The Challenge of Göbekli Tepe

Göbekli Tepe is an archeological site in southeastern Turkey that has caused quite a stir in the academic community, the religious community, and the public at large.  It goes back nearly 12,000 years, and it consists of many large stone structures some of which resemble Stonehenge in southern England but on a somewhat smaller scale.  These structures are embedded in a mound of earth (“Göbekli Tepe” means potbelly hill in Turkish), and even though only 10 percent of it has been explored so far, the site has won the attention of the archeological world.  Some archeologists claim that it reverses the common understanding of the Neolithic period.  Instead of agriculture giving rise to community life and religion, the claim is made that religion came first, and it led to community life and agriculture later.  Religion, Power, and Illusion assumes that agriculture came first and provided the setting for the emergence of religion, but this assumption is not crucial to the book’s overall argument. 

The first modern researcher to take a serious interest in Göbekli Tepe was the German archeologist Klaus Schmidt, who began a major excavation of the place in 1995.  What quickly caught Schmidt’s attention is that there was no evidence of residential occupation, no houses, no evidence of farming or grain cultivation, no roof over the buildings, and no apparent water source.  This led Schmidt to conclude that the site was not permanently occupied, but was a cult center for hunter-gatherers who visited the site from time to time to carve out the structures. 

The religious character of the place was probably suggested by the fact that one of the buildings, the largest one, consists of about a dozen T-shaped structures about thirteen feet tall arranged in an oval with two giant, eighteen-foot-tall T-shaped monoliths in the center.  All of this was apparently open to the sky.  The central monoliths, which were meticulously carved from limestone, can be interpreted to represent anthropomorphic gods surrounded by worshipping humans.  There are benches between the shorter towers where actual worshippers could sit.  The discovery of these structures led the media and others to announce to the world that Schmidt had unearthed the world’s first temple. 

Schmidt died in 2014, but his work has been carried on by other archeologists.  However, their work has led to discoveries that tend to undermine Schmidt’s conclusion (even though many of them do not see it that way).  One of the more important findings is that the structures probably had roofs.  Without roofs the mud used to plaster the walls would wash away in the rain.  Also, the central monoliths, which some interpreted as god figures, would, once the surrounding earth was excavated by archeologists, topple over without something to hold them in place.  The plausible interpretation is that these monoliths were in fact supports for the roof.  This interpretation was reinforced by the discovery that nearby forests had trees that would supply roof materials.  The monoliths could support a ridge pole, and smaller poles could then be run from the ridge pole to the surrounding walls.  All of this would provide the needed support to prevent the monoliths from falling over.  Also, when the meaning of the monoliths is shifted from god image to roof support, the stone “worshippers” are reasonably seen as buttresses for the walls. 

Another important discovery made after Schmidt’s death is that the ruins at Göbekli Tepe contained over 7,000 grinding stones that were used to process grain.  People working these stones could have produced enough flour and cereal to make porridge or bread to feed hundreds of workers.  The surrounding fields were filled with wild wheat and barley that would have supplied the needed grain, and it is even possible that at some point domestic grains were introduced at the site.  Also, hearths were found that could have been used to cook these foods.    These hearths could also have been used to make beer.  Chemical deposits were found that suggest that certain vats or cisterns were used to store beer.  Beer making suggests that the brewers were permanent residents, not itinerant visitors. 

Further, piles of bones on the site indicate that much of the food supply came from the thousands of gazelles, wild goats and wild sheep that migrated through the area in the summer and fall.  Given the plentitude of these animals, a hunting party might have left the site in the morning and returned after a few hours (or days) to a permanent home.  The presence of these bones does not indicate that Göbekli Tepe was a mere temporary dwelling for hunter-gatherers who arrived at certain times of the year, participated in a huge cult feast, and then departed, as some of Schmidt’s followers hypothesized.  Moreover, huge quantities of domestic garbage have been discovered that indicate the place was permanently occupied and not just a site for occasional feasting. 

More evidence that Göbekli Tepe was a genuine village come from the ruins of what appear to be a great many residential dwellings that archeologists have now discovered.  Also, the large oval structures containing the central monoliths may have served as communal dwelling and/or sleeping places.  Finally, as for water, the fact that the water table was higher in that region thousands of years ago means that there would have been springs that have long since dried up.  Also, channels cut in the bedrock have been discovered that may have been part of a rain water harvesting system, and there is now evidence of cisterns for storing water.  These cisterns would have been of sufficient size to supply a village. 

Edward Banning is an award winning Canadian archeologist who has raised these points in opposition to Klaus Schmidt’s interpretation.  But the ghost of Schmidt seems to be hovering over the archeological community, and this may explain its resistance to amending his earth shaking interpretation of Göbekli Tepe as the site of the world’s first temple.  Of course it is more prestigious to be part of an investigation that alters the meaning of an entire historical period.  If it should turn out that Göbekli Tepe is just another Neolithic village, then much of the excitement will die down, and the archeologists working on the site will be seen as just another group of excavators.  So the inclination to stick with Schmidt’s interpretation is only natural. 

If my theory of religion as presented in Religion, Power, and Illusion is correct, then an essential component of any religion is priests.  To satisfy the desire for power (which includes wealth, social status, reputation, mating opportunities, and other advantages) people whom I call priests create illusions.  A central component of these illusions is one or more gods who control the weather and the fertility of seeds in the fields and who are in communication with the priests.  As a result, the priests come to be seen as extremely important people who hold the future of the community in their hands.  But archeologists thus far have discovered no evidence of any priests at Göbekli Tepe, so the question arises in my mind as to whether it was a genuinely religious community. 

The hypothesis that ritual of some kind played a prominent role in the lives of those who lived there is suggested by the fact that the monoliths in the large round buildings are not roughly hewn pillars, like those at Stonehenge, but are intricately carved and copiously decorated with images of vultures, snakes, lions, wild boars, foxes, gazelles, and scorpions.  If these monoliths were mere supports for the roof, there appears to be no reason for the obvious expenditure of labor in carving them and decorating them.  It seems likely that they and their associated buildings were part of some kind of important ritual practice.  But if the carved images of animals are interpreted as fetishes, then Göbekli Tepe can be seen as a center of pre-religious ritual, one lacking priest-created gods, but one that may have served as a historical antecedent of a later community dominated by gods and priests.  According to the theory developed in Religion, Power, and Illusion, the belief in fetishes and their associated spirits, paved the way for the more sophisticated belief in gods and the priests who created them.