Better than 90% of documentaries. You actually get to see the scale and detail of the structures. Fantastic series, please make more like this when the chance arises.
The size of the Dig and the number of finds just laying on the surface boggles the mind. To have something like this in such pristine condition , undisturbed for so many millennia is a Gift to Pre history archaeology . My career was as a forensic crime scene examiner and i can think of numerous occasions when I first attended a scene I wondered exactly where to start (normally because half a dozen hairy officers had already tramped through my scene 🤣). It must be very similar for the archaeologists working here. Almost overwhelming yet so very exciting at the same time. I am very very jealous of the access you have been able to have. Thank you so much for sharing this with us.
You might find a video just released this week by Time Team interesting - it's called "Tony Robinson and Jackie McKinley talk bones". They talk about the forensic aspects of archaeology and how the bones they dig up give them different indicators about the person's life, upbringing, physical impairments, death and even what was done with their body after death. I found it really fascinating how much cross over there is between archaeology and forensics - the smallest things leaving big clues about what happened to someone. 😊
15:41 they keep repeating 10,000 years old. It's NOT that old. They Never bothered to Question any of their Dating. Which has Faults; inaccuracies. They are Tepes; it means Hill/Mounds. These Tepes are High. They didn't have Erosion for 10-12,000 years. Unless They want to falsely claim there was 50 feet high or Higher loads of dirt on top. Plus, there are 12 Tepes found so far; this is an Advanced Well Organized Civilization. First, they claimed the people were Hunter Gatherers to mislead you. Now, they know inhabitants had living quarters; vessels; pottery; flints everywhere... Artifacts show mortar and pestle for grains grown; 3d artwork plus painted; WEAVING; and more. They are Intentionally hiding things because these Tepes were around Biblical Times of Abraham and his family. Some time ago, the Biblical Ur was considered to be the city of Urfa which was a little North of Haran; later, people claimed Ur to be in Southern Mesopotamia, but not fact. Bible says God told Abraham to go to Canaan. Abraham n family left for Canaan but stopped at Haran. Terah, his father, passed there. Either in Haran or in Urfa, Terah and family (not Abraham because he followed God) use to make Idols. Joshua 24:2 Rabbinic scripture story says Terah left Abraham to manage Idol store. Abraham destroyed all the Idols. When Terah returned he was upset at him. Took him to Nimrod for punishment. But God Protected Abraham by letting him escape. Terah saw God Protected Abraham because Abraham was right; then Terah repented. Story is good with added moral. I contend that Terah sold Idols to these Tepes People. God instructed Abraham to Leave because of idolatry. Academics seem to eager to Hide Biblical Significance in history. This isn't the first time.
They are NOT 10-12,000 years old. In regard to Gobekli Tepe n other Tepes, Academics want to Mislead people on the Age so it's Biblical Importance is negated. Initially, Academics claimed those people were Hunter Gatherers living 12,000 years ago. But today, they see they aren't Hunter Gatherers. They had farming; mortar and pestle; sophisticated large works of art; Massive Megaliths and more. Proving Tepes were a Well Organized Civilization. There are about 12 Tepes in total. These are Large Civilizations. Truth should be revealed but Academics are getting away with Lies in ScienceS. I'm sure they are circa Abraham Time because they are in the same area where he lived.
Thank you so much, both of you! And how incredibly generous Dr Clare was with his time and effort, too. How remarkable it is that all the individuals and official bodies of our times are willing and able to support such a fascinating research activity! ❤❤❤
Where I live in Andalucia the hillsides are terraced. On a walk after the fire of 2012 our leader told us the terrace walls we could see where the forest had burned had been built by the Moors 800 years ago. There is plenty of stone lying around.
I can’t thank you enough for these 3 episodes. Gobekli Tepi is a site I’ll never be able to visit in person, but seeing it through your eyes is almost better! You got the archaeologists commentary to the site as a whole, it’s spellbinding and so, so awe inspiring. You captured that so well. Seeing the impression such a site had on you, is literally amazing. I wish I could’ve donated more, but for sure it’s the best value for money EVER!! Thank you both so much for relating to us, your viewers, so much of the detail embodied within this enormous site. I can’t begin to imagine what will be discovered in the coming decades, but I know it will be spectacular. You’ve added greatly to my understanding of humanities history. Captivating, sirs, captivating! Love from Annie, in chilly Cornwall.🙂🌸
You guys rock! Best archaeological tour I've ever been a part of, asking great questions and making interesting observations at one of the most fascinating places on earth. Wow, wish I was there with you. Thanks also for the updated info. Last I heard there were no residences.
I apologize for a second comment, but, this is so intriguing to me! I kept finding myself reminded of those channels here on YT of Iranian nomads, currently living in the mountainous regions. One family I followed for a while(8 months ago), Asman, lived in a cave with several levels, a cooking area and several areas for communal activities. How they made use of the stone, employing natural elements of their surroundings and even adding decorative features, it is amazing to see how they lived so harmoniously in those rugged mountains! There's ten-thousand years between this family and the Gobekli Tepe find, yet, there are bound to be similar cultural features, I would think. Having seen these current day families exist, I can almost picture, in my mind, the people going about their lives all those years ago.
I've been watching you guys for years, visiting all sorts of sites. I have never seen such a sense of awe from you though. And from just a little bit that we've seen so far I can see why.
Amazing!! As Rupert said, it's hard to get your head around 10,000 years and the span of time, and people living their lives over the centuries. There's another word I'm groping for t describe this feeling but it won't come to me at the moment.
Its exciting and chilling at the same time for me. Some of those grind stones must have seen hundreds of years of the same family members using them. Toddlers scamping past, fiery teenagers answering their parents back, mum and dad arguments, grandma making her special bread etc. Mind blowing, but very sad. They didn't know what the moon or sun was, they knew nothing of the world around them. They had no science. I just hope most were happy.
@@randomcomputer7248I think they probably knew more than we give them credit for - after all, if they had the capacity to build such a magnificent structure, they definitely had a good grasp of physics, mathematics and the impact of the weather and seasons. They might not have known that the sun is a giant ball of burning gas, but they will have been able to trace the stars and planets across the sky. The knew about the solstices and the impacts of erosion. They knew how to collect safe drinking water and how to use the land to grow food and then store it in ways that kept it safe to eat. I bet they were just like us - full of curiosity, telling jokes and playing pranks on each other, falling in love, suffering heartbreak, getting nervous about meeting someone new, hanging out with their best friends, singing songs and sharing stories, arguing with their parents and siblings, sitting down with their favourite meal after a hard day's work, and tucking their children into bed at night. This was their home, their work, their family, their community. I'm sure they loved it well 💕
Thank you, thank you n thrice thanks!.....it was wonderful to see such an intimate exploration of this '360 degrees of wow', to borrow a quote.....i was really moved by you're stunned faces and i felt like Moonwatcher from the film 2001, a space odyssey!...totally blown away. BRAVO to you and all those who made this happen.....both from the deep past to the present day.
Gobekli Tepe was built for a big community to survive a very extreme weather period in human history. Large T shaped pillars were designed to support a VERY large, substantial roof of timber, rocks & earth. It was constructed to protect our ancient ancestors from catastrophic weather.
Some of the rooms had seating and sleeping platforms, it looks like. The place is amazing. What gets you is that both of you, archeologists and all, are so blown away by it all.
it seems that these people had been building with stone for some time. plaster floors and practically immovable vessels and quern stones don't seem like something transient hunter-gatherers would develop... just thinkin'...
It does seem like this technology just comes out of nowhere. Can’t wait to see the contemporary or even predecessor sites that will be found in the future.
Well that has left me speechless with a thousand questions! Thank you so much for taking us with you! Also would like to thank those of you who are able to support Rupert and Michael through patrion or otherwise 👏👍
Thank you for these wonderful videos - I will never get to see it myself, so this is the closest I will ever get to being there. Love all the close up shots and great explanations. I dream of someone doing a full VR of some of the site so that I can spend hours looking round it myself. That would be a VR experience I would certainly pay for ! Thanks guys
Hi @TheMDJ2000, There is evidence for some plaster but not enough to say whether walls were plastered throughout. Possibly that will become known as more of the site is excavated. R
This is a series I will watch over and over to comprehend all the subtleties. Mind blowing! Thank you so much! Do you have a photo capture of the three symbol combo found throughout- boomerang symbol to the left, H symbol in middle and D-like (?) symbol on the right?
Rupert you need to invest in an R-Strap from Black Rapid. I think you'll find carrying that 1Dx around will be a hell of a lot easier, more accessible and a lot gentler on your neck. :) Love the series guys.
It is all difficult to understand that it was possible to not farm in our sense but manage land, water and herds to enjoy abundance over hundreds of years.
Overwhelming. I can't help but over my humble opinion. I see a a tiered food processing community. Different levels offering different levels of heat and humidity. Top level grain processing due higher heat and lower humidity, also the abundance of grindstones and storage "cubes". Granted, each dwelling may have had its own stone for its own use while contributing to the community larder as well. Mid level for fruit and veg. processing and storage One cube had a bench and a wide floor for baskets perhaps. The bottom and coolest location, special building" screams meat processing. Wild boar being the most important. Boar sculptures and engravings, flat butcher tables at higher floor levels with groves for blood drainage. Lastly, while drainage and slippage may contribute to the abundance of martial reuse, I would suggest the relative frequency of earthquakes dating from past millennia to present day. The robustness of the roof supports testifies to this possibility. I very much look forward to a multitude of new insights into this truly magnificent site. Perhaps the collection and storage of water resources will be forthcoming. So very well done gentleman. Thank you.
this was awesome, guys! now I'm gonna watch all 3 parts in a row :-) thank you so much for taking us with you and a huge thanks to Dr Lee Clare for all the details.
So they weren't all hunter gatherers following the herds....this looks more like a town/city & they're grinding grains so agriculture ???.Could it be that the firsts large settlements were much earlier ??? Where did they get water ???
No not agriculture. They were grinding wild grass seeds. So yes. Hunting and gathering but living in a settlement. I gathered (sorry) the bit about wild grass seeds from one of the livestreams with Lee as the guest. It us still in the video listing on their channel.
Re water in yesterdays part 2 or maybe part 1 Lee showed them a little covered water channel and a small cistern area. There must be springs dotted about. Cant recall from earlier stuff on the channel.
Looks like a natural Spring went through here, yet after the Megadisaster these bowls were abundantly scattered about, & since they were not repourposed, (yet used in building walls), then their original use, or uses could have been for many differnt things.
So interesting that this shows rooftop access to domestic buildings and underfloor burials pre-dated settlements such as Catal Huyuk. Obviously also they were grinding something all over the place there, which I guess could only have been wild grain that had been gathered. I wonder if they baked a kind of flatbread?
What a treat, to tour with you and Dr Clare through this landscape! The realisation that people went about their daily business here so long ago is quite overwhelming. Thank you so much, gentlemen.
Thanks great videos. You really gave us a feel for the expanse and complexity of the site. It kind of reminds me of Chaco Canyon, with its Kivas mixed in with residential cells, also accessed through the roof.
I’m just imagining them dragging the big stones during a snowfilled winter with some makeshift sleds. Like those cartoons of cavemen dragging mammoths…
This is so cool! Thought: The small meter-square 'rooms' along a line next to each other and the 'grinding stones', perhaps that area was for laundering or cleanup on some scale. It is so fascinating to come along and hear about and see all the discoveries! Imagining the people through eons of us, going about their daily routines. It appears there have been multiple families, maybe even multiple generations, as well as, multiple wives, perhaps, who have made a spot to live out their existence. Stunning stuff! Thanks!
It is an unusual design with special areas being situation below domestic type buildings on a slope. One would normally expect special buildings to be on high places and domestic falling then below.
The 'infamous' slope is not all that steep as far as know. Can't shake the impression the 'orginal' site was carefully buried and what is found close to the surface are the remains of succeeding cultures with less advancements.
Yes, & you can't have a landslide when you are at the Peak of the Hill. Debris, wad deliberately poured into the T-Pillar Central Structure, & broken Pillars were covered over with new Builds.
At first glance the residential areas remind me of the area outside of the valley of the kings where their workers lived. No luxuries, just the basics.
The step back thick walls could indicate a stone roof at 16. They need an incredible amount of counterweight at the top of the wall and somewhat cantilever, even the ancient ones. I've only seen ones half as large and they were w/o any timber. Twice as big would definitely need rafters. Are they finding stratigraphy that indicates tons of stone dropped on the floor at once or gradual infill?
Are there any T pillar community sites with evidence of roof construction materials or techniques. Assuming it was lumber and clay but this seems like it would need replacement often.
i believe the pillars and bedrock site were far earlier than the rubble walls that were added much later and surround snd even cover some pillars. Seems to me the original site was flat bedrock.
Wouldn’t the monuments’ workers, architects, families of workers create enough of a residential population, experts sourced from a wide region, that would create a purpose-built settlement? Rather than a preexisting village of untrained people deciding to build a giant but local monument? I guess I don’t understand the details of theories. Could anyone clarify? Why do the archeologists assume the many animal and human bones and chert in the rubble were not remainders of the rituals in the monument, but rather were all washed down from settlement areas, given they were re-using parts of the monuments’ buildings? I’m no expert and just wondering about the range of opinions out there, and if anyone could provide enlightenment that would be cool.
Hi @marthajamsa7153, no-one knows the development sequence for certain, predominantly because so much of the site is yet to be excavated. The current theories are based on available laboratory dating and knowledge from other sites, but they could, and probably will, be refined or changed as more excavations are carried out. Regarding the bones not being parts of rituals, there is a difference between the mortar in the walls and the countless tons of soil that have been removed during excavations. The evidence that these were washed down is that dating has shown them to be completely jumbled. If you imagine it like a landslip where a steep slope collapses in heavy rain, the layers tumble and roll downwards, coming to rest with older soils now sitting on more recent etc. That in itself explains why the archaeologists know it is fill and slippage from above rather than contemporaneous material. The possibility of ritual can never be fully ruled out, but the sheer quantities of bone fragments does make it more likely that they are from the countless thousands of meals eaten at the site over the centuries. R
Fantastic effort guy's Some thoughts.... A) Why are the special sites or T-pillar sites in steep sided depressions? Assuming these depressions are natural and the society that first settled Gobekli Tepe were hunters and gatherers then it did occur to me that these large steep-sided depressions began as 'Game Jumps' or what are sometimes known in the U.S as 'Buffalo jumps'. The hunting technique involves a group of hunters driving or stampeding herd animals like Buffalo or Reindeer over a cliff or steep drop off which cripples and kills large numbers of the herd allowing an easy and low effort hunting event. This idea continued into the medieval period using artificial enclosures and the 'havoc'. Now over time these 'game jumps' acquired some special status as people gathered to drive and stampede the herds and harvest all the meat and animal by-products. As people began to settle around these sites, they lost there utility as hunting aids, but retained some quasi-ritual importance in representing sucess in hunting and ritualising the animals that were hunted like Gazelle, Boar, Fox, etc. B) Thoughts on the T-pillars and the carving and imagery. Ritualistic of the hunted animals? Is each animal a totem, does it represent a trait or spirit totem. Does each represent a clan? I can't help but think of the indigenous hunter-gatherer peoples of North American and their clan totem animals and hunting and warrior societies like the Cheyenne 'Dog Soldiers'. Does each pillar represent a clan Chieftain or priest? This whole site reminds me of Easter Island in some strange way.
Grindstone, grindstone, grindstone... "People were living here doing the daily... chores" [11:28] The daily Quern for the Daily Grind, but if these people lived here all year 'round, why no Millstones?
Again and again thank you so much! You are two lucky basterds to get a guided tour by Dr Clare! Please let him know how many of us are simply enthralled by his continuing work, by the site itself and by the respect still shown to Claus!
I know it gets many photos, but do you have a high res image of the pillar 43 vulture. I am also interested in the carving on a stone. It was a small stone with a snake and two other symbols. These symbols match up with early glyphs in our alphabet. I was unable to find much more or other examples. I believe the middle symbol is an E or yelling man and the right most is a inverted shin or Sh, The snake is N, So it reads either Naheesh or Shahen, possibly shahen= shamen or the doctor is in sign. All just a guess with out a bunch more examples. Great footage and to see your enthusiasm.
Thank you for this amazing Insight to the history of the site. What I would give for a time machine that could give us a helicopter view fast forwarded over several thousand years to see how the site developed through time.
Very interesting vids, I can see why nobody has any idea of why/how Goblekli Tepe was built? it is so vast, so much detail, of pre-worked stones in walls etc. you mentioned 5 or 6 "grinding stones" you could identify, in a small part, multiply that across the whole site, loads of work being done (grinding) by a lot of people over how many years? but it has been said, that the whole site was deliberatly buried (after thousands of years of use? the site as you show it, looks a total mess, of millions of stones (not including the so called "walls" you show, been dug up? that must mean that stones/rubble had been laid on top of the site, from what you said, maybe up to 6 metres deep, all over? now where on earth did they collect the stones/rubble, when you went up the hill, it looked to be solid rock near the surface, so there could not have been taken from the hill? this was a monumental piece of work? why.
Thank you guys for the best gobekli tepe tour vid yet! One question if anyone knows the answer? if the walls are 10,000 years old that would only be 8000bc, the very latest date of the site as i understand, but much the site is dated to ~10,000bc right? Thus are some of the walls not 12,000 years old? Specifically we are told in this vid the grander buildings are the older ones and those are some of the ones referred to as *just* (lol) 10,000 years old?
@endricks2379 I think Dr Clare made some comments in the subsequent vid that confirmed that they were at least being conservative if not mistaken to call the walls of the named enclosures (A, B, C, D) only 10,000 years old. I guess maybe they were saying, "nothing less than 10,000"
No need to farm when you have a whole landscape full of edible wild grasses. It is known from other sites that large numbers of different plant species were harvested and prepared. R
It is clear that we have to stop relating development of village/city communities to farmers. Long before farming started, places like Jericho and Göbeklitepe proves that established settlements is a phenomenon or product of those "hunter-gatherers".
@@johno1544 Not really. they were collecting the wild version of the grains we farm ourselves today. Farming started when we began cultivating those wild species, sort of domestication them. So probably they were making bread or foods that sort of, but not with the grains they grew and cultivated themselves.
@@Melih_R_Calikoglu dont think I quite buy that. If you are gathering large amounts of wild grain you cant carry that with you, nor can you carry the heavy grinding stones and large lime stone vessels found there either. You have to settle down and store it. This place is probably the birthplace of farming
Better than 90% of documentaries. You actually get to see the scale and detail of the structures. Fantastic series, please make more like this when the chance arises.
And without the distracting musick
The size of the Dig and the number of finds just laying on the surface boggles the mind. To have something like this in such pristine condition , undisturbed for so many millennia is a Gift to Pre history archaeology . My career was as a forensic crime scene examiner and i can think of numerous occasions when I first attended a scene I wondered exactly where to start (normally because half a dozen hairy officers had already tramped through my scene 🤣). It must be very similar for the archaeologists working here. Almost overwhelming yet so very exciting at the same time. I am very very jealous of the access you have been able to have. Thank you so much for sharing this with us.
You might find a video just released this week by Time Team interesting - it's called "Tony Robinson and Jackie McKinley talk bones". They talk about the forensic aspects of archaeology and how the bones they dig up give them different indicators about the person's life, upbringing, physical impairments, death and even what was done with their body after death.
I found it really fascinating how much cross over there is between archaeology and forensics - the smallest things leaving big clues about what happened to someone. 😊
15:41 they keep repeating 10,000 years old. It's NOT that old. They Never bothered to Question any of their Dating. Which has Faults; inaccuracies. They are Tepes; it means Hill/Mounds. These Tepes are High. They didn't have Erosion for 10-12,000 years. Unless They want to falsely claim there was 50 feet high or Higher loads of dirt on top. Plus, there are 12 Tepes found so far; this is an Advanced Well Organized Civilization.
First, they claimed the people were Hunter Gatherers to mislead you. Now, they know inhabitants had living quarters; vessels; pottery; flints everywhere...
Artifacts show mortar and pestle for grains grown; 3d artwork plus painted; WEAVING; and more. They are Intentionally hiding things because these Tepes were around Biblical Times of Abraham and his family.
Some time ago, the Biblical Ur was considered to be the city of Urfa which was a little North of Haran; later, people claimed Ur to be in Southern Mesopotamia, but not fact.
Bible says God told Abraham to go to Canaan. Abraham n family left for Canaan but stopped at Haran. Terah, his father, passed there. Either in Haran or in Urfa, Terah and family (not Abraham because he followed God) use to make Idols. Joshua 24:2
Rabbinic scripture story says Terah left Abraham to manage Idol store. Abraham destroyed all the Idols. When Terah returned he was upset at him. Took him to Nimrod for punishment. But God Protected Abraham by letting him escape. Terah saw God Protected Abraham because Abraham was right; then Terah repented.
Story is good with added moral.
I contend that Terah sold Idols to these Tepes People. God instructed Abraham to Leave because of idolatry.
Academics seem to eager to Hide Biblical Significance in history. This isn't the first time.
@@Jordan_Starr Thanks Jordan I'll take a look. I normally only catch upon Time Team once a month as they can be a little sporadic with their releases.
They are NOT 10-12,000 years old.
In regard to Gobekli Tepe n other Tepes, Academics want to Mislead people on the Age so it's Biblical Importance is negated.
Initially, Academics claimed those people were Hunter Gatherers living 12,000 years ago. But today, they see they aren't Hunter Gatherers. They had farming; mortar and pestle; sophisticated large works of art; Massive Megaliths and more.
Proving Tepes were a Well Organized Civilization. There are about 12 Tepes in total. These are Large Civilizations.
Truth should be revealed but Academics are getting away with Lies in ScienceS.
I'm sure they are circa Abraham Time because they are in the same area where he lived.
The thought of how much is still buried there makes me so excited, it’s incredible.
I just can't get enough of Gobekli tepe, fantastic series, spectacular
Thank you so much, both of you! And how incredibly generous Dr Clare was with his time and effort, too. How remarkable it is that all the individuals and official bodies of our times are willing and able to support such a fascinating research activity! ❤❤❤
I can never get enough of Rupert having 'a moment'.
I know. So funny.
This trilogy has been amazing. Thanks!!!!
Where I live in Andalucia the hillsides are terraced. On a walk after the fire of 2012 our leader told us the terrace walls we could see where the forest had burned had been built by the Moors 800 years ago. There is plenty of stone lying around.
Shivers! ❤❤
Great job lads.
Really enjoyed accompanying you to this wonderful site! Thanks for taking us all along with you.
I can’t thank you enough for these 3 episodes. Gobekli Tepi is a site I’ll never be able to visit in person, but seeing it through your eyes is almost better! You got the archaeologists commentary to the site as a whole, it’s spellbinding and so, so awe inspiring. You captured that so well. Seeing the impression such a site had on you, is literally amazing. I wish I could’ve donated more, but for sure it’s the best value for money EVER!! Thank you both so much for relating to us, your viewers, so much of the detail embodied within this enormous site. I can’t begin to imagine what will be discovered in the coming decades, but I know it will be spectacular. You’ve added greatly to my understanding of humanities history. Captivating, sirs, captivating! Love from Annie, in chilly Cornwall.🙂🌸
Meant to just watch the first one but ended up watching all three today. Amazing stuff.
You guys rock! Best archaeological tour I've ever been a part of, asking great questions and making interesting observations at one of the most fascinating places on earth. Wow, wish I was there with you. Thanks also for the updated info. Last I heard there were no residences.
I apologize for a second comment, but, this is so intriguing to me!
I kept finding myself reminded of those channels here on YT of Iranian nomads, currently living in the mountainous regions. One family I followed for a while(8 months ago), Asman, lived in a cave with several levels, a cooking area and several areas for communal activities. How they made use of the stone, employing natural elements of their surroundings and even adding decorative features, it is amazing to see how they lived so harmoniously in those rugged mountains!
There's ten-thousand years between this family and the Gobekli Tepe find, yet, there are bound to be similar cultural features, I would think.
Having seen these current day families exist, I can almost picture, in my mind, the people going about their lives all those years ago.
I've been watching you guys for years, visiting all sorts of sites. I have never seen such a sense of awe from you though. And from just a little bit that we've seen so far I can see why.
Oh my, what a wonderful idea.
Thank you for all the hard work to put this together.
Amazing!! As Rupert said, it's hard to get your head around 10,000 years and the span of time, and people living their lives over the centuries. There's another word I'm groping for t describe this feeling but it won't come to me at the moment.
Its exciting and chilling at the same time for me. Some of those grind stones must have seen hundreds of years of the same family members using them. Toddlers scamping past, fiery teenagers answering their parents back, mum and dad arguments, grandma making her special bread etc. Mind blowing, but very sad. They didn't know what the moon or sun was, they knew nothing of the world around them. They had no science. I just hope most were happy.
@@randomcomputer7248I think they probably knew more than we give them credit for - after all, if they had the capacity to build such a magnificent structure, they definitely had a good grasp of physics, mathematics and the impact of the weather and seasons.
They might not have known that the sun is a giant ball of burning gas, but they will have been able to trace the stars and planets across the sky. The knew about the solstices and the impacts of erosion. They knew how to collect safe drinking water and how to use the land to grow food and then store it in ways that kept it safe to eat.
I bet they were just like us - full of curiosity, telling jokes and playing pranks on each other, falling in love, suffering heartbreak, getting nervous about meeting someone new, hanging out with their best friends, singing songs and sharing stories, arguing with their parents and siblings, sitting down with their favourite meal after a hard day's work, and tucking their children into bed at night.
This was their home, their work, their family, their community. I'm sure they loved it well 💕
Thank you for the field trip!
Wow! what an honor just to be in the first 10 comments! This is really great. Thanks Prehistory They/Them lmao
Amazing! Thanks. BTW, what sort of seeds (?) were they grinding?
Thank you for your perspective of gobekle tepe..
it thought this area was close to flat but its actually really steep
Thank you, thank you n thrice thanks!.....it was wonderful to see such an intimate exploration of this '360 degrees of wow', to borrow a quote.....i was really moved by you're stunned faces and i felt like Moonwatcher from the film 2001, a space odyssey!...totally blown away. BRAVO to you and all those who made this happen.....both from the deep past to the present day.
That’s pretty good stone walling
Awe inspiring. I can remember reading about GT in the 1970's.
Thank you for sharing your knowledge.
Absolutely wonderful.
Evening, everyone. Enjoy!
Just staggering isn't it!
So much speechless moments to appreciate. Thanks for this incredible show and tell of what is known. Especially Dr. Lee Clare's sharing.
Gobekli Tepe was built for a big community to survive a very extreme weather period in human history. Large T shaped pillars were designed to support a VERY large, substantial roof of timber, rocks & earth. It was constructed to protect our ancient ancestors from catastrophic weather.
lets fucking go. Incredible work on this whole series to you both. Revelatory.
Some of the rooms had seating and sleeping platforms, it looks like. The place is amazing. What gets you is that both of you, archeologists and all, are so blown away by it all.
it seems that these people had been building with stone for some time. plaster floors and practically immovable vessels and quern stones don't seem like something transient hunter-gatherers would develop... just thinkin'...
It does seem like this technology just comes out of nowhere. Can’t wait to see the contemporary or even predecessor sites that will be found in the future.
It seems The Flintstones wasn't that far off! Gobekli Tepe would have looked similar to Bedrock, for sure.
same structure though the roofs without windows in catalhüyük...thanks again
The word I think Rupert was searching for was reinforce.
I was thinking shore up
Awesome!
Also can we talk about the 'Roman' egg that was found when you get a chance on the show?
Well that has left me speechless with a thousand questions! Thank you so much for taking us with you! Also would like to thank those of you who are able to support Rupert and Michael through patrion or otherwise 👏👍
It looks like a theater perhaps they did shows there and you just wake up sit on top of your roof and watch a show like switching on your TV
Thank you for these wonderful videos - I will never get to see it myself, so this is the closest I will ever get to being there. Love all the close up shots and great explanations. I dream of someone doing a full VR of some of the site so that I can spend hours looking round it myself. That would be a VR experience I would certainly pay for ! Thanks guys
May be this helps: sanalmuze.gov.tr/muzeler/SANLIURFA-GOBEKLITEPE-ORENYERI/
Absolutely fascinating. Plastered floors are mentioned - do we know if they plastered the walls?
Hi @TheMDJ2000, There is evidence for some plaster but not enough to say whether walls were plastered throughout. Possibly that will become known as more of the site is excavated. R
@@ThePrehistoryGuys Thank you
Thank you. ❤
Just finished watching all 3...... wonderful wonderful. Laughed and gasped along with you. Thankyou so much.
This is a series I will watch over and over to comprehend all the subtleties. Mind blowing! Thank you so much!
Do you have a photo capture of the three symbol combo found throughout- boomerang symbol to the left, H symbol in middle and D-like (?) symbol on the right?
Hi @spiritofanu3112, Yes, I'm putting together a collection of a lot of the stills from the site which include those symbols. R
@@ThePrehistoryGuys thank you!
Like an ancient type of ⬅️EXIT-sign.
Rupert you need to invest in an R-Strap from Black Rapid. I think you'll find carrying that 1Dx around will be a hell of a lot easier, more accessible and a lot gentler on your neck. :)
Love the series guys.
Thanks, Glynn, I'll check it out:) R
I really had no idea. 🤯
It is all difficult to understand that it was possible to not farm in our sense but manage land, water and herds to enjoy abundance over hundreds of years.
Overwhelming. I can't help but over my humble opinion. I see a a tiered food processing community. Different levels offering different levels of heat and humidity. Top level grain processing due higher heat and lower humidity, also the abundance of grindstones and storage "cubes". Granted, each dwelling may have had its own stone for its own use while contributing to the community larder as well. Mid level for fruit and veg. processing and storage One cube had a bench and a wide floor for baskets perhaps. The bottom and coolest location, special building" screams meat processing. Wild boar being the most important. Boar sculptures and engravings, flat butcher tables at higher floor levels with groves for blood drainage. Lastly, while drainage and slippage may contribute to the abundance of martial reuse, I would suggest the relative frequency of earthquakes dating from past millennia to present day. The robustness of the roof supports testifies to this possibility. I very much look forward to a multitude of new insights into this truly magnificent site. Perhaps the collection and storage of water resources will be forthcoming. So very well done gentleman. Thank you.
Absolutely unique and incredible!! Thank you so much.
this was awesome, guys! now I'm gonna watch all 3 parts in a row :-) thank you so much for taking us with you and a huge thanks to Dr Lee Clare for all the details.
So they weren't all hunter gatherers following the herds....this looks more like a town/city & they're grinding grains so agriculture ???.Could it be that the firsts large settlements were much earlier ??? Where did they get water ???
No not agriculture. They were grinding wild grass seeds. So yes. Hunting and gathering but living in a settlement. I gathered (sorry) the bit about wild grass seeds from one of the livestreams with Lee as the guest. It us still in the video listing on their channel.
Re water in yesterdays part 2 or maybe part 1 Lee showed them a little covered water channel and a small cistern area. There must be springs dotted about. Cant recall from earlier stuff on the channel.
Looks like a natural Spring went through here, yet after the Megadisaster these bowls were abundantly scattered about, & since they were not repourposed, (yet used in building walls), then their original use, or uses could have been for many differnt things.
So interesting that this shows rooftop access to domestic buildings and underfloor burials pre-dated settlements such as Catal Huyuk. Obviously also they were grinding something all over the place there, which I guess could only have been wild grain that had been gathered. I wonder if they baked a kind of flatbread?
Any possibility room 16 is actually a cistern?
What a treat, to tour with you and Dr Clare through this landscape! The realisation that people went about their daily business here so long ago is quite overwhelming. Thank you so much, gentlemen.
Thanks great videos. You really gave us a feel for the expanse and complexity of the site. It kind of reminds me of Chaco Canyon, with its Kivas mixed in with residential cells, also accessed through the roof.
Just fantastic. What you guys are doing is absolutely brilliant.
I’m just imagining them dragging the big stones during a snowfilled winter with some makeshift sleds.
Like those cartoons of cavemen dragging mammoths…
This is so cool!
Thought: The small meter-square 'rooms' along a line next to each other and the 'grinding stones', perhaps that area was for laundering or cleanup on some scale.
It is so fascinating to come along and hear about and see all the discoveries! Imagining the people through eons of us, going about their daily routines. It appears there have been multiple families, maybe even multiple generations, as well as, multiple wives, perhaps, who have made a spot to live out their existence. Stunning stuff!
Thanks!
Amazing! Any one of those quern stones would be a star in a museum and they're everywhere! I'd be bleeding from the eyes by now.
It is an unusual design with special areas being situation below domestic type buildings on a slope. One would normally expect special buildings to be on high places and domestic falling then below.
This is all quite interesting...so much more then what see in shows and videos talking about it.
What a wonderful 3 episode trip and beautifully done by you guys … simply thank you 🙏 ⚔️⭐️⚔️☀️
The 'infamous' slope is not all that steep as far as know. Can't shake the impression the 'orginal' site was carefully buried and what is found close to the surface are the remains of succeeding cultures with less advancements.
Yes, & you can't have a landslide when you are at the Peak of the Hill. Debris, wad deliberately poured into the T-Pillar Central Structure, & broken Pillars were covered over with new Builds.
Man, the mist really adds to the atmosphere.
Spectacular trilogy. Thank you. If only you could arrange a live Q&A with Dr. Lee.
In the pipeline!
Excellent! Thank you!
Great info, TY.
At first glance the residential areas remind me of the area outside of the valley of the kings where their workers lived. No luxuries, just the basics.
Then there’s room 16 and it just flips the script.
The step back thick walls could indicate a stone roof at 16. They need an incredible amount of counterweight at the top of the wall and somewhat cantilever, even the ancient ones.
I've only seen ones half as large and they were w/o any timber. Twice as big would definitely need rafters.
Are they finding stratigraphy that indicates tons of stone dropped on the floor at once or gradual infill?
Initial layer above floor, I know it was gradual later.
Are there any T pillar community sites with evidence of roof construction materials or techniques. Assuming it was lumber and clay but this seems like it would need replacement often.
No direct evidence has been found in the top layers, only circumstantial indications.
i believe the pillars and bedrock site were far earlier than the rubble walls that were added much later and surround snd even cover some pillars. Seems to me the original site was flat bedrock.
Really enjoyed your documentary and seeing ruin up close. Thank you.
Thank you.
Wouldn’t the monuments’ workers, architects, families of workers create enough of a residential population, experts sourced from a wide region, that would create a purpose-built settlement? Rather than a preexisting village of untrained people deciding to build a giant but local monument? I guess I don’t understand the details of theories. Could anyone clarify? Why do the archeologists assume the many animal and human bones and chert in the rubble were not remainders of the rituals in the monument, but rather were all washed down from settlement areas, given they were re-using parts of the monuments’ buildings? I’m no expert and just wondering about the range of opinions out there, and if anyone could provide enlightenment that would be cool.
Hi @marthajamsa7153, no-one knows the development sequence for certain, predominantly because so much of the site is yet to be excavated. The current theories are based on available laboratory dating and knowledge from other sites, but they could, and probably will, be refined or changed as more excavations are carried out.
Regarding the bones not being parts of rituals, there is a difference between the mortar in the walls and the countless tons of soil that have been removed during excavations. The evidence that these were washed down is that dating has shown them to be completely jumbled. If you imagine it like a landslip where a steep slope collapses in heavy rain, the layers tumble and roll downwards, coming to rest with older soils now sitting on more recent etc.
That in itself explains why the archaeologists know it is fill and slippage from above rather than contemporaneous material. The possibility of ritual can never be fully ruled out, but the sheer quantities of bone fragments does make it more likely that they are from the countless thousands of meals eaten at the site over the centuries. R
Thank you so much for your detailed and clear reply! ❤
Fantastic effort guy's
Some thoughts....
A) Why are the special sites or T-pillar sites in steep sided depressions?
Assuming these depressions are natural and the society that first settled Gobekli Tepe were hunters and gatherers then it did occur to me that these large steep-sided depressions began as 'Game Jumps' or what are sometimes known in the U.S as 'Buffalo jumps'.
The hunting technique involves a group of hunters driving or stampeding herd animals like Buffalo or Reindeer over a cliff or steep drop off which cripples and kills large numbers of the herd allowing an easy and low effort hunting event.
This idea continued into the medieval period using artificial enclosures and the 'havoc'.
Now over time these 'game jumps' acquired some special status as people gathered to drive and stampede the herds and harvest all the meat and animal by-products.
As people began to settle around these sites, they lost there utility as hunting aids, but retained some quasi-ritual importance in representing sucess in hunting and ritualising the animals that were hunted like Gazelle, Boar, Fox, etc.
B) Thoughts on the T-pillars and the carving and imagery.
Ritualistic of the hunted animals? Is each animal a totem, does it represent a trait or spirit totem. Does each represent a clan?
I can't help but think of the indigenous hunter-gatherer peoples of North American and their clan totem animals and hunting and warrior societies like the Cheyenne 'Dog Soldiers'.
Does each pillar represent a clan Chieftain or priest?
This whole site reminds me of Easter Island in some strange way.
Grindstone, grindstone, grindstone... "People were living here doing the daily... chores" [11:28] The daily Quern for the Daily Grind, but if these people lived here all year 'round, why no Millstones?
Again and again thank you so much! You are two lucky basterds to get a guided tour by Dr Clare! Please let him know how many of us are simply enthralled by his continuing work, by the site itself and by the respect still shown to Claus!
Great trilogy! Loved being there with you and hearing all the explanations! Wonderful really!
Water feature of some kind in the communal special building. Bath houses/ saunas maybe.
Fantastic !!! You are so very lucky guys …. Well done 👏👏👏⚔️⭐️🌹
From many angles, the T-pillars look like stylized mushrooms. Hmmmm…?
I know it gets many photos, but do you have a high res image of the pillar 43 vulture. I am also interested in the carving on a stone. It was a small stone with a snake and two other symbols. These symbols match up with early glyphs in our alphabet. I was unable to find much more or other examples. I believe the middle symbol is an E or yelling man and the right most is a inverted shin or Sh, The snake is N, So it reads either Naheesh or Shahen, possibly shahen= shamen or the doctor is in sign. All just a guess with out a bunch more examples. Great footage and to see your enthusiasm.
This look round is the best archeological show in years. Absolutely fascinating
Thank you for this amazing Insight to the history of the site. What I would give for a time machine that could give us a helicopter view fast forwarded over several thousand years to see how the site developed through time.
Doesn't the roof portal as the only access bring to mind a holding cell of some kind?
I idly wonder if the site has some connection to periodic male initiation ceremonies. Just an idle thought.
I can show you how it’s calibrated including the moon cycles and it has its own “barrow with and without burials
Very interesting vids, I can see why nobody has any idea of why/how Goblekli Tepe was built? it is so vast, so much detail, of pre-worked stones in walls etc. you mentioned 5 or 6 "grinding stones" you could identify, in a small part, multiply that across the whole site, loads of work being done (grinding) by a lot of people over how many years? but it has been said, that the whole site was deliberatly buried (after thousands of years of use? the site as you show it, looks a total mess, of millions of stones (not including the so called "walls" you show, been dug up? that must mean that stones/rubble had been laid on top of the site, from what you said, maybe up to 6 metres deep, all over? now where on earth did they collect the stones/rubble, when you went up the hill, it looked to be solid rock near the surface, so there could not have been taken from the hill? this was a monumental piece of work? why.
According to Dr Clare they now believe the site was filled in by natural erosion of material down the hill.
When the temples were diminished and the gods moved into everyone's homes. Like the printing press and the english bible?
Thank you guys for the best gobekli tepe tour vid yet!
One question if anyone knows the answer? if the walls are 10,000 years old that would only be 8000bc, the very latest date of the site as i understand, but much the site is dated to ~10,000bc right? Thus are some of the walls not 12,000 years old? Specifically we are told in this vid the grander buildings are the older ones and those are some of the ones referred to as *just* (lol) 10,000 years old?
I had the same thought, I was under the impression the site was 12,000 years old. Maybe just the oldest parts
@endricks2379 I think Dr Clare made some comments in the subsequent vid that confirmed that they were at least being conservative if not mistaken to call the walls of the named enclosures (A, B, C, D) only 10,000 years old.
I guess maybe they were saying, "nothing less than 10,000"
So many grinding stones, were they the first farmers .... ???
At first it appears that way, yet 10,000 years ago, when discovered, they used these for building material.
That many grind stones someone was farming
No need to farm when you have a whole landscape full of edible wild grasses. It is known from other sites that large numbers of different plant species were harvested and prepared. R
🦅 Thank You
It is clear that we have to stop relating development of village/city communities to farmers. Long before farming started, places like Jericho and Göbeklitepe proves that established settlements is a phenomenon or product of those "hunter-gatherers".
All those grinding stones being repurposed into these early structures clearly shows these people were farmers.
@@johno1544 Not really. they were collecting the wild version of the grains we farm ourselves today. Farming started when we began cultivating those wild species, sort of domestication them. So probably they were making bread or foods that sort of, but not with the grains they grew and cultivated themselves.
@@Melih_R_Calikoglu dont think I quite buy that. If you are gathering large amounts of wild grain you cant carry that with you, nor can you carry the heavy grinding stones and large lime stone vessels found there either. You have to settle down and store it. This place is probably the birthplace of farming
Why not? It might very well be @@johno1544
The t pilars in the domestic area are used to hang meat. It's a bitcher shop!!??
It even looks stained...
Rock on!❤