I suspect that each season they made a new one, having buried the previous one and the new ones construction was sponsored by a family or elite leader or someone taking over a tribal chief position, etc. They may also have done something like the Romans in their Ludi Saeculares festival where an altar buried for a hundred years was revitalized for those games and celebrations.

All sorts of interesting speculations are possible we'll have to wait developments and the finding of an actual habitation level.

They do not know it: Actually was this:

Source www.ubthenews.com...
Gobekli Tepe Report

Review
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Prepared by Halbert Katzen, J.D.
[Updated 10/26/11]
Gobekli Tepe Summary

In 1994, almost forty years after The Urantia Book’s 1955 publication, excavations began at the Gobekli Tepe archaeological site in Turkey. The Gobekli Tepe site already reveals 50 engraved stone monoliths, some of them dating back to 12,000 years ago, that are at least 6,000 years older than Stonehenge and the Egyptian pyramids. A full excavation to the bottom of the site has not yet occurred, and only a small percentage of the site has been uncovered. The evidence suggests that the complex of round rooms with two especially large pillars in the middle were built for religious rather than practical purposes. Gobekli Tepe is widely acknowledged as one of the most important and mysterious archaeological sites in the world. The two main mysteries surrounding Gobekli Tepe are:

1) How did people this primitive cut, carve, move, and build with enormous stones in excess of 15 tons? The artifacts are inconsistent with prevailing theories about the development of civilization because every place else in the world, where ancient civilizations have built structures with enormous stones, there is also evidence of settled communities that practiced herding and agriculture. Prevailing theories about this region suggest that around 11,000 years ago, primitive man was just beginning to evolve from being a hunter-gatherer to a herder-farmer.

2) Why did this civilization decline over a period of several thousand years and then intentionally bury the site around 10,000 years ago? One of the peculiar aspects of the construction and art at Gobekli Tepe is that both become less refined over time. The older structures are significantly larger and more ornately decorated. There are clear indications that the site was intentionally buried but nothing to indicate why.

The Urantia Book answered these questions forty years before we discovered this mysterious site existed. The history of humanity provided by the authors of The Urantia Book recounts that a genetically superior and well-developed herder-farmer civilization existed in this area over 30,000 years ago. They also explain why this particular civilization experienced a prolonged genetic degradation and, therefore, cultural decline. Additionally, The Urantia Book says that, due to population pressures, inferior and more barbaric tribes drove out this more peaceful and advanced civilization.

Adding powerfully to the intrigue of this report is its relationship to the Adam and Eve Report and the Garden of Eden Report. These two reports also happen to reveal some of the most impressive corroborations of Urantia Book history documented so far by UBtheNEWS. The story of Adam and Eve in The Urantia Book is significantly different from the one found in the Old Testament and centers around a major genetic change that occurred 38,000 years ago. Starting with the Adam and Eve Report provides some background on the genetic issues that are relevant to this report; however, it is not necessary to read that one first in order to understand this one.