Tag Archives: Mysterious Structures

Listening to the Singing Colossi

We had already crossed to the west bank from the east bank of the Nile, departing from the iconic temples of the living gods in Karnak and Luxor and heading off to mortuary temples of kings and queens of the pharaonic Egypt. The sun slowly started to set down a little by little, turning the sand red till the foot of the barren mountains sheltering the Valley of the Kings further in the west. We followed its path to the dusk. “Suddenly, up ahead, sitting incongruously in a field by the side of the road, perched a pair of enthroned […] statues, each of the size of a [multi-story] building” (Perrottet 2003:335). The outlines of the two sitting figures made of stone were sharpened by the sunlight of the setting sun and their features seemed outstanding. Amazed by the gigantic monuments, we clambered out of our bus and came closer to face them in their whole majesty.

The temple largest of all

The so-called Colossi of Memnon, for the twin massive statues actually are, “sit [on the floodplain, today] in a recess, while [once they must have been] visible for [kilometres] around” (Perrottet 2003:335). They are situated in the Upper Egypt, in the area of the ancient Theban Necropolis, located west of the River Nile from the modern city of Luxor (“Colossi of Memnon” 2020). “[Although] much damaged [today], they have even preserved “a potent aura of [magnificence], if not of magic” (Perrottet 2003:335). As such they “still attract much tourists by their gigantism and their mystery” (Boorstin 1993-2012:162). Each colossus is composed of two pieces of stone; the weight of each seated figure is estimated at around 720 tons, whereas their pedestals are of 300 tons a piece (Foerster 2016). The base of each statue, although taller than most people are, is still partly buried underground and so they both can turn out to be larger after being completely unearthed (Jimmy 2017). An geologist and ethnomineralogist, Eric Gonthier even estimates the weight respectively to 1 300 tons for the statues and 500 tons for their platforms (Grimault, Pooyard 2012). Including the stone platforms on which they stand (each 4 metres high), every colossus reaches a towering 18 metres in height (“Colossi of Memnon” 2020). Additionally, the two statues are rising about 15 metres apart from each other (Ibid.).

The last feature suggests they were originally intended to guard the gates (pylons) of the vast mortuary or memorial temple, as it is visible in other Egyptian temples of the New Kingdom, mostly on the eastern bank of the Nile (“Colossi of Memnon” 2020). “Egyptian colossi [as those of Memnon] therefore have played an especially conspicuous role in the afterlife of ancient Egyptian art. They have often outlived the buildings to which they were attached” (Boorstin 1993-2012:162). The already not existing sanctuary has been ascribed to Amenhotep III (1411-1375 BC), the pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty (“Colossi of Memnon” 2020). Accordingly, the twin statues are believed to depict the pharaoh (as much as the colossi of Abu Simbel show Ramses II) “in a seated position, [with] his hands resting on his knees and his [now ruined head] facing eastwards towards the river. Two shorter figures are carved into the front throne alongside his legs: these [are said to represent] his wife Tiye and mother Mutemwiya. The side panels depict the Nile god Hapi” (Ibid.)

The massive construct of the temple is thought to have been erected during the pharaoh’s lifetime (“Colossi of Memnon” 2020). Taking into account the size of the so-called Amenhotep III’s statues themselves, in his days the complex must have been the largest and most opulent in Egypt and so it has been estimated as covering a total of 35 hectares (Ibid.). By comparing the Colossi of Memnon with other gigantic seated figures in Egypt, such as the colossi of Abu Simbel (10 metres tall), and the statues at Luxor (14 metres in height), it seems that Amenhotep III’s temple outmatched even later constructions of great pharaohs, such as Ramesses II’s Ramesseum or Ramesses III’s Medinet Habu (Ibid.). Even the greatest of all, the Temple of Karnak dedicated to Egyptian gods themselves, as it stood in Amenhotep’s time, was apparently smaller (Ibid.). Isn’t it strange?

Why did the temple disappear?

The temple itself “stood on the edge of the Nile floodplain, and successive annual inundations gnawed away at its foundations” (“Colossi of Memnon” 2020). This is also visible today, when the Nile waters reach the Colossi’s feet. Also shortly after the temple was constructed, an earthquake destroyed it in around 1200 BC (Ibid.). It is said there were left only the two huge Colossi at the entrance still standing (Ibid.). Aftermath, the ruins of the temple could either have been dismantled by later kings, or purloined with its portions reused for later monuments (Ibid.). The Colossi themselves are claimed to have been further damaged by another earthquake in 27 BC, after which they were partly reconstructed by the Romans (Ibid.).

Who is Memnon?

The modern Arabic name for the colossi is Kom el-Hatan, but it is generally known as the Colossi of Memnon (“Colossi of Memnon” 2020). Why? Because the statues apparently used to sing …

“Ancient Greek travellers named the northern statue [of the Colossi] ‘Memnon’ in honour of the Trojan War hero” (Boorstin 1993-2012:162). However, with time the both Colossi were described alike (Boorstin 1993-2012:162; Scott 1984:22; Littleton 2005:852). According to the Greek mythology, Memnon was the king of Ethiopia who led his armies to Troy’s defence but was ultimately slain during combat by the Greek warrior, Achilles (Boorstin 1993-2012:162; . “Zeus, who favoured Memnon, granted him immortality” (Littleton 2005:852). The crucial for the Colossi’s name, however, is the fact that according to the Greek mythology, he was the son of Eos (Roman Aurora), the goddess who is the personification of the dawn in Greco-Roman mythology (Boorstin 1993-2012:162). After her son death, Eos is said to have shed tears every morning; the signing of the statues was hence attributed to Eos’ mourning for her son (Ibid.). According to another version, the heard sound was actually the effect of Memnon’s singing to his mother (Littleton 2005:852), “when she appeared each day as the dawn above the eastern horizon” (Brome Weigall 2015:248). For this reason the Colossus “became famous in classical literature as ‘the signing Memnon’ because at sunrise it would emit strange sounds” (Boorstin 1993-2012:162).

Records of the stones singing

The earliest written reference to the signing statues comes from the Greek historian and geographer, Strabo (63 BC-24AD) who claimed to have heard their song during his visit at the site around 24BC (Boorstin 1993-2012:162; Brome Weigall 2015:248; Mystery History 2019). At the beginning he was rather sceptical and “suspected a machine installed by [Egyptian] priests” (Boorstin 1993-2012:162), which could have been responsible for emitting the sounds (Brome Weigall 2015:248). The second century Greek traveller and geographer, Pausanias (110-180AD) compared the statue’s voice to the string of a lyre breaking (Mystery History 2019). Others described it as the striking of brass, a gong, the blast of a trumpet, the sound of harp strings, the singing of human voices or a strange ghostly, almost divine whistling (Boorstin 1993-2012:162; Brome Weigall 2015). Many visitors also left inscriptions on the base of the statues reporting whether they had heard the sound or not (Boorstin 1993-2012:162; Brome Weigall 2015:248; Mystery History 2019).

“[In] about 65AD, a traveller scratched a record of his visit to the [singing] colossus upon its pedestal; and from that time onwards it became customary to write verses or epigrams upon the pedestal. Eight governors of Egypt thus inscribed their names, and several other persons of distinction recorded the fact of their visit” (Brome Weigall 2015:248). Nearly ninety inscriptions are still legible today (“Colossi of Memnon” 2020). While inspecting the Colossi, we took a closer look at the base; “among the centuries of graffiti, [there] were strings of Latin epigrams and Greek poems, all written with the same motivation as modern tourist scribble. Nestled in among the Daryl Jones, Christmas 1811 and Ich bin ein Berliner were notes from the likes of Lucius Charisius (122 AD), [strategos of the local nomes (Rosenmeyer 2018:28)] and Falernus” (Perrottet 2003:335), a Greek poet and sophist (Perrottet 2003:335; Rosenmeyer 2018:171).

Evolution is coming backwards

For more than two centuries the singing statues also brought tourists from Rome itself, including several emperors (Brome Weigall 2015:248; Boorstin 1993-2012:162; Mystery History 2019). “When Hadrian and his wife, Sabina, arrived in [130AD], the singing Memnon remained silent on their first morning. But it spoke up the next day and inspired their court poetess to compose a paean to both Memnon and the emperor” (Boorstin 1993-2012:162). However, some visitors failed to hear the sound, in which case it was believed that the demigod, Memnon, was angry (Brome Weigall 2015:248). “Emperor Septimius Severus in [202AD] was not either so fortunate. When the statue repeatedly refused to speak to him, he tried to conciliate it by repairing its cracks [made mostly by the earthquake in 27 BC]” (Boorstin 1993-2012:162; see Scott 1984:22).

In comparison to the original construction, the repairing works undertaken by the Romans were conducted rather crudely (Scott 1984:22). Whereas the upper half of the northern statue toppled in the first century, after Strabo its lower part was not affected (Ibid.:22) and “[he] heard a sound issue from the remaining portion of the figure” (Ibid.:22). Nevertheless, the Romans decided to also repair the rear part of the pedestal (Ibid.:22). It was because they had assumed that it would not be able to support “the added load of the upper torso they intended to place on the truncated statue” (Ibid.:22). While being repaired, its “individual blocks of quartzite, each weighing about 10 tons were fitted together in five tiers for the trunks, and  a block weighing around 50 tons was used for the head” (Ibid.:22). The original stone used was quartzite quarried at Gebel el Ahmar, near Cairo, which is nearly 700 kilometres away! (Scott 1984:22; Foerster 2016; Jimmy 2017; Mystery History 2019). “[The] newly worked stone [used by the Romans] came from quarries at Aswan, to the south of Thebes much nearer to the city than Gebel el Ahmar [(over 200 kilometres)]” (Scott 1984:22), and it was transported cut in much smaller blocks (Ibid.:22). ”‘The restoration [carried by the Romans] was a far simpler project than the original construction, or than a restoration by use of a single block,’ [admit] the Lawrence Berkeley scientists” (Ibid.:22).

Originally, each of the Colossi was carved out of one solid piece of quartzite stone, which according to some sources originally weighed over 1000 tons a piece (Foerster 2016; Jimmy 2017; Mystery History 2019). The famous report within Artie Gold’s Book of Marvels, from 1937, even contained an estimate of 1200 tons for each statue (Mystery History 2019), whereas Eric Gonthier claims they weigh now 1 300 tons a piece, so before being carved they must have been even heavier (Grimault, Pooyard 2012).

Side panel detail showing two flanked relief images of the deity Hapi and, to the right, a sculpture of the royal wife Tiye. Photo by MusikAnimal (2017). Source : “Colossi of Memnon” (2020). Wikipedia. The Free Encyclopedia (CC BY-SA).

Having been restored, the statue has never been heard to sing again (Boorstin 1993-2012:162; Scott 1984:22). How was it able to do so then? It is believed that after the earthquake in 27BC, the statue “was damaged in such a way that it made ringing noises early in the morning. Scientists suggest that air trapped in a pocket within a statue caused the mysterious noise” (Littleton 2005:852); it was possible as the sun heat “caused dew trapped within the statue’s crack to evaporate, creating a series of vibrations that echoed through the thin desert air” (Wolfe 2020). After the restorations of the pedestal, the pocket was apparently filled in and the mysterious sound stopped (Scott 1984:22). Against such a theory is, however, the fact that “the cracks have multiplied since then. [Yet] no song has come back with them” (Boorstin 1993-2012:162). “Even so, the name of Memnon remained attached to the statues” (Littleton 2005:852).

Evidence of high technology

Who created these Colossi? How were they made? As a matter of fact, if you research the Colossi of Memnon, there is virtually no explanation how these were cut and carved (Jimmy 2017). Still, they are clearly an astonishing ancient accomplishment and the monuments which are even today found highly compelling (Ibid.). After some authors they were not built by ancient Egyptians, who only adopted them, but were achieved by a now lost advanced civilization (Foerster 2016; 2019; Jimmy 2017; Mystery History 2019). Does it sound ridiculous? A thorough analysis actually reveals a definite evidence of high technology applied in the construction of the Colossi.

Transportation

First of all, the two massive blocks of stone must have been transported hundreds kilometres away (Foerster 2016; Jimmy 2017; Mystery History 2019). They weighed around 1000 tons a piece (or even more), assuming they were later cut and carved in a position on the site (Foerster 2016). As it is stated above, they were quarried and dragged from Gebel el Ahmar, nearly 700 kilometres away from Thebes, in modern day Cairo (Scott 1984:22). That quarry was actually proven to have been utilized by dynastic Egyptians for various statues and other stone structures but the question is how they were able to move so massive blocks of stone (Jimmy 2017). In comparison, the Romans restoring one of the statues used a quarry just 200 kilometres away from the site (Scott 1984:22). They also transported and utilized far much smaller blocks of stone than the Colossi’s builders (Ibid.:22). 

In the case of modern installation for the LACMA in 2012, the task was to move a 340-ton boulder sculpture and place it above a 140-metre viewing pathway. To accomplish the feat, the rock was loaded onto a 90-metre long, 196-wheeled transporter custom-built by Emmert International only for this reason. Photo by Carol M. Highsmith. Source:“Levitated Mass” (2020). In: Wikipedia. The Free Encyclopedia.

In the case of more modern installation for the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in 2012, the task was to move a 340-ton boulder sculpture and place it above a 140-metre viewing pathway (Jimmy 2017; “Levitated Mass” 2020). To accomplish the feat, the rock was loaded onto a 90-metre long, 196-wheeled transporter custom-built by Emmert International only for this reason (“Levitated Mass” 2020). “Because of the transporter’s size and needs, the boulder could only be moved at night at a maximum speed of about [12 kilometres] per hour” (Ibid.). It was all about to move something that was less than half a weight of the each Colossus and almost the third of the weight of what every of these statues would have been prior to being cut and carved (Jimmy 2017).

The boulder is in its special made carrier and will go on display at the County Museum of Art by this summer. Photo by Irfan Khan, Los Angeles Times. Source: Vankin, Willon (2012).

Generally, Egyptologists theorized that different stone blocks would have been moved by ancient Egyptians over tree trunks (Foerster 2016; Jimmy 2017). However, that is completely unrealistic when you consider something such big and massive as the Colossi over that far of a distance (Jimmy 2017).

Super hard stone

The fact the statues are both made of quartzite amazes (Foerster 2016; Jimmy 2017; Mystery History 2019). Quartzite is a super hard stone (Foerster 2016). It is seven out of ten on the Mohs Scale of Hardness, with a diamond being a ten (Foerster 2016; Jimmy 2017). Most megalithic structures around Egypt and elsewhere around the world are carved out of granite and basalt, which is approximately a six out of ten on the Mohs Scale and granite varies between six and seven depending on its kind (Foerster 2016; Jimmy 2017). How they were able to cut and carve the stone remains a complete mystery (Jimmy 2017). The dynastic Egyptians had not used steel to cut stones until about 800 BC. (Foerster 2016). So what did they use instead? Modern Egyptologists claim that stone hammers and bronze chisels were applied to cut and carve any stone, including basalt, granite and even quartzite (Jimmy 2017).

Although, the use of such primitive methods may have been more possible in case of smaller feats, which is ether doubtless, the size of the Colossi is astounding and to consider that the ancient Egyptian sculptors would have used the basic tools for both quarrying and then cutting and carving so large and hard boulders seems incredibly unlikely (Jimmy 2017).

Sun-blasted

Although the Colossi of Memnon are hugely damaged today, upon a closer inspection, there is an incredible advanced precision visible in highly precise cuts on the stone (Jimmy 2017; Mystery History 2019). Such advanced cutting technology was utilized in various areas of these statues prior to their destruction (Jimmy 2017; Mystery History 2019). There is evidence discovered by professional geologists that apart from having been toppled by the earthquakes, the Colossi had also been heat blasted (Foerster 2016; Jimmy 2017; Mystery History 2019). Some theorize that they may have been subjected to a plasma blast from the Sun tens of thousands of years ago, which further validate the theory that the dynastic Egyptians did not create these statues (Jimmy 2017). Possibly they just found them, and it was actually the previous civilization existing before the great cataclysm who would have created the statues with some sort of advanced technology (Foerster 2016; 2019; Jimmy 2017; Mystery History 2019).  

Effects of a world-wide catastrophe?

According to some authors, there was a world-wide catastrophic event that struck the planet of Earth around 12 000 years ago (Foerster 2019). Some claim it was a comet or pieces of a comet that wreaked havoc, wiped out almost all life and changed the environment of the entire planet (Ibid.).

The Earth itself had once been in a vertical position, which changed after the catastrophe to twenty three and half degrees (Foerster 2019). Such a process in turn led to a sudden change of a climate, which shifted from tropical to temperate and from temperate to Arctic (Ibid.). In Catastrophobia (2001) Barbara Hand Clow shows that a series of cataclysmic disasters happened in around 12 000 years ago, caused by a massive disturbance in the Earth’s crust (Ibid.). As a result, most of the human population died out and those who survived had to find refuge in recesses such as caves (Ibid.). According to the author, this stands for the caveman period, from around 10.000 to 4000 BC (Ibid.). The rise of civilization, such as Sumeria, the Indus Valley and Egypt, was not hence a sign of the very first evolvement of human civilization but rather the renewal of humanity (Ibid.).

An American physicist, Dr. Paul LaViolette in turn states in his work Galactic Superwaves and their Impact on the Earth (2001) that the center of our galaxy is not a black hole but a pulsar and every thirteen thousand years or half of a precessional cycle (which takes approximately 26000 years), the center of the galaxy fills up with energy (Foerster 2019). Accordingly, around 12 000, it released this energy, which successively spread across the galactic plane, entered the solar system, created the asteroid belt and went through the Sun and shot solar plasma straight at the planet of Earth (Ibid.).

There is also the work by the geologist Robert Schoch, Forgotten Civilization: The Role of Solar Outbursts in Our Past and Future (2012) in which the author emphasizes the solar plasma theory (Foerster 2019). Finally, Brien Foerster in Aftershock: The Ancient Cataclysm That Erased Human History (2016) summarizes the most compelling aspects of all these theories and puts them together in a cohesive manner (Ibid.).

Schoch claims that the solar plasma did not strike all over the earth but very specific, random locations (Foerster 2019). Such a phenomenon is so intense in terms of heat that it would vaporize anything where it was struck, with all organic life in a first row (Ibid.). What the geologist proposes is that at the end of the Last Ice Age (around 12 000 years ago), the solar plasma caused especially the northern ice sheet to vaporize, which eventually led to the Great Flood (Ibid.). Mounting scientific evidence is showing the world’s oceans rose by one hundred metres very rapidly, within a year (Ibid.). So rather than the legendary Atlantis being a landmass that sank, the waters rose and buried its civilization and possibly others (Ibid.).

The erased face of the statues

The Earth’s life was destroyed but what was left behind would be stone structures (Foerster 2019). In some parts of the globe, however, there is observable strange damage to the stone surface (Ibid.). The geologists think that the stone must have been struck with intense and almost instantaneous blasts of heat of 2000 degrees Celsius (Foerster 2016; 2019). The evidence for such a heat is a crystalline nature of the interior of the stone, which had been heat flashed or cooked not to the point of melting but to the point of causing the stone to expand by creating major cracks on the surface (Ibid.). It is defined as possible evidence of an ancient cataclysmic heat of solar plasma (Ibid.).

The same is believed to have happened in the case of the Colossi of Memnon (Foerster 2016; 2019).  The surface of the front of the statues is completely erased but it is unlike simple defacement made by time, people or even an earthquake (Foerster 2016; 2019; Jimmy 2017). It is actually confirmed by geologists, that their face appears heat blasted by having been burnt off with possibly plasma ejection from the Sun (Foerster 2016; 2019). The surface there appears scorched, with visible crystalline structures which cannot be a result of a simple fire but intense heat that would have expanded the crystals inside the stone (Ibid.). It is supported by the fact that the Colossi’s sides are less damaged, with their back not destroyed at all (Ibid.). So it may have been an effect of a heat blast coming in from the east, likely at sunrise (Ibid.). This fits in turn with the idea of the geologist Robert Schoch that plasma stroke some sites on the earth 12 000 years ago (Ibid.).

Moreover, the same effects are also hugely visible at other megalithic stone statues and other structures in the area, which confirms the plasma ejection theory (Foerster 2016; 2019).

Lack of logical explanations

The Colossi of Memnon are listed as containing some of the largest megalithic blocks that have currently been recorded and investigated across the world and although these statues have virtually crumbled over the epochs, records of the Colossi stretch back many centuries (Mystery History 2019).

These structures once possessed an astonishing characteristic many claimed as a divine experience that drew countless individuals on a pilgrimage across the desert to witness it at first light of the Sun every morning (Mystery History 2019). The Colossi themselves are oriented towards the sunrise at winter solstice, which suggests that as many other monuments worldwide, they were designed as an astronomical device (Ibid.). Although modern academia would like to attribute these feats to ancient Egyptians, any logical explanation of how their construction was achieved or indeed how the Colossi were so precisely carved with simple tools remain absent from all given so far explanations (Jimmy 2017).

Not only their transport or creation but also their aim and the way of destruction call for further studies. Although throughout modern research, there have been a number of fearless individuals exposing the phenomenon of the statues to the world, it simultaneously seems to be overlooked or even deliberately ignored by mainstream academia (Mystery History 2019).

Striking anomalies

There are many other ancient anomalies that can be found across much of ancient Egypt and outside it (Mystery History 2019). Not only are the ancient pyramids in Egypt a clear feat of a highly capable ancient engineering but also many of the still existing ancient temples are testament to a now lost yet once incredibly advanced ancient civilization, and although many academic scholars takes for granted the theory that the pyramids once served as the burial places of pharaohs, the truth is that the original purpose of these ancient structure still remains unclear (Ibid.).

Ancient megalithic structures, such as the Colossi of Memnon show moreover clear evidence of lost technology, unquestionably left by high speed high rotation stone cutting technologies as many of the tombs and other artifacts found throughout the ancient ruins (Mystery History 2019). Many of them, though wrongly defined, still exist but there were also some astonishing structures in Egypt that although are now lost, they have been recorded and documented by the ancients, specifically by the Greeks and Romans (Ibid.). Today, the existence of such monuments is usually misinterpreted, erroneously identified or even questioned, as it is in the case of the famous Labyrinth of Egypt. Generally, what is actively taught is clearly inaccurate and there are many holes in the theories proposed by many modern-day scholars, unless they are proven by repeating the alleged process of ancient construction (Jimmy 2017). It is striking that the Colossi of Memnon and many other examples of megalithic structures around Egypt and elsewhere around the world could not simply have been made by the primitive methods proposed and stated by the main-stream scholars (Jimmy 2017; Mystery History 2019).

Although any speculations about the unknown origins of the Colossi of Memnon are openly denied, “these two battered [giants] remain. [Even silent, they are still standing proudly] on the Nile floodplains, [like] three-dimensional hieroglyphs of the grandeur of Egypt [and its mysteries]” (Boorstin 1993-2012:162).

Featured image: Colossi of Memnon. Source: “Valley of the Kings and Queens, Colossus and Hatshepsut Tour” (2020) Civitatis.

By Joanna
Faculties of English Philology, History of Art and Archaeology.
University of Silesia in Katowice, Poland;
Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University in Warsaw, Poland;
University College Dublin, Ireland.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

“Colossi of Memnon” (2020). In: Wikipedia. The Free Encyclopedia. Available at <https://bit.ly/3gp4eNm>. [Accessed on 3rd July, 2020].

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Looking in the Eye of Horus

According to the previous article, Sunk Island in the Sahara Desert, the geographic description of Atlantis corresponds to that of Richat, in Mauritania (Kosmiczne […] 2019). However, there is still missing solid archaeological evidence of the advanced civilization described by Plato in the Eye of the Sahara (Ibid.). Artifacts and remnants of structures created once with the hands of the Atlanteans are absent (Ibid.). Yet, such an argument should not be regarded against the proposed theory. Archaeological remains, if any exist buried on site, cannot dig themselves out. They need archaeologists’ systematic work and study. Unfortunately, if the subject is not treated seriously by mainstream Academia, there will not be any excavations in the region. Moreover, Mauritania is not a safe country, and the Eye of the Sahara itself is vast; it takes a multi-day trip to get to Richat from the coast of Mauritania (Kosmiczne […] 2019; Ettington 2018:33). As the region does not attract tourists at all, the organisation of transport there may be problematic and expensive (Ettington 2018:33). So far, no official institution has been interested in undertaking long-term thorough excavations of the structure with specialistic equipment (Kosmiczne […] 2019). Even if such a project appears, its realization will be costly.

Despite the lack of proper archaeological digs, many artifacts have already been found on the surface of the structure, such as tools, jewellery, interesting spheres with precise shapes, and a mysterious oval stone artefact weighing about fort kilograms that locals call ‘a surfboard of the gods’ (see: Alexander, Rosen, “Archaeology. Visiting Atlantis” 2018; Kosmiczne […] 2019). Independently, some people have also found within the structure various geometric structures on Google Maps; they resemble the foundations of buildings covered with soil (Ibid.). However, one has to wait for specific archaeological works (if they miraculously happen) (Ibid.).

Elephants live in Africa

Another interesting argument for the Eye of the Sahara as real Atlantis relates to the following description of Plato (Kosmiczne […] 2019):

” Moreover, there were a great number of elephants in the island; for as there was provision for all other sorts of animals, both for those which live in lakes and marshes and rivers, and also for those which live in mountains and on plains, so there was for the animal which is the largest and most voracious of all”.

Plato, Critias

Virtually every proposed location of Atlantis contradicted the passage saying that there were, among other animals, elephants in Atlantis (Ettington 2018:38; Kosmiczne […] 2019). Indeed, elephants lived in Mauritania, unfortunately they have recently died out, though (Kosmiczne […] 2019). In addition, many elephant skeletons and petroglyphs depicting these animals on rocks have been found in the region (Ibid.).

Disasters came in the past

As mentioned above, a very convincing argument for the theory that Atlantis really existed is Plato’s timeframe for the destruction of the city  (Ettington 2018:37-38).

“Many great deluges have taken place during the nine thousand years, for that is the number of years which have elapsed since the time of which I am speaking”.

Plato, Critias

 “Let me begin by observing first of all, that nine thousand was the sum of years which had elapsed since the war which was said to have taken place between those who dwelt outside the Pillars of Heracles and all who dwelt within them; this war I am going to describe”.

Plato, Critias

According to the records, Solon heard the story of Atlantis in ancient Sais in 600 BC. (Kosmiczne […] 2019). The priest told him that the city had been destroyed 9,000 years ago (Ibid.). Consequently, the destruction of Atlantis must have occurred around 9,600 BC. (Ibid.)

Reconstruction of the Oikoumene (inhabited world), an ancient map based on Herodotus’ description of the world, circa 450 BC. Photo by Bibi Saint-Pol (2006), based on the GIF by Marco Prins and Jona Lendering from www.livius.org. Public domain. Photo source: “Atlantis” (2020). In: Wikipedia. The Free Encyclopedia.

This date 9,600 BC. is extremely interesting; in the period between 10,900 and 9,500 B.C. the sudden cold period of the last Ice Age, the so-called Younger Dryas, took place (Kosmiczne […] 2019). Reasons behind it have not been yet fully understood, however, there is the Younger Dryas impact hypothesis, namely the cooling event happened after the Earth was hit with meteorites or there was an explosion of a swarm of comets in the Earth’s atmosphere (Ettington 2018:39-40; Kosmiczne […] 2019). According to this hypothesis, the sequence of such events eventually caused a sudden change in climate and a global cooling (Ettington 2018:39-40; Kosmiczne […] 2019). At that time, the so-called Clovis culture had disappeared, ocean currents altered, and much of North America’s megafauna had gone extinct (Ettington 2018:40; Kosmiczne […] 2019).  

But it did not finish there.

“But afterwards there occurred violent earthquakes and floods; and in a single day and night of misfortune all your warlike men in a body sank into the earth, and the island of Atlantis in like manner disappeared in the depths of the sea. For which reason the sea in those parts is impassable and impenetrable, because there is a shoal of mud in the way; and this was caused by the subsidence of the island”.

Plato, Timaeus

Plato writes that “the island of Atlantis disappeared in the depths of the sea”, and “violent earthquakes and floods” could have been a successive result of the Younger Dryas impact, which is called by geologists Meltwater Pulse 1B (Hancock 2020). The latter was triggered by “the rapid release of meltwater into the oceans from the collapse of continental ice sheets” (“Meltwater pulse 1B” 2020). At the end or just after the Younger Drays, it was a period of either rapid or just accelerated post-glacial sea level rise (it is hypothesised to have occurred between 11,500 and 11,200 years ago at the beginning of the Holocene) (Ibid.), and could be the reasons for gigantic tsunamis, which were able to flood the whole landmass (Kosmiczne […] 2019); Hancock 2020). Was it the time of the Biblical Flood?

The so-called influence of the Younger Dryas impact hypothesis, however, still remains unproven in academic circles (Kosmiczne […] 2019).

Island in the desert

While the formation of the Eye of the Sahara is promising as a potential location of Atlantis, its main problem is that, it is not an island and is now situated as much as 500 kilometres north-east of the Atlantic Ocean (Kosmiczne […] 2019). The authors of Visiting Atlantis (2011) say that approximately 12 000 years ago, some of the lands of Africa were beyond sea level, which made its coastline different from the contemporary one. Moreover, proponents of the geographic location of Atlantis in the Eye of Africa, however, refer to the hypothesis of a Younger Dryas impact on the destruction of Atlantis (Ettington 2018:45; 39-44; Kosmiczne […] 2019).

Sea thiasos depicting the wedding of Poseidon and Amphitrite (female prsonification of the sea) from the Altar of Domitius Ahenobarbus in the Field of Mars, bas-relief, Roman Republic, 2nd century BC. According to Greek mythology, Poseidon was the god of the sea and the founder of the city of Atlantis, sometimes depicted as half-fish, half-human. Some authors compare such sea creatures to the Dogon’s ancestral spirits, Nommos. Photo uploaded by the user Bibi Saint-Pol (2007). Public domain. Photo source: “Poseidon” (2020). In: Wikipedia. The Free Encyclopedia.

In their opinion, photos of the structure in the Sahara desert show that the place looks as if it was once flooded by powerful waves of the ocean, similar to giant tsunamis (Kosmiczne […] 2019). As George S. Alexander (2011) says, the place is harshly eroded and washed out, which is unusual for one of the driest places on Earth.

“For the fact is that a single night of excessive rain washed away the earth and laid bare the rock; at the same time there were earthquakes, and then occurred the extraordinary inundation […]”

Plato, Critias

“[…] when afterwards sunk by an earthquake, [Atlantis] became an impassable barrier of mud to voyagers sailing from hence to any part of the ocean.

Plato, Critias

The fragments above are intended to indicate that Atlantis was flooded with waves, which resulted in mud covering of the entire area (Kosmiczne […] 2019). Then the water was withdrawn and the ocean was cut off from the south, so that the ships could no longer get there (Ibid.). It is worth remembering about the huge amount of wells producing just salt water as well as thousands of shells discovered around the Sahara on the way to Richat (Alexander, Rosen 2011; Kosmiczne […] 2019). Additionally, the Bright Insight channel (2018) has shown pictures of the remains of a whale in Mauritania (Ibid.). The inhabitants of this country have equally encountered skeletons of fish and marine mammals in the area (Kosmiczne […] 2019).

Welcome to Atlantis

The researchers’ journey in contemporary Mauritania, from its seaside to a small town of Atar, led them through the desert (Alexander, Rosen 2011).

Guelb er Richât, Mauritania. Photo by Clemens Schmillen (2020). CC BY-SA 4.0. Photo source: “Richat structure” (2020). In: Wikipedia. The Free Encyclopedia.

In the time of Atlantis, that place must have been under the ocean, yet on the threshold to its main island; today the Adrar Highlands would border its western steep and mountainous edges, as Plato also describes the Atlantis island’s landform (Alexander, Rosen 2011). And to the east of the range of mountains, there lies a large plain with the Eye of Africa, which may have been once the capital of Atlantis (Ibid.). The terrain is now covered in tricoloured stone; it is white, black and red, as Plato portrays the natural material the Atlanteans used to construct their dwellings (Ibid.). According to the Philosopher, the stone was quarried from the centre of the island (Ibid.). Surprisingly, by a careful examination of satellite images of Richat, one could see in its centre a formation that resembles a quarry or a mine, just as Plato indicates (Ibid.).

Theory of land elevation

The geological origin of Richat assumes that this place has been geologically elevated since Atlantis’ destruction (Kosmiczne […] 2019). Currently, the Eye of the Sahara is about 485 metres above sea level. For the increase in elevation are responsible terrestrial processes, such as volcanism or earthquakes (Ettington 2018:45). The author of the Bright Insight channel has demonstrated computer simulations according to which, at a lower position, the Eye of the Sahara would have been an island surrounded by the ocean’s waters (Kosmiczne […] 2019). This would confirm the description of Plato, according to which Atlantis was an island behind the Gibraltar Strait, and it would have had access to water in the south (Ibid.). Of course, such a theory is based on a number of assumptions and cannot be any evidence (Ibid.). This is why the theory of the Eye’s elevation requires more geological studies in the matter to determine if the area was indeed naturally raised up above sea level (Ettington 2018:45).

Cycles of wet and dry periods disrupted

The combination of land uplift, climate and water-level changes, and the impact in the Younger Dryas may have greatly influenced the geographic shape of the Eye of the Sahara (Kosmiczne […] 2019). Before its destruction, around 11,600 years ago, it may have been a paradise island connected to the ocean from the south, as much as Atlantis was, according to Plato (Kosmiczne […] 2019; Ettington 2018:47-48). The visible river channels in the mountains of Richat are linked to the fact that the Sahara then was much wetter than it is today (Kosmiczne […] 2019; Ettington 2018:35,47-48).

Richat Structure in Mauritania. This image was acquired by Landsat 7’s Enhanced Thematic Mapper plus (ETM+) sensor on January 11, 2001. This is a false-color composite image made using shortwave infrared, infrared, and green wavelengths. The image has also been sharpened using the sensor’s panchromatic band. Image provided by the USGS EROS Data Center Satellite Systems Branch. This image is part of the ongoing Landsat Earth as Art series. Photo source: “Richat structure in Mauritania” (2001). In: NASA Earth Observatory.

After Sahara pump theory, the Sahara region has kept changing for thousands of years from a desert in arid periods to a savanna grassland during pluvial periods (Ettington 2018:35,47-48). When the cooling of the climate was subsiding, there must have been then huge rivers and lakes all over the area, which was fertile and characterized with moderate climate (Ibid.:35,47-48). The whole region of Richat was then green, not a desert, as it is today (Ibid.:47). The Younger Dryas, however, disrupted the whole cycle and ended not only with heavy rains but also with a disaster, bringing the fall of antediluvian civilizations, such as Atlantis (if they had ever existed).

King Atlas and his heritage

“The eldest, who was the first king, [Poseidon] named Atlas, and after him the whole island and the ocean were called Atlantic”.

Plato, Critias

After Plato, the first king of the city of Atlantis was Poseidon’s son, Atlas (Kosmiczne […] 2019). It is also known that the north-western part of Africa was inhabited by ancient people known in antiquity as the Mauri (Kosmiczne […] 2019; “Mauretania” 2020). They were Berber speaking tribes and lived in Numidia and in neighbouring Mauretania (not to be confused with modern-day Mauritania), located in the ancient Maghreb region, being colonized by Phoenicians throughout the first millennium BC. (“Mauretania” 2020). Tribal Berber kingdoms established there between the third century BC. to 40/44 AD, when the region was incorporated into the Provinces of the Roman Empire with the capital in Volubillis. At the time of the Berber kingdoms, ancient Mauretania “stretched from central present-day Algeria westwards to the Atlantic, covering northern Morocco, and southward to the Atlas Mountains” (“Mauretania” 2020).

Interestingly, as it turns out, the first legendary king of Mauretania was called Atlas (Kosmiczne […] 2019; “Mauretania” 2020). He was an outstanding philosopher, mathematician and astronomer (Kosmiczne […] 2019; “Mauretania” 2020). Atlas is therefore not only the first king of the capital of Atlantis, but also of the ancient region of Mauretania, which was, however, located in the north of the Eye of the Sahara (modern-day Mauritania).

How did the Dogon find out?

During past thousand years the majority of the local population of Northwest Africa has converted to Islam (Alexander, Rosen 2011). Nevertheless, there are still African people in the region who are attached to their ancient religion and tradition (Ibid.). One of such cultures are the so-called Dogon, who largely live to the east of the Mauritania border, in Mali and Niger (Ibid.). Their beliefs and outstanding astronomical knowledge, especially about Sirius Star System, are the matter of debates among various scholars and researchers (Ibid.).

Twin demi-gods

The Dogon have particularly believed in the Nommo or Nummo – primordial ancestral spirits who passed on to them the astronomical understanding and wisdom (Alexander, Rosen 2011; “Nommo” 2020).

Dogon people in Mali. Photo by Devriese (2003). Originally uploaded to Flickr as Dogon #12. CC BY 3.0. Photo source: “Dogon people” (2020). In: Wikipedia. The Free Encyclopedia.

Those spirits “are usually described as amphibious, hermaphroditic, fish-like creatures. Folk art depictions of Nommos show creatures with humanoid upper torsos […] and a fish-like lower torso and tail. Nommos are also referred to as ‘Masters of the Water’, ‘the Monitors’, and ‘the Teachers’” (“Nommo” 2020). As such, Nommos resemble half-human sea creatures dwelling in the realm of the god Poseidon, who was the founder of Atlantis city and the deity worshiped by the Atlanteans (Alexander, Rosen 2011). He was also the divine father of the five pairs of twins, who then ruled ten kings of Atlantis (Ibid.). As their mother was a mortal woman, they were only half-divine beings. What is more, according to Dogon’s beliefs, their half-divine ancestral spirits, Nommos, also transformed into twins (four pairs, though, not five as in the case of the kings of Atlantis), and the twin cult has always been very common in West Africa, finding its expressions equally in works of local art (Ibid.). May then the Dogon’s beliefs and knowledge have stemmed from the highly advanced civilization as Atlantis? (Ibid.).

Another ancient notice of Atlantis?

Ancient map made from a description by the famous historian Herodotus, around 450 BC. reveals another clue, specifically, the name of Atlantes in Northwest Africa (Kosmiczne […] 2019). Sometimes a question mark accompanies the name (Ibid.), which seems intriguing as if the author was not sure about his accuracy. The World according to Herodotus shows the known geography of the inhabited World, whose cartographic image is built up of various accounts and assumptions. This is why it is difficult to associate the name Atlantes precisely with an exact place in Africa. It may have been thought to appear beneath the Atlas Mountains, which are located in Morocco and Algeria, more than 1000 kilometres from the Eye of the Sahara (Ibid.). On the other side, Martin K. Ettington (2018:49-51,63) suggests Herodotus’ map rather represents the range of mountains north of the Eye of the Sahara, not of the Atlas Mountains, and so the author believes that the map is another ancient record of Atlantis, independent of Plato’s writings.

 The world map of Herodotus showing the name ‘Atlantes’ in the area of Northwest Africa. Photo source: Panorama of the World (2017). “Human Landscapes and Maps”. In: holylandmap.blogspot.com.

It is probable that Herodotus could just refer to a group of people living in the Atlas Mountains (Kosmiczne […] 2019). On the other side, it is a real coincidence the name associated with Atlas (and Atlantis) appears again in relation to Northwest Africa. Moreover, Herodotus as a historian travelled to Egypt and had an access to its ancient libraries (Ettington 2018: 51). His information about the history of Pharaonic Egypt and magnificent monuments, especially those which no longer exist, is invaluable to contemporary Egyptologists and historians. Though-provoking, for example, is his account of the Egyptian Labyrinth that “surpasses the Pyramids” (Herodotus, the fifth century BC.). Was he then aware of any Egyptian records of Atlantis and its inhabitants? Are they depicted in his map?

Good-luck bringing charm

Discussing still the issue of Atlantic-Egyptian relations, Plato indicates that Egypt was within the Atlantean influence (Alexander, Rosen 2011). Although any preserved ancient records in Egypt do not mention such connections, it is worth investigating ancient Egyptian art, its symbolism and mythology in quest for any clues. One of the most recurring images in Dynastic Egypt is unquestionably the symbol of the Eye of Horus, known as wadjet, wedjat or udjat (“Eye of Horus” 2020).

Horus, the god of Egypt was usually depicted as a falcon, or a man with a falcon’s head; as such he was the god of the heavens and the forerunner of the pharaohs (Rachet 1994:135). Horus was also the son of divine siblings, Isis and Osiris, and played a decisive role in his father’s struggle against his brother, Set (Ibid.:135). According to the Texts of Pyramids, Isis, as a vulture, sat on the body of the dead Osiris (murdered by Set) and hence conceived Horus (Ibid.:135). Having grown up, Horus provoked Set to a fight in which he lost an eye (Ibid.:135). He regained it, however, and defeated Set, depriving him of his manhood (Ibid.:135).

Nazars, charms used to ward off the evil eye. After George S. Alexander (2011), each looks like a miniature model of the capital city of Atlantis. Photo by FocalPoint (2006). CC BY-SA 3.0. Photo source: “Evil eye” (2020). In: Wikipedia. The Free Encyclopedia.

The Eye of Horus was in an ancient Egypt a “symbol of protection, royal power, and good health. The Eye of Horus is similar to the Eye of Ra, which belongs to a different god […] but represents many of the same concepts” (“Eye of Horus” 2020). Actually, in the Old Kingdom, the Eye of Ra symbolised the sun, whereas that of Horus, the moon (Rachet 1994:356). As one of the most popular warding off evil amulets, it was usually depicted in Egyptian tombs (Ibid.:357). Mediterranean sailors have “frequently [painted the same] symbol on the bows of their vessels to ensure safe sea travel” (“Eye of Horus” 2020). Even today, such an image as a protection against the evil eye is typical in this region, though in Muslim countries, it is usually called the Eye of the Prophet (Alexander, Rosen 2011).

Atlantean symbol or Egyptian amulet?

Udjat in ancient Egyptian art can be seen as a symbolic sign of a lined eye with an element characteristic of the falcon head (Horus), added later below (Rachet 1994:356).

The Eye of the Sahara resembles the Egyptian amulet known as the Eye of Horus with the upper part of ‘the eye’ well emphasized by the range of the steep mountains from the north. Photo received from a cropped satellite image on Google Maps (Google Earth). Imagery©2020 CNES/Airbus, Maxar Technologies; Map data ©2020.

Some researchers indicate, it is related to Atlantis, and indeed, its representation resembles the Eye of the Sahara, with regard to its centre and surroundings, where the range of mountains to the north of the pupil-like centre are similar to Horus’ lined eyebrow (Ettington 2018:58; Alexander, Rosen 2011). Was the amulet original to Atlantis, before it was adopted by the Egyptian symbology?

No other site more than this one

No other place in the world fits the description of Atlantis so closely as the Eye of the Sahara (Ettington 2018:35; Kosmiczne […] 2019). There is yet no conclusive archaeological evidence; therefore the issue remains unresolved (Kosmiczne […] 2019). Only if archaeologists engage in long-term and reliable work within the mysterious structure, the ancient mystery of Richat may be exposed, either as a natural structure or the lost city of Atlantis (Ibid.).

Nevertheless, if Atlantis really once existed, the Eye of the Sahara remains the most likely location for this legendary civilization (Alexander, Rosen 2011; Ettington 2018:31,35-38,51; Kosmiczne […] 2019).

Featured image: A topographic reconstruction (scaled 6:1 on the vertical axis) from satellite photos. False colouring as follows: • Brown: bedrock • Yellow/white: sand • Green: vegetation • Blue: salty sediments. Photo by NASA/JPL/NIMA (2004). Public domain. Photo source: “Richat structure” (2020). In: Wikipedia. The Free Encyclopedia.

By Joanna
Faculties of English Philology, History of Art and Archaeology.
University of Silesia in Katowice, Poland;
Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University in Warsaw, Poland;
University College Dublin, Ireland.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

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Alexander S. G., Rosen N. (2011) Visiting Atlantis. Gate to a lost world. Wilddoor Production.

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Hancock G. (2020) ”Graham Hancock Explains the Mysteries of Atlantis and Göbekli Tepe”. In: FightMediocrity. Available at <https://bit.ly/37khfG7>. [Accessed on 15th December, 2020].

Image provided by the USGS EROS Data Center Satellite Systems Branch. This image is part of the ongoing Landsat Earth as Art series. Photo source: “Richat structure in Mauritania” (2001). In: NASA Earth Observatory. Available at <http://go.nasa.gov/37CJL6h>. [Accessed on 19th December, 2020].

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Rachet G. (1994) “Horus”, “Udżet”. In: Słownik cywilizacji egipskiej. Śliwa J. Trans. Słowniki Encyklopedyczne Książnica.

Noah’s Beasts Released on the Hills of Göbekli Tepe

Perhaps the key to understanding the site of Göbekli Tepe lies in its impressive carvings situated on the cluster of pillars (Conrad 2012). As described in my previous article (see: The Oldest Temple in the World and its Mystery), they are ‘T’-shaped and decorated with strange zoomorphic imagery. The latter represent elaborate and naturalistic animal characters, both in low, high and full relief, showing three-dimensional figures, signifying improbable menagerie (Conrad 2012; Noren 2020).

Images of various animals found, including birds and insects, all in all, create an astonishing menagerie that continues to amaze archaeologists who have studied the site to this day (Burns 2010). An archaeologist, Paul Bahn, PhD., admits that there is no other archaeological site in the world with a similar variety of zoomorphic representations in stone (Burns 2017). Their juxtaposition is also interesting (Ibid.). Therefore, there are many different speculations concerning their interpretation; for example, an author, Andrew Collins, suspects that Noah’s Ark had actually been immortalized on the stones of the site, as if it had been a livestock inventory of the Ark (Burns 2010; 2017). Discovered five hundred kilometres south of Mount Ararat, considered by Biblical scholars to be the resting place of Noah’s Ark, the reliefs of Göbekli Tepe suggest that certain species of animals come from other regions than it has been previously considered (Ibid.). Could these sculptures prove that the memories of the Great Flood described in the Bible and its aftermath were preserved by the builders of Göbekli Tepe? (Ibid.). Some researchers believe that the traces of this cataclysm and the story of Noah’s Ark were actually written on the stone pillars (Ibid.). If so, the Great Flood would have occurred at the end of what scientists call the end of the Ice Age (Ibid.).

Stone Age masterpiece of sculpture

Sumber sci-news.com/mage credit: by Nico Becker, Göbekli Tepe Archive, German Archaeological Institute, DAI. Source: Kompasiana (2018).

The mystery of the imagery of the site became even greater when discovered reliefs have revealed animal species that have never been endemic to the region, such as geese, armadillos or wild boars (Burns 2017). Moreover, the masterpiece of the sculpture found also suggests their builders must have been highly advanced artists with engineering skills, taking into account the fact there is no trace of their tools in situ (Conrad 2012). Physical characteristics of the animals carved are very clearly depicted (Ibid.). In many cases anatomical details openly express a rather aggressive attitude, embodied by their posture and grinning teeth (Ibid.).

T-shaped pillars and their flock

Klaus Schmidt argues that the animal component of the site is crucial in its iconographic interpretation (Conrad 2012). According to the Professor, represented animals have mainly wild, male and predatory connotations (Busacca 2017:313-314). He interprets the zoomorphic depictions either as having a protective role as the guardians of the pillars (especially high-relief sculpture), or being a part of a horrifying spectacle (Conrad 2012; Busacca 2017).

Eastern central pillar of Enclosure D. Image cropped. Photo by Nico Becker, DAI. Photo and caption source: German Archaeological Institute (DAI) (2020). “The Site”. In: The Tepe Telegrams. News & Notes from the Göbekli Tepe Research Staff.

The ‘T’-shaped pillars, as he points out, are in turn the abstract representations of human bodies with the upper part resembling a man’s head in profile, the shaft of the ‘T’ standing for the human corpus, with arms, palms and fingers incised in stone (Conrad 2012; Busacca 2017). Below them, there is the representation of a belt encircling the pillar with loincloth looking like an animal skin (Ibid.). Such features as the hands with elongated fingers on the stomach, around the the navel area, amazingly reappear on other ancient representations in the wold (Burns 2017). Such a motif repeats, for example, carved in the great Moai statues on the Easter Island (Ibid.) or even on sculpted stone fragments crumbling among the old-Irish idols at the cemetery on the Boa Island, in Northern Island. They equally occur on anthropomorphic menhirs in France, Italy, Romania and elsewhere in the world (Ibid.). A similar iconographic element in some a way joins all these statues of different cultures and age and so testifies to the fact that Göbekli Tepe may not have developped in isolation, but was a part of a worldwide, prehistoric culture that once existed (Ibid.). Or it itself may have given rise to a later universal iconography by means of its mysterious heritage (Ibid.). Are the anthropomorphic statues from Göbekli Tepe and other parts of the world a carved in stone story of an alien race that lived on the earth before the cataclysm? (Ibid.). If so, maybe such monuments were erected in places where people were rebuilding civilization after the Great Flood (Ibid.). Maybe the builders of the site tried to save from oblivion what had taken place about 12,000 years ago? (Ibid.).

Professor Schmidt says that the ‘T’-shaped pillars are gathered on the hillside as if there was “a meeting of stone beings” (Scham 2008:27). Despite their anthropomorphic features, the pillars are deprived of facial features, which makes Schmidt think that the human-like monoliths personify spiritual beings, and probably they are the earliest imagery of deities or god-like ancestors (Conrad 2012). Accordingly, Schmidt also suggests that the disintegrated now temple doorway could metaphorically have stood for the entrance to the netherworld (Conrad 2012). If so, Göbekli Tepe must have been related to the cult of the death (Ibid.).

One of the most enigmatic symbology shown on the ‘T’-shaped pillar 43 with vultures flying above the scorpion. Source: Sandra Scham (2008:25). The World’s First Temple. Archaeology, v. 61, no. 6, New York: Archaeological Institute of America, pp. 22-27.

Vital to creating that dark world are the creatures carved on the pillars (Conrad 2012). It is not even difficult to imagine the site as a temple devoted to the dead, especially at night, when the portal leading to the flickering by the fire netherworld may have involved humans into strange rituals performed beneath the monumental human-like pillars, dressed up with the aggressive elements of nature (Ibid.). In the course of ritual performances, including sound, scents and probably under shamanic drug haze, the images on the pillars may have seemed alive and active (Busacca 2017). Gusaldo Busacca (2017), a PhD. student at Stanford University, admits, however, that very little can be said on the purpose and nature of such rituals. Some kind of ritual paraphernalia have been found at the site, such as benches, niches (altars), cup holes and limestone vessels, probably used for libations to the spirits and extensive feasting (Schmidt, 2010; Dietrich et al. 2012).

According to Klaus Schmidt, the site may have been also a pilgrimage location (Scham 2008:26). He assumes “that once pilgrims reached Göbekli Tepe, they made animal sacrifices” (Ibid.:26). That theory is supported by the archaeological finds of animal bones belonging to various species, such as gazelles, goats, boars, sheep, wild birds and so on (Scham 2008; Busacca 2017). Most of these animals belong to the carved menagerie in question (Ibid.).

What was first: religion or civilisation?

As Prof. Joris Peters notices, although the animistic nature dominates in the Palaeolithic art of the caves, at Göbekli Tepe the control over the nature is visibly taken by humans in the disguise of the ‘T’-shaped pillars (Conrad 2012).

Pillar 27 from Enclosure C with the three-dimensional sculpture of an animal catching a prey in low relief below. Photo (2008). Public domain. Source: “Göbekli Tepe” (2020). In: Wikipedia. The Free Encyclopedia.

Schmidt also notices that all the zoomorphic images are carved only below the so-called head of the pillars, which suggests that people had already became superior to animals (Conrad 2012). Gods themselves had left their animal disguise and started to look like humans (Ibid.). As Schmidt underlines, such imagery may reveal the Stone Age man’s desire for having control over the nature (Ibid.). The new religion gave humans an enormous psychological advantage (Ibid.). It placed people above the animals and above nature, and that mental leap forward, as Prof. Joris Peters says, was needed to start to domesticate animals and plants (Ibid.). Accordingly, it was first the urge to worship that sparked civilization (Ibid.). The theory is yet radical: namely, it suggests that it was the religion itself which brought people to farming, and not the other way round, as it has been believed so far… (Ibid.). In this context, Göbekli Tepe would have been a dramatic point in mankind development (Ibid.).

The hardest challenge that archaeologists have to face

Gusaldo Busacca (2017) underlines in his study of Göbekli Tepe that he takes “the hardest challenge that archaeologists have to face” (Ibid.:313) due to fragmentary evidence, time and cultural distance, and finally lack of written sources or oral traditions (Ibid.). Many scholars working at the site have already proposed their interpretations of the complex animal symbolism present there by using different contexts, such as shamanism (Benz & Bauer, 2015; Lewis – Williams & Pearce 2009), human-animal linkage (Verhoeven 2002), and burial rituals (Schmidt 2012), with a particular emphasis on the aggressive attitudes, predatory and wild aspects of the depicted animals. Other scholars also identify phallocentrism (the ideology that the male aspect is the central element in the organization of the social world) (“Phallocentrism” 2019), as the major symbolic theme of the most aggressive representations at the site (Hodder and Meskell 2011).

Most of the ‘T’-shaped pillars at the site show wild animals, such as lions/leopards. Source: Sandra Scham (2008:22). The World’s First Temple. Archaeology, v. 61, no. 6, New York: Archaeological Institute of America, pp. 22-27

Basing on Schmidt’s research, Busacca (2017) claims that the most frequently represented animals are snakes, then foxes, boars, bulls and wild ducks. Less often motifs include cranes, spiders, quadrupeds, vultures, wild sheep, asses, gazelles and felids (Ibid.). Although the majority of depicted animals belong to predatory and venomous species, it is worth remarking there are also non-dangerous animals in the iconographic repertoire (Ibid.). Along the zoomorphic imagery, there are also abstract motifs, especially ‘H’- shaped pictograms, as well as some anthropomorphic motifs, like headless human bodies, which would suit the theory the temple was dedicated to the dead (Conrad 2012; Busacca 2017). Furthermore, Busacca (2017:316) notices that “the depicted motifs and their distribution vary markedly throughout the four main enclosures.”

Further attempts of interpretation

In terms of animistic ontology, Busacca (2017) focuses on exploring the role of images as a category of animated non-human beings (Ibid.).

Pillar with the sculpture of a fox. Photo by Zhengan (2012). CC BY-SA. Source: “Göbekli Tepe” (2020). In: Wikipedia. The Free Encyclopedia.

He calls these images “composite entities constituted by both material and immaterial components” (Ibid.:315) as they are placed between two different spaces: the present and the absent, the visible and the invisible (Belting, 2011). The scholar argues that prehistoric artists may have believed that the act of making an image sparked a specific relation between the carver and the spirit inside the material medium (Busacca 2017:315-316). The carver did not create an animal out of the stone but he released it (Carpenter 1973). In this context, the zoomorphic images should be reconsidered as active participants between humans and material objects (Busacca 2017:315-316). Animals do not simply represent but they are material personification of animal spirits (Ibid.:315-316). The author also underlines the importance of their location within the architectural space in which they first appeared (Ibid.:315-316).

As the author remarks, the zoomorphic imagery has been mainly defined as a human concern with wild animals, “masculinity and violence prior to the ‘domestication of symbols’ that accompanied the transition toward agriculture and settled life” (Busacca 2017:319). The violent part of the iconography can be also linked to the dominant agents in prehistoric communities, identified as shamans (Benz & Bauer 2013). Another researcher, Borić (2013:54) claims that the dynamic and narrative postures of the carved beasts are the notions of “strong, dangerous spirits lurking beneath the skin of the depicted animals” (Borić 2013:54). Quite innovative interpretation is proposed by Yeşilyurt (2014) who argues that the site should be interpreted as prehistoric research laboratory, where the representations of animals actually illustrate research carried out on specific species.

Stone Age menagerie in motion

Busacca (2017:322) also analyses the sculpture in the context of stylistic features, such as the dynamism and movement of the animal figures. In order to refer to stylistic techniques used at Göbekli Tepe, the author has borrowed the terminology used in the studies on Franco-Cantabrian Upper Palaeolithic rock art, where similar style can be observed (Ibid.:322). Nevertheless, he underlines that “these similarities in techniques of visual representations should not be considered evidence of direct contact, ancestry or diffusion, but as independent, though similar, phenomena” (Ibid:322).

The use of ‘split action’ in the depiction of possible bird figures. Photo by Klaus-Peter Simon (2012). CC BY-SA 3.0. Source: “Göbekli Tepe” (2020). In: Wikipedia. The Free Encyclopedia.

The movement is shown at Göbekli Tepe by means of two major techniques which seem to have been applied selectively only to certain types of animals depicted (Ibid.:322). Both predatory and non-predatory species, including gazelle, wild ass and crane, have their legs bent and/or are caught in oblique position (postural information) which generates some sort of motion (Ibid.:322). The wavy lines of the snake depictions are equally the representations of movement (Ibid.:322). Also the use of ‘split action’ technique is applied by the reiteration (superimposition or juxtaposition) of the subject, where an animal is depicted at successive stages in time (Ibid.:322). Examples of such artistic approach is clearly shown in the representations of water birds, especially wild ducks (Enclosures C and D) (Ibid.:322).  

Description of the stylistic traits is followed by an analysis of the orientation of the carved imagery (Busacca 2017:313,324). To conduct the study, the author makes a distinction between the central  pillars, which are those arranged in pairs, usually larger in size, and radial pillars – those arranged along the enclosures (Ibid.:313,324).

Internal subdivision of T-shaped pillars Photo by Irmgard Wagner, German Archaeological Institute (DAI) (modified). Source: Gesualdo Busacca (2017:322). “Places of Encounter: Relational Ontologies, Animal Depiction and Ritual Performance at Göbekli Tepe”. In: Cambridge Archaeological Journal, v. 27, issue 2, pp. 313-330.

Radial pillars have been furthermore subdivided into two groups, frontal and lateral (Ibid.:313,324). All the locations of the carvings on pillars have been clearly labelled by means of simple abbreviations that the author has provided together with the photographs illustrating his concept (Ibid.:313,322,324). Accordingly, he marked them as follows: ‘FH’, ‘BS’, ‘LH’, ‘LS’, where ‘F’ stands for frontal, ‘B’ for back, ‘H’ for head ‘S’ for side, ‘L’ for lateral and left in some cases (Ibid.:313,322,324). Taking into consideration the lateral sides of the radial pillars, the author notices that 29 out of 34 total animals depicted on the pillars are facing toward the centre of the enclosure (Ibid.:313,322,324). High relief and full relief sculptures also indicate a centripetal orientation (Ibid.:313,322,324). As the author suggests “emerging from the walls or from the top of them with their full bodies or only with the head, these sculptures suggestively resonate with the general impression of a centripetal ‘jump’ of the animals into the enclosures”(Busacca 2017: 324).

On the other hand, the bas-reliefs carved on the frontal sides are facing either downwards or upwards or the right or left (Ibid.:313,322,324). Hence their pattern is less clear to be easily defined (Ibid.:313,322,324). The author suggests that the dynamism and mostly centripetal orientation of zoomorphic depictions may refer to the liminal space of the enclosure calling for animal spirits to its centre (Ibid.:313,322,324). Providing that the ‘T’- shaped pillars represent anthropomorphic spiritual beings, as mentioned above (Schmidt 2010), the enclosures can be identified as places of encounter between humans and animal spirits (Busacca 2017:313,322,324). In this context zoomorphic images play the role of the bridge between human and non-human beings (Ibid.:313,322,324).

Pillar 2 from Enclosure A with low reliefs of possibly a bull, fox and a crane. Photo by Teomancimit  (2011).CC BY-SA 3.0. Source: “Göbekli Tepe” (2020). In: Wikipedia. The Free Encyclopedia.

Busacca (2017) also emphasizes the importance of the iconographic repertoire in any attempt of interpreting enigmatic functions of Göbekli Tepe. Unlike in post-agricultural societies within which wild animals meant danger and wilderness, hunter-gatherers would have had rather social and inter-personal attitudes towards such beasts, still without excluding the always present threat of their violence, which is probably expressed by aggressive aspects of zoomorphic representations (Ibid.:327). The author suggests that “socialising with the animal on the peer-to-peer basis would be just another way of ‘domesticating’ the animal without bringing it under complete human control” (Ibid.:327). Such an idea, however, would contradict the interpretation proposed by Schmidt, according to which the carved ‘T’- shaped pillars at Göbekli Tepe show humans completely superior to animals. Although Schmidt’s assumption does not negate the whole idea of ontological relations between humans and animals, their character would be quite different from that defined by Busacca (2017).

Vulture Stone

On the other side, some independent researchers, such as Paul Burley (2013), Graham Hancock (2016) and Martin Sweatman (2019) claim that at least a few zoomorphic representations on the pillars of Göbekli Tepe are grouped and arranged in a way to create the sky map. Such features are mainly revealed by the limestone ‘T’- shaped Pillar 43, also known under an intriguing name of the “Vulture Stone”, which is incorporated along with other ‘T-‘-shaped pillars of a similar height into the stone wall on the north-west side of the Enclosure D (Burley 2013; Sweatman 2019:22). The latter, in turn, comes from the Layer III, which is not only the oldest, and hence the lowest in the ground, but also distinguished by a variety of mysterious thematic aspects and sophisticated artistic depictions (Fleckney 2020). Whereas the wall of the Enclosure D, made of rough stones, is radiocarbon dated back to over 9 500 BC., the pillars embedded in it definitely predate it (Sweatman 2019:22). It is also worth mentioning that again we are dealing here with the phenomenon where more ancient finds are more advanced in many respects than those dated as being more recent.

Göbekli Tepe. Photo by Zhengan (2012). CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: “Göbekli Tepe” (2020). In: Wikipedia. The Free Encyclopedia.

Since the Pillar 43 started to be regularly studied, it has become widely iconic for the site of Göbekli Tepe (Sweatman 2019:22). It is simultaneously one of the most mysterious and captivating human imagination objects yet found in situ. The pillar does not belong to the greatest of the site; it is three metres tall, one and a half metre wide, a half metre thick, and weighs around five tons (Ibid.:22). The key to its popularity, however, has turned out to be its outstanding iconography. Not only does it include a clearly defined group of various animals but also an ithyphallic and headless anthropomorphic figure (Sweatman 2019:22; Fleckney 2020). The whole imagery is further enriched and so complicated by a set of abstract symbols, which, moreover, seem reminiscent of so far undecipherable images appearing in different ancient cultures, including Ancient Egypt, Assyria (Iraq), the Olmecs (La Venta, Mexico), and even Pumapunku (Bolivia).

Zoo of the shaft

All the carvings covering the Pillar 43 are in low relief (Burley 2013). Starting from the bottom of the shaft, there is a bird head upon a long neck, possibly belonging to a goose (Sweatman 2019:22). Just behind the bird’s neck, on the right, a figure of a headless man appears (Ibid.:24). Right there, the bottom corner of the pillar is broken. Still on the shaft, above the bird’s head, there is a clearly defined, huge scorpion, crawling upwards, whereas on the left of the long-necked bird and the scorpion, one can discern the head and front legs of another animal, probably a quadruped of some type, like a wolf (Ibid.:22-23). Just above its head, there is either an animal tail or a snake, maybe a viper, with a triangular end, looking like an arrow.

The bird king with its scepter on the pillar head

Moving to the ‘T’-shaped pillar head, on the left, there is the largest image of all, which has eventually given the name to the pillar (Sweatman 2019:22). Precisely, it represents some kind of a bird of pray, probably and eagle or a vulture with its wings outstretched, which may suggest it was depicted in flight (Ibid.:22).

The Goddess Nekhbet, Temple of Hatshepsut, circa 1479 –1458 B.C. Wikimedia Commons as part of a project by the Metropolitan Museum of Art MET. By Charles K. Wilkinson. Uploaded by Pharos (2017). CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication. Photo and caption source: Wikimedia Commons.

In its iconography, the bird looks like a strongly stylized representation of the ancient Egyptian vulture, personifying Nekhbet, “an early predynastic local goddess in Egyptian mythology, who was [originally] the patron of the city of Nekheb […]. Ultimately, she became the patron of Upper Egypt and one of the two patron deities for all of Ancient Egypt when it was unified. […] Nekhbet usually was depicted hovering, with her wings spread above the royal image, clutching a shen symbol, representing eternal encircling protection, frequently in her claws” (“Nekhbet” 2021). The said shen symbol additionally resembles a plain circle beside the vulture’s outstretched wing from the Pillar 43. The significant difference between these two images, however, is the placement of the disc in the both cases.

On the Pillar 43 at Göbekli Tepe, unlike in Egyptian images, the vulture’s left wing seems to hold or horizontally support the disc, which, hovering above it, is situated centrally on the pillar head and so in the middle of the visual context of the whole scene (Sweatman 2019:22; Burley 2013). By these means, the disc provides a sense of an order on the pillar’s surface, which at first sight, seems to be just filled in with randomly depicted elements (Burley 2013). In the right lower corner of the pillar head, another stylized figure of a bird is depicted, possibly of the same species as its larger companion, as they both feature the same hooked beak (Sweatman 2019:22-23). Or maybe, it is just the same individual but depicted in motion, as it is visible in other carved images on pillars?

Long-body creature with an arrow

The example of the believed image of a snake, represented in carving on the back of a stone human head from Nevalı Çori. Artifact photographed at Şanliurfa Museum, Turkey (early Neolithic period, 8400-8100 BC.). Photo by Vincent J. Musi. Originally published by National Geographic. Photo and caption source: Prata E. (2011). “The Mystery of Gobekli Tepe”. In: The End Time.

The most interesting of all, however, is the top part of the pillar head. To the upper-right of the title bird character, there is a bird with long legs, looking like a flamingo (Sweatman 2019:23). Between its beak and lifted thin legs, there is an undecipherable image, which Martin Sweatman (2019:23) compares to a “wriggling fish in [the flamingo’s] beak”. For myself, the element more resemble a snake with a tail or a head ending in an arrow, like in the fragmented image on the shaft of the same pillar or on other T-shaped pillars of Göbekli Tepe, featuring similar representations (Johannes 2005; Courtesy of the Göbekli Tepe Project, Deutsches Archäologisches Institut 2005). One creature of this kind is also present at the back of a sculpted human head from Nevalı Çori (Şanliurfa Museum, Turkey) (Prata 2011; see: The Oldest Temple in the World and its Mystery).

From letter symbols to handbags

To the very right of that duo of the flamingo and the snake, aka fish, there is an abstract symbol resembling a squat letter ‘H’ and, slightly above a letter ‘I’ or just the same letter ‘H’ but turned 90° right (Sweatman 2019:23). Above the flamingo’s back, in turn, there appears a frieze-like stretch, interrupted on the left by the vulture’s head and equally by additional components above, yet it stretches to the very top of the pillar head. It is composed of two rows of interlocked symbols in the shape of the letter ‘V’, which all appear on both sides of the narrow and horizontal belt of squares (Ibid.:23).

Finally, in the upper part of the ‘frieze’ and so of the pillar head itself, there is a row of the three mentioned elements, generally compared to ‘handbags’ (Sweatman 2019:23), though my eight-years old nephew claims these are padlocks …

Some of the so-called ‘H’-blocks which were interconnected (or intended to interconnect) with other andesite blocks forming blind miniature gateways. The shape of the blocks are sometimes compared to the ‘H’ symbol from the “Vulture Stone”. Photo by Janikorpi (2011). CC BY-SA 3.0. Photo and caption source: “Pumapunku” (2021). In: Wikipedia. The Free Encyclopedia.

Such strange components as the ‘handbags’, found among a zoomorphic gathering, become even stranger if one realizes that they also appear in other ancient cultures; namely, they are being carried by winged geniuses in Assyrian reliefs (between 2000-600 BC.) or by an Olmec from La Venta, travelling ‘inside’ a feathered serpent (between 1800 BC.-200 AD.). In the Pillar 43, each ‘handbag’ is additionally coupled with an animal character (Ibid.:23). Yet, all the three are difficult to be recognized as particular species (Ibid.:23). The left-most one resembles a minuscule version of the bent flamingo (Ibid.:23), depicted below, the middle one represents a quadruped, which Martin Sweatman (2019:23) interprets as a “standing or charging […] gazelle, goat or ibex, with large horns or ears bent backwards over the body”, whereas the animal on the most-right, seems to crawl downwards, like a lizard or a frog (Ibid.:23).

Constellations inscribed the outlines of the animals

Although the actual function of Göbekli Tepe is still a mystery, an author, Andrew Collins, proposes a theory, suggesting the site was erected for reflecting celestial phenomena (Burns 2017; see: The Oldest Temple in the World and its Mystery). Accordingly, the successive circles of the site with its elaborate stone ‘T’-shaped pillars and, finally, their complex iconography would have their astronomical meaning (Burley 2013; Sweatman 2019). In line with such assumptions are also theories related to the Pillar 43. Martin Sweatman (2019:24) studies a hypothesis proposed by Paul Burley (2013) and Graham Hancock (2016), according to which the title vulture occupying the pillar head represents the modern-day constellation of Sagittarius and the huge scorpion crawling on the shaft, the constellation of Scorpius. Additionally, the duo of a flamingo and a snake with an arrow would represent the so-called thirteenth sign of the zodiac, Ophiuchus (Sweatman 2019:24; see Hancock 2016). And the central disc supported by the vulture’s outstretched left wing would relate to the Sun, being close to the center of the galaxy, with the mentioned constellations nearby (Burley 2013; see Hancock 2016).

‘T’ – shaped pillars of the site. Photo by German Archaeological Institute (DAI). Source : Jens Notroff (2016). “Could we really called it a temple?” In: German Archaeological Institute (DAI) (2020). The Tepe Telegrams. News & Notes from the Göbekli Tepe Research Staff.

After noticing similarities between the patterns of the considered animal images and the range of studied constellations, along with their relative match in context of their positions on the pillar and in the sky respectively, Sweatman (2019:24-32) also tries to support the theory by justifying whether the selection of animals corresponding to the constellations among the thirteen zoomorphic symbols at Göbekli Tepe is adequate and not coincidental (Ibid.:27-32,41). The choice of a scorpion for the Scorpius seems obvious, in turn, the vulture would be the best choice for the Sagittarius among all the animals represented on site (Ibid.:30,32). Additionally, Martin Sweatman (2019:27) pays attention to another constellation, the Libra, which is just below the Scorpius, and finds that the goose represented below the scorpion can match the constellation as it is an animal associated with water. What is more, the fragmented quadruped depicted to the left of the goose can similarly correspond to the constellation of Lupus, the wolf, which is also to the left of Libra in the sky (Ibid.:27). Can it be then a pure coincidence?

Nevertheless, the main problem is that after the mainstream scholars, the knowledge of zodiacal constellations could only appear and develop the earliest with the civilization of Sumer, that is to say, between 3000 and 2000 BC., and it was much later passed down to the modern world by means of the ancient Greece, during the period of the last few centuries BC. (Sweatman 2019:25). For these reasons, the similar knowledge cannot be as old as the site of Göbekli Tepe, which is nearly 12 000 years old (Ibid.:25). But if one alternatively accepts such a possibility, it would mean that ancient Sumerians were not the first who invented zodiacal symbols but they would have learnt their skills in astronomy from much earlier but highly advanced civilizations, who, for some reasons, were erased from human history (Ibid.:31).

Precession of the equinoxes

In order to understand a message encoded on the Pillar 43, Martin Sweatman (2019:36) additionally uses the phenomenon of the so-called precession of the equinoxes (see: Through the Passageway of the Khmers’ Stargate of Angkor Tom).

Göbekli Tepe and a panoramic view of the southern excavation field. Photo by Rolfcosar (2010). CC BY-SA 3.0. Source: “Göbekli Tepe” (2020). In: Wikipedia. The Free Encyclopedia.

According to the conventional teaching, the discovery of precession of the equinoxes should be ascribed to Hipparchus of the Greeks who would have come up with this idea in the second century BC. (Sweatman 2019:36). Yet, after alternative researchers outside of Academia, such knowledge had already been in use by the sculptors of the “Vulture Stone”, around 13 000 years ago (Ibid.:36). Providing that the disc over the vulture’s wing stands for the Sun, the researcher observes the phenomenon of precession in earlier epochs, with the summer solstice as the reference day (Ibid.:38). As a result, he finds out that the position of the constellations in relation to the Sun, represented on the Pillar 43, only correspond to the date anywhere between 11 200 and 10 700 BC. (Ibid.:38). It is because only within this range of time the Sun appears in such an arrangement between the constellations as it is represented on the pillar (Ibid.:38).

Handbags as sunsets

After Martin Sweatman and his wife, Alison (2019:39), the mysterious symbols at the very top of the Pillar 43 resemble semicircles of the Sun disc at the moment of sunset. Furthermore, if we assume the represented image reflects the summer solstice in 10 950 BC., when the Sun was in front of the constellation of Sagittarius (the vulture), the three handbags (sunsets) may signify the other three solar phenomena in the astronomical year, namely the winter solstice and the spring and vernal and autumn equinoxes (Ibid.:34,37-39). Accordingly, at the spring equinox in 10 950, the Sun moved to Virgo, at the winter solstice, it appeared in Gemini, and at the autumn equinox, it entered the constellation of Pisces (Ibid.:39).

By analogy with the zoomorphic figures symbolizing the constellations in the main part of the pillar, the miniature creatures beside the ‘handbags’ would stand for the constellations corresponding to the three astronomical days that the ‘handbags’ possibly represent (Sweatman 2019:39). Staring from the oldest date and so the upper-right ‘handbag’, the crawling downwards frog beside it would symbolize Virgo, the horned quadruped in the middle, Gemini, and finally the bent bird with long legs would stand for Pisces (Ibid.:39). Surprisingly, the outlines of all the three constellations perfectly correspond to the shape of miniature animal images depicted beside the respective ‘handbags’ (Ibid.:40; see Figure 10 in: Sweatman 2019:40).

Zoomorphic code language of hunter-gatherers

Martin Sweatman (2019:40-44) admits that the results of his studies may be just a coincidence, though it is rather improbable. On the other side, they heavily undermine the current scientific status quo in all its aspects, particularly concerning the acknowledged range of astronomical knowledge of the ancients and how far back in time it could be scientifically justified (Ibid.:40,44).

All in all, the Stone Age builders must have represented the animal symbols at the site for important reasons. Either the representations were religious or totemic, artistic or scientific, at least a few of them were definitely nested in astronomy. Did the builders of Göbekli Tepe encode more than one meaning behind the carved imagery of their Noah’s Ark? Was it done deliberately? And was it intended to be deciphered and read by contemporaries at all if the site had been eventually buried? Or maybe it was to immortalize in stone a turning point in their history, such as the Great Flood or another cataclysm and its further consequences.

Bison in the great hall of polychromes, at Altamira Cave, Cantabria. Photo (2008)by Rameessos. Public domain. Source: “Franco-Cantabrian region” (2019) In: Wikipedia. The Free Encyclopedia.

Today, our insight into the zoomorphic world is guided by a set of fixed ideas, interpreting various animals in a strictly defined, though often ambiguous way, often by attributing to them human characteristics. We know this code from ancient myths, medieval bestiaries, fairy tales and legends. Did the builders of Göbekli Tepe used a similar key to the meaning of zoomorphic symbols before they eventually passed them on to later generations in the relief carvings on the ‘T’ shaped pillars? Or maybe their understanding of the menagerie was different from ours and it only survived to our times in distorted fragments over the span of thousands years.

Featured image: The so-called Vulture Stone in Gobekli Tepe, Turkey. Photo by Sue Fleckney (2013). CC BY-SA 2.0. Photo source: “Göbekli Tepe” (2020). In: Wikipedia. The Free Encyclopedia.

By Joanna
Faculties of English Philology, History of Art and Archaeology.
University of Silesia in Katowice, Poland;
Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University in Warsaw, Poland;
University College Dublin, Ireland.

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Scham S. (2008). The World’s First Temple. Archaeology, v. 61, no. 6, New York: Archaeological Institute of America, pp. 22-27.

Schmidt K. (2010). Göbekli Tepe—the Stone Age sanctuaries: new results of ongoing excavations with a special focus on sculptures and high reliefs. Documenta Praehistorica 37, pp. 239–56.

Schmidt K. (2012). Göbekli Tepe: A Stone Age Sanctuary in Southeastern Anatolia. Berlin: Ex Oriente.

Sweatman M. (2019). Prehistory Decoded.  UK: Troubador Publishing Ltd.

Verhoeven M. (2002). Ritual and Ideology in the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B of the Levant and southeast Anatolia. Cambridge Archaeological Journal 12, pp. 233–58.

Yeşilyurt M. (2014). Die wissenschaftliche Interpretation von Göbeklitepe. Die Theorie und das Forschungsprogramm. Berlin: LIT.

Sunk Island in the Sahara Desert

Only few ancient tales have ever triggered the human imagination as much as the story of Atlantis (Kosmiczne […] 2019). The idea that over 11 000 years ago an advanced civilization created by gods could have existed on Earth has long fascinated millions of people around the world (Ibid.).

Is the story of Atlantis a historical record?

The story of Atlantis was recorded by a famous Athenian philosopher, Plato (c. 428-348 BC) in his two works, the dialogues of Timaeus (c. 360 BC) and following it, Critias (left incomplete) (“Critias (dialogue)” 2020; “Timaeus (dialogue)” 2020). Although the former work merely includes an introduction to the story of the lost city, the latter gives its far detailed accounts (Ettington 2018:3-21). Nevertheless, the vast majority of scientists today consider the description of Atlantis purely a utopian story invented by the Greek author to present his political views (Kosmiczne […] 2019). Indeed, Plato recounts the story of the mighty Atlantis to show its failure in the face of the ordered society of the Athenians (“Critias (dialogue)” 2020).

Volume 3, pp. 32–33, of the 1578 Stephanus edition of Plato, showing a passage of Timaeus with the Latin translation and notes of Jean de Serres. Photo by Henri Estienne (1578). Public domain. Photo source: “Plato” (2020). Wikipedia. The Free Encyclopedia.

On the other side, however, the same scientists must admit that Plato’s description of the legendary city-continent is highly comprehensive and so it does not seem to be solely a made-up philosophical story just for the purpose of moralizing the society. It is enough to mention the accurate geographical location of Atlantis given by the author with all its detailed measurements to consider the question of its existence. Moreover, Plato continuously highlights in his records that the story of Atlantis is true and he even provides his readers with the exact time of its destruction by floods, which is in fact a geologically destructive episode in the Earth history (Hancock 2020).

“[A] tale which, though strange, is certainly true, having been attested by Solon, who was the wisest of the seven sages”.

Plato, Timaeus

For some, Atlantis may only be a fiction but it should be taken into account that other legendary cities, such as Troya or Dwarka, had also been once thought as only myths until they were eventually discovered (Kosmiczne […] 2019). As much as all the facts about Atlantis are acknowledged, its phenomenon deserves more academic attention. 

From generation to generation

How did Plato hear about the continent having existed thousands of years before he was born? The author refers to Solon’s oral accounts (Kosmiczne […] 2019; Ettington 2018:3-5). Solon was Plato’s ancestor and an Athenian legislator and statesman, who lived two hundred years before the Greek Philosopher, at the turn of the seventh and sixth centuries BC (Kosmiczne […] 2019; Ettington 2018:3-4). After introducing reforms in the state of Athens, Solon travelled to Egypt, where he learned the history of Atlantis from an Egyptian priest (Kosmiczne […] 2019). Plato does not mention the priest’s name, but the famous historian Plutarch (46–120 AD) records in his work, La vita di Solone, that it was Sonchis of Sais (Ibid.). According to Plato, the Egyptian priest unrevealed to Solon the story of Atlantis (Ibid.), which was originally written down on the walls of the temple of Sais (Hancock 2020). The Delta City of Sais is actually the Greek name for the Egyptian city of Sau (Current World Archaeology 2009). Now it is an archaeological site but it used to be a great and old city of the Pharaonic Era (Ibid.). It is mostly known from the records of the Greek historian, Herodotus (484 – c. 425 BC), who enthusiastically describes Sais as a great city, brimming with colossal temples, statues and splendid kings’ tombs (Ibid.). Such a royal city must have preserved ancient records and history.

Ruins of Sais. Photo by Lepsius Projekt (2011). Public domain. Photo source: “Sais, Egypt” (2020). In: Wikipedia. The Free Encyclopedia.

Why did the Egyptian priest share the story of Atlantis? His reasons are unknown but from Plato’s accounts on Atlantis, contemporary Egypt was one of Atlantis’ colonies and so the Dynastic Egypt must have  preserved much information referring to the lost continent (Ettington 2018:4-5). Since Solon’s return to Athens, the story had been passed down from generation to generation until it reached the ears of Plato, who examined it in his youth to finally write it down (Ettington 2018:4; Kosmiczne […] 2019).

Continent, empire, island … and capital city

After the Egyptian accounts, and then Plato’s written records, Atlantis was once an advanced civilization that was destroyed 9,000 years ago (Kosmiczne […] 2019).

“This power came forth out of the Atlantic Ocean, for in those days the Atlantic was navigable; and there was an island situated in front of the straits which are by you called the Pillars of Heracles; the island was larger than Libya and Asia put together, and was the way to other islands, and from these you might pass to the whole of the opposite continent which surrounded the true ocean; for this sea which is within the Straits of Heracles is only a harbour, having a narrow entrance, but that other is a real sea, and the surrounding land may be most truly called a boundless continent. Now in this island of Atlantis there was a great and wonderful empire which had rule over the whole island and several others, and over parts of the continent, and, furthermore, the men of Atlantis had subjected the parts of Libya within the columns of Heracles as far as Egypt, and of Europe as far as Tyrrhenia”.

Plato, Timaeus

According to Plato, the legendary land was once located behind the Pillars of Hercules, that is to say, in the Atlantic Ocean, behind Gibraltar (Kosmiczne […] 2019). The name Atlantis itself has a triple implication and simultaneously stands for the capital city, the main island and the great state or even a continent; the capital city was situated on the main island, which was in turn an integrative part of the landmass, peninsulas and islands in the Atlantic Ocean to form the whole empire of Atlantis, not to mention its colonies (Alexander, Rosen 2011; Alexander 2018).

Athanasius Kircher‘s map of Atlantis, placing it in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, from Mundus Subterraneus 1669, published in Amsterdam. Photo by Athanasius Kircher (1664). Public domain. Photo source: “Atlantis” (2020). In: Wikipedia. The Free Encyclopedia.

As the story goes, the whole domain of Atlantis, including its numerous provinces, extended in the north towards Gades, which name sounds like the modern city of Cadiz, in southern Spain (Alexander, Rosen 2011).

“To [Atlas’] twin brother, who was born after him, and obtained as his lot the extremity of the island towards the Pillars of Heracles, facing the country which is now called the region of Gades in that part of the world, he gave the name which in the Hellenic language is Eumelus, in the language of the country which is named after him, Gadeirus”.

Plato, Critias

The region referred to by Plato as ‘controlled by Atlanteans’, which stands for its dependencies, means the territory of the modern Mediterranean world (Alexander 2018), namely: “Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Malta, Mallorca, Menorca, Ibiza, Sardinia, Corsica, Sicily, southern Spain, southern France, southern Italy” (Ibid.). At that time, the region of other adjacent countries, notably Greece, stayed outside the sphere of Atlantis’ influence (Ibid.). Possibly hence the military actions between the Atlanteans and Athenians broke out.

Poseidon’s realm

During the gods’ division of the Earth, the region of Atlantis fell to Poseidon (Kosmiczne […] 2019). Wishing to make Atlantis safe, he surrounded it with concentric ramparts and moats (Ibid.). Then, the Atlanteans built a great city based on these fortifications (Ibid.). On a hill, in the centre of the island, they constructed a royal palace with a Temple of Poseidon inside its walls (Ibid.). Within it, there was a giant golden statue of the god (Ibid.). Apart from it, there were also numerous temples and recreation areas in the city, and a powerful fleet of ships in the port open to the south, into the Ocean (Ibid.). High mountains to the north protected the inhabitants from the frosty winds (Ibid.). Herds of wild and tamed animals grazed in the meadows, among the streams of lakes (Ibid.). Plato in his description states that Atlantis was ruled by five pairs of Poseidon’s twins who were born from a mortal woman (Ibid.) (once again, there is described an intercourse between a deity and a human female; see: Gibbor in the Louvre). Accordingly, Atlantis was divided into ten provinces (Ibid.). Each of Poseidon’s descendant had ruled over them in peace until their human factor prevailed over the divine and pushed the state into collapse (Ibid.).

In search of the legend around the Globe

Despite the fact that Atlantis is regarded as a myth by mainstream historians, independent authors and researchers  have been looking for a real source of the legend for centuries, which in a way contributed to the development of various fields of science, such as geography, archaeology or geology, and consequently expanded human knowledge about the formation of continents, the nature of the seabed, or about ancient civilizations in general (Kosmiczne […] 2019).

A map showing the supposed extent of the Atlantean Empire, from Ignatius L. Donnelly’s Atlantis: the Antediluvian World, 1882. Photo by Ignatius Donnelly (1882); cropped by Beyond My Ken (talk) (2010) (This image is available from the United States Library of Congress’s Prints and Photographs division. Public domain. Photo source: “Atlantis” (2020). In: Wikipedia. The Free Encyclopedia.

According to some sources, there have been more than twenty-seven sites studied as potential locations of the circular city of Atlantis (Ettington 2018:23). The Greek islands of Thera and Crete[1] (see: The World Ended When Gods Turned against the Minoans), and an Italian Sardinia[2] and Malta were mentioned, among others (Ettington 2018:23-25; Kosmiczne […] 2019). However, Plato clearly states that the lost city was beyond the Straits of Gibraltar (‘Gates of Hercules’) (Ettington 2018:25; Kosmiczne […] 2019). Thus, Atlantis was also connected with the Canary Islands, Madeira and the Azores[3] (Ettington 2018:25-26; Kosmiczne […] 2019). Some researchers have equally speculated that Atlantis may have actually been an ice-free Antarctica[4], or it may have been located in the Caribbean (Bermuda, Cuba)[5] or South America, in the Andes[6] (Ettington 2018:26-28; Kosmiczne […] 2019).  


[1] See: Gavin Menzies (2011) The Lost Empire of Atlantis: History’s Greatest Mystery Revealed.

[2] See: Alberino, T., Quayle, S. (2017) True Legends, Episode 3: Holocaust of Giants. GenSix Productions.

[3] See: Ignatius L. Donnelly (1882). Atlantis: The Antediluvian World.

[4] See: Graham Hancock (1996) Fingerprints Of The Gods.

[5] See: Paul Weinzweig and Pauline Zalitzki’s theory.

[6] See: Jim Allen (2009). Atlantis: Lost Kingdom of the Andes.

The real Atlantis

Myself, I have also chased down documentaries announcing to disclose the phenomena of Atlantis, but unfortunately, each of them has only finished with another promise that someday the mystery will be revealed, providing that more research is conducted. And here’s the rub! Mainstream Academia is hardly involved in the research dedicated to Atlantis as it considers it just as a moralistic tale, which cannot be found on a map. Even if such studies are undertaken, they are mostly carried out by alternative and independent researchers and authors. Huge budget at their disposal is a must; it is needed not only for the exploration of the subject but also for a dissemination of their theory. This is why some invaluable ideas and conclusions have hardly been ever heard by a larger public. A very similar situation occurred at the beginning of the twenty-first century, regarding another proposed location of Atlantis. This site is known as the Eye of the Sahara and has lately been called by some researchers the real Atlantis.

First, I learnt about the theory in English and I still remember how great impression made on me the sight of the newly proposed location of the legendary island …

The Eye of Africa aka Atlantis

In the English-language part of the Internet, the thesis linking the Eye of the Sahara with the lost continent was more recognizable long after the first decade of the twenty-first century but the first researchers who have connected the Eye of the Sahara with Atlantis documented their theory already in 2011 (Kosmiczne […] 2019). Those were George Alexander and Natalis Rosen (Ibid.). In their research and study trip to the site, they were both amazed at how the Eye of the Sahara resembles the description of Atlantis by Plato (Ibid.). The result of their studies is a self-recorded documentary, entitled Visiting Atlantis. Gateway to a Lost World (2011) (Ibid.). Seven years later, Jimmy from the Bright Insight Youtube channel became passionate about the topic, thanks to which the thesis gained greater popularity among English speaking public (Ibid.). In Poland, this topic was rather unknown and popularized only in 2019 by the Polish-language Youtube channel, Kosmiczne Opowieści (The Cosmic Tales) (Ibid.).

The Eye of the Sahara, aka Richat structure. Astronaut photograph ISS030-E-12516 acquired on December 17, 2011, and is provided by the ISS Crew Earth Observations Facility and the Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit, Johnson Space Center. The image was taken by a member of the Expedition 30 crew. The image has been cropped and enhanced to improve contrast, and lens artifacts have been removed. The International Space Station Program supports the laboratory as part of the ISS National Lab to help astronauts take pictures of Earth that will be of the greatest value to scientists and the public, and to make those images freely available on the Internet. Caption by Andrea Meado, Jacobs Technology, JETS Contract at NASA-JSC. Photo source: “Richat structure” (2011). In: NASA Earth Observatory.

I assume that not all the people in Poland are interested in the subject (as they do not have to be so). However, each time I mention to my acquaintances the site of the Eye of the Sahara and its potential connections to Atlantis, they are surprised that such a structure can be found on Earth at all. But this mysterious formation is, yet only discernible from the above.

Bull’s eye in the plain

As the Eye of the Sahara cannot be seen from the ground level, while one is walking around it, it was then well hidden from the public, also because it lies on the territory, which is not frequently visited by tourists or researchers (Ettington 2018:32; Kosmiczne […] 2019). Only an aerial view of the Eye of the Sahara (aka the Eye of Africa) was able to reveal a vast, crater-like geological structure (Kosmiczne […] 2019; “Richat Structure” 2020). It is located in the Northwest Africa, in the Sahara desert, within the state of Mauritania (Ibid.). Concentrically arranged circles in shades of yellow, brown, grey, together with blue on the edge, resemble the iris of the giant eye, from which the popular name of the formation derives (Kosmiczne […] 2019).

Space shuttle. People only learnt about the Richat structure, when humans were sent into space and took satellite photos. Photo by WikiImages (2011). Photo source : free images at Pixabay.

The Eye was also labelled Richât Crater or buttonhole (Ettington 2018:31). Today, the structure is formally known as the Richât or Guelb er Richât (“Richat Structure” 2020).

NASA photographs again reveal a wonder

The Eye was first noticed and depicted in the 1930s and 1940s, only with the help of the first space flights and NASA satellite photographs of the planet, which eventually showed this extraordinary structure in the Sahara desert (Ettington 2018:31-32; Kosmiczne […] 2019). By these means also other mysterious formations on the Earth were exposed and studied. One of the most famous is undoubtedly Ram Setu or Rama’s Bridge, connecting India and Sri Lanka (see: Ram Setu: Ape Engineer Builds a Bridge over the Sea).

Looking for a natural cause

For many centuries, scientists have studied the Eye of the Sahara as a geological structure. It was first believed that its circular shape had been caused by a meteorite impact (Ettington 2018:31; Kosmiczne […] 2019). However, the more closely the Eye of the Sahara was studied, the more the structure became a mystery (Ettington 2018:31-32; Kosmiczne […] 2019). An object (a meteorite) rushing at tens of thousands of kilometres per hour into the atmosphere and then hitting the planet leaves behind many elements that appear on the hit surface of the Earth (Kosmiczne […] 2019). These elements are missing in the case of Richât; for example, there is no trace of a characteristic central elevation, rocks affected by temperature and pressure, and damage around the alleged crater (Ibid.). The possibility of creating a structure by volcanic eruptions also seems unlikely, as it again lacks an eruptive cone and, above all, volcanic rocks (Ibid.).

Plato (left) and Aristotle (right) a detail of The School of Athens, a fresco by Raphael (1509–1511). Aristotle gestures to the earth while holding a copy of his  Nicomachean Ethics in his hand. Plato holds his Timaeus and gestures to the heavens. Public domain. Photo source: “Plato” (2020). Wikipedia. The Free Encyclopedia.

When a theory of an extra-terrestrial impact deformation was rejected, a closer study of the structure in the 1960s showed that it had been rather an effect of terrestrial processes, namely of a laccolithic thrust (Ettington 2018:31-32). Such an explanation was first considered and proposed by Richard-Molard in 1948 and it is also current today (Ettington 2018:31-32); the layered sedimentary rocks of the Eye of the Sahara are considered by geologists to be the final product of erosion that shaped the raised rock (Kosmiczne […] 2019). According to this theory, the process of formation of the Eye of the Sahara began when the giant super-continent Pangea that existed during the late Palaeozoic and early Mesozoic eras was disintegrating (Ibid.). It assembled from earlier continental units approximately 335 million years ago, and it began to break apart about 175 million years ago (Ibid.). The area of ​​today’s Western Sahara was then subjected to rapid seismic changes (Ibid.). From the deeper regions up, a huge drop of magma began to pierce the rock underneath (Ibid.). On the way, it melted and pushed the rocks without breaking into the surface (Ibid.). Such processes created something like an underground dome of rock (Ibid.). About 100 million years ago, there was a huge eruption and the dome partially collapsed (Ibid.). Since then, erosion has exposed successive layers of compressed rock, creating what today looks so majestic and mysterious (Ibid.). This is the most likely explanation for the Eye of the Sahara phenomenon (Ibid.), however, it is not fully understood even today (Ettington 2018:32).

Geology or the supernatural?

According to Plato, it was the god Poseidon who had created the circular formation. Geologists have been looking for purely scientific explanations for the existence of the structure in Africa, such as natural terrestrial (or extra-terrestrial) processes. Some researchers of Atlantis have reached a compromise suggesting that the Atlanteans must have adopted the natural, geological structure for their own use (Kosmiczne […] 2019). Who would believe in Greek gods as the driving force lying  behind such a formation? Nevertheless, the Richat’s astonishing symmetry makes it look like a nearly man-made structure (Alexander, Rosen 2011).

Undebatable analogies

Naturally, the peculiar appearance of the Eye of the Sahara could not be unnoticed  and was eventually linked to Atlantis (Kosmiczne […] 2019). With the twenty-first century, the mentioned researchers, George Alexander and Natalis Rosen (2011) studied the structure and compellingly decided that it closely resembles the description of Plato’s Atlantis (Kosmiczne […] 2019). Other propagators of the theory also reached similar conclusions (Ibid.).

Richat structure. Photo by Alejandro BGN (2019). Photo source: Google Maps (2020).

In the self-recorded documentary Visiting Atlantis. Gateway to a lost world (2011), the couple of researchers mentioned many similarities between Atlantis and structure in the Sahara (Kosmiczne […] 2019). The first and perhaps the key argument for the Eye of the Sahara as Atlantis refers to the appearance of the formation in Africa (Ibid.). Analyzing the appearance of this structure, it is easy to conclude that it is very similar to the description of the legendary city (Ibid.).

“Looking towards the sea, but in the centre of the whole island, there was a plain which is said to have been the fairest of all plains and very fertile. Near the plain again, and also in the centre of the island at a distance of about fifty stadia, there was a mountain not very high on any side. [Breaking] the ground, [Poseidon] inclosed the hill […], making alternate zones of sea and land larger and smaller, encircling one another; there were two of land and three of water, which he turned as with a lathe, each having its circumference equidistant every way from the centre, so that no man could get to the island, for ships and voyages were not as yet”.

Plato, Critias

Comparing this description to the appearance of the Eye of the Sahara, the similarity is striking (Kosmiczne […] 2019). Richât also consists of the central part of land and of concentric circles around it. (Ibid.). If the reconstructive appearance of Atlantis is compared to the Eye of the Sahara, they both look very similar (Ibid.). Plato describes two rings of land, between which there were three deeper rings filled with water (Ibid.). Exactly the same number of rings is seen in the grey and brown Eye of the Sahara: apart from its center, there are two brown circular ramps or shafts visibly protruding out of the surface, and three deeper circles lying alternately with those of the land (Ibid.). That part looks like a separate entity. Far beyond the center, aerial photographs also show the outlines of blue-like demi-circles of salty sediments, visible just from the east (“Richat structure” 2020). As such, the Eye of the Sahara is a very large structure (Kosmiczne […] 2019). Google Map shows that it measures approximately 40 kilometres in diameter (Ibid.).

Dimensions of the legend found on Earth

The question of the size of Atlantis is a very interesting matter (Kosmiczne […] 2019). Plato’s description shows that the concentric island with land and water levels measured 127 stadiums in diameter (Ibid.). However, the exact measurement of the stadium in relation to kilometres is problematic to establish (Ibid.). This unit had different dimensions in the ancient world (Ibid.). The difference could be as much as 20 meters, which would badly influence the final result of calculations (Ibid.).

The capital city of Atlantis located on the main island of the same name. Circled structure was made by Poseidon as described by Plato. Image by Jimmy (2018). In: Bright Insight. Photo source: Kettley S. (2018). “Atlantis FOUND? Conspiracist convinced THIS PHOTO proves location of lost city of Atlantis”. In: Express.co.uk.

The author of the Bright Insight channel, Jimmy, has used the stadium size used in Plato’s Athens, where 1 stadium is 185 meters, so 127 stadiums equal to 23,495 kilometres respectively (Kosmiczne […] 2019). When these dimensions are applied to the whole formation of the Eye of the Sahara, the entire structure is greater of about 16,5 kilometres in diameter (Ibid.). Nonetheless, researchers in favour of the thesis indicate that only the central unit of the concentric portion with the three levels of land and two deeper levels between them should be measured (Ibid.). The same number of levels is also given by Plato in his records of Atlantis, and his measurements given describe exactly such a structure (Ettington 2018:35). And if the width of the five successive rings of the Eye of Africa is measured, the obtained result ranges from 22 to 24 kilometres (Ibid.). Consequently, by using the Athenian unit of the stadium, the dimension of the Eye of the Sahara coincides with the description of Plato  (Ibid.). Moreover, the use of most of the stadium units applied in ancient Greece gives a result within the same limit (Ibid.). Such a similarity is highly puzzling (Kosmiczne […] 2019).

To the north and south of Atlantis

“The whole country was said by [Solon] to be very lofty and precipitous on the side of the sea, but the country immediately about and surrounding the city was a level plain, itself surrounded by mountains which descended towards the sea; it was smooth and even, and of an oblong shape, extending in one direction three thousand stadia, but across the centre inland it was two thousand stadia. This part of the island looked towards the south, and was sheltered from the north. The surrounding mountains were celebrated for their number and size and beauty, far beyond any which still exist, having in them also many wealthy villages of country folk, and rivers, and lakes, and meadows supplying food enough for every animal, wild or tame, and much wood of various sorts, abundant for each and every kind of work”.

Plato, Critias

Accordingly, the entrance or exit of the capital city of Atlantis was to the south, as it is in the case of the Eye of Africa, with its plain and almost deserted terrain descending towards the south (Ettington 2018:35).

A topographic reconstruction (scaled 6:1 on the vertical axis) from satellite photos. False colouring as follows: • Brown: bedrock • Yellow/white: sand • Green: vegetation • Blue: salty sediments. Photo by NASA/JPL/NIMA (2004). Public domain. Photo source: “Richat structure” (2020). In: Wikipedia. The Free Encyclopedia.

Whereas, to the north, the range of mountains surrounded Atlantis and shielded the city from the north winds (Ettington 2018:35; Kosmiczne […] 2019). Likewise, in the north of the Eye of the Sahara there are mountains (Ettington 2018:35; Kosmiczne […] 2019). Actually, they look quite impressive and, what is more, there are the riverbeds of ancient rivers, which are also mentioned by Plato (Ettington 2018:35; Kosmiczne […] 2019). This is therefore another argument in favour of the theory that the Eye of the Sahara may be the real location of the legendary Atlantis (Ibid.).

Fresh water in salty ocean of sand

“[Poseidon] himself, being a god, found no difficulty in making special arrangements for the centre island, bringing up two springs of water from beneath the earth, one of warm water and the other of cold, and making every variety of food to spring up abundantly from the soil.”

Plato, Critias

“In the next place, they had fountains, one of cold and another of hot water, in gracious plenty flowing; and they were wonderfully adapted for use by reason of the pleasantness and excellence of their waters. They constructed buildings about them and planted suitable trees, also they made cisterns, some open to the heavens, others roofed over, to be used in winter as warm baths; there were the kings’ baths, and the baths of private persons, which were kept apart; and there were separate baths for women, and for horses and cattle, and to each of them they gave as much adornment as was suitable. Of the water which ran off they carried some to the grove of Poseidon, where were growing all manner of trees of wonderful height and beauty, owing to the excellence of the soil, while the remainder was conveyed by aqueducts along the bridges to the outer circles”.

Plato, Critias

The authors of the documentary (Alexander, Rosen 2011) point out that the region of Richat is full of salt and wells producing just salt water, but in the central part of the structure there is one spring with fresh water (Kosmiczne […] 2019). Local inhabitants use this source for their everyday needs (Ibid.). Therefore, there is once again a surprising correlation to the description of Plato, where the author reports the presence of the source of water in the central part of the city (Ibid.) But such surprising links between the Plato’s story and the structure of Richat also appear in many other aspects.

For a continuation, see Looking in the Eye of Horus.

Featured image: Satellite picture of the Richat Structure (false colour). Photo by NASA/GSFC/MITI/ERSDAC/JAROS, and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team (2000). Public domain. Photo source: “Richat structure” (2020). In: Wikipedia. The Free Encyclopedia.

By Joanna
Faculties of English Philology, History of Art and Archaeology.
University of Silesia in Katowice, Poland;
Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University in Warsaw, Poland;
University College Dublin, Ireland.

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The Oldest Temple in the World and its Mystery

An ancient temple dated back to 10 000 BC. has been discovered in the Middle East (Conrad 2012). It was built when mankind was still in the Stone Age and before people discovered the so-called first signs of Neolithic human society: the pottery, writing, and the wheel (Ibid.). Consequently, its construction goes back long before the earliest great civilizations, like the Mesopotamians, the Egyptians, and the Minoans. Then who built it and why? (Ibid.).

Building archaeological recording underway in the southeast hollow (main excavation area) at Göbeklitepe (September 2018). The new permanent shelter provides visitors not only with unprecedented views of the excavated monumental buildings but also allows them to get close to the archaeologists working at the site. The membrane canopy was designed by kleyer.koblitz.letzel.freivogel Architekten (with structural engineering by EiSat GmbH), btw. (see Donna Sink (2020). In: Archinect News). Photo and caption source: German Archaeological Institute (DAI). In: Jens Notroff (2018) “Visitors back at the ruins again”. In: German Archaeological Institute (DAI) (2020). The Tepe Telegrams. News & Notes from the Göbekli Tepe Research Staff.

This is the story of Göbekli Tepe and its bewildering imagery.

From evolution to revolution

As it has been always taught, human species had evolved very slowly (Conrad 2012). For millennia, people had managed to survive by hunting and gathering their food till around 10 000 BC., when something extraordinary happened: their development strangely speeded up and in a comparatively short period of time people achieved the highlands of their development (Ibid.).

The location of Göbekli Tepe on the map, near the large nearby modern city of Şanlıurfa. Source : documentary shot from Kevin Burns (2017) “Return to Gobekli Tepe”. In: Ancient Aliens, Season 12, Episode 16. Prometheus Entertainment.

What was it that made humankind change so drastically? (Conrad 2012). After scholars, the turning point in human history was the Neolithic Revolution, namely having learnt how to farm and produce food instead of gathering or hunting (Ibid.). The theory is that farming allowed people to settle down, then develop religious systems and finally build temples to gods (Ibid.). Subsequently, simple settlements grew to cities and then into powerful civilisations, which developed around 3 000 BC (Ibid.). Without having to hunt or gather for every meal, people  had more time to evolve out of the Stone Age (Ibid.). According to the traditional thinking, such complex structures as Göbekli Tepe could hence be only planned and built by already well-established agricultural communities, according to the following scheme: the Neolithic farming and settlement encouraged religious practices, which in turn led to temples building and a successive development of cities (Ibid.). So much about the theory …

From the theory to archaeological evidence

With the appearance of Göbekli Tepe, the traditional thinking has been turned on its head (Conrad 2012). An American archaeologist, Dr Jeffrey I. Rose, an expert on early human history and stone age technology, admits that “what has been found in [the southern-east Anatolia is] incredible as it puts a whole new spin on human cultural evolution” (Ibid.). As shown by archaeological finds, the builders of the site were not farmers at all but they were still hunter-gatherers (Ibid.). This is why the site is so controversial, and for this reason it upends the conventional view of the growth of civilisation (Ibid.).

Hunter-gatherers. Photo cropped. Source: Archaeology Newsroom (2020) .In: Archaeology & Art.

According to well-established stereotypes, hunter-gatherers are usually seen as a kind of mumbling primitives. Slavishly devoted to their survival and basic instincts, devoid of higher skills, feelings or religion, these people were able to produce artistic, architectural and sacral masterpiece unknown in the academic world before the discovery of Göbekli Tepe. Dr Rose (Conrad 2012) admits his own surprise, saying: “It’s like discovering that a three-year-old child built the Empire State Building out of toy bricks” (Ibid.). The same opinion is shared by Hassan Karabulut, associate curator of the Urfa Museum: “They had barely emerged from the most basic way of life” (Scham 2008:23) he says,’ amazed that nomadic peoples were able to organize such a large labour force (Ibid.:23).  

Never-ending studies

The site was first mentioned in 1963, in a survey carried out by Istanbul University and the University of Chicago (Benedict 1980). American archaeologist, Peter Benedict identified lithics collected from the surface of the site as belonging to the Aceramic Neolithic (Schmidt 2011:917) but misidentified the upper parts of the ‘T’-shaped pillars for grave markers, postulating that the prehistoric phase was overlain by a Byzantine cemetery (Batuman 2011; Andrews 2016).

The upper part of the ‘T’ – shaped pillar protruding out of the ground. Source : documentary shot from Kevin Burns (2017) “Return to Gobekli Tepe”. In: Ancient Aliens, Season 12, Episode 16. Prometheus Entertainment.

“The hill had long been under agricultural cultivation, and generations of local inhabitants had frequently moved rocks and placed them in clearance piles, which may have disturbed the upper layers of the site” (“Göbekli Tepe” 2020). With time, attempts had been made to cut up some of the pillars, likely by farmers who thought they were ordinary large boulders (Curry 2008; see “Göbekli Tepe” 2020).

Sites with similar ‘T’-shaped pillars from the Pre-Pottery Neolithic (PPN). Photo by Arekrishna (2017). CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: “Göbekli Tepe” (2020). In: Wikipedia. The Free Encyclopedia.

Although archaeological research at Göbekli Tepe has been carried out since the early 1960s, only in 1994 the site emerged as the world’s first temple with an amazing discovery of  mysterious statues (Conrad 2012).

In 1994, on a nearby hill, a Kurdish shepherd had noticed a strange outline of a stone sticking out of the ground (Burns 2010). He turned out to be more interested in the find than his countrymen who discerned the protruding boulders before him, and began digging around the stone (Ibid.). Soon he discovered below a six-meter shaft (Ibid.). It had a regular structure and there was a relief showing an unknown animal (Ibid.) (see:). Thorough examinations confirmed that the stone was processed by a talented stonemason who used sophisticated tools (Ibid.). When the scholars found out about the accidental discovery, they were sure that the Shepherd had discovered one of the most important structures in the history of archaeology (Ibid.). In the same year, regular excavations began.

The team of archaeologists led by Professor Klaus Schmidt of the German Archaeological Institute started their regular work at Göbekli Tepe in 1995, in collaboration with the Şanlıurfa Museum, and soon unearthed the first of the huge ‘T’-shaped pillars (Curry 2008; Noren 2020; see “Göbekli Tepe” 2020). Schmidt writes that “as soon as [he] got there and saw the stones, [he] knew that if [he] didn’t walk away immediately [he] would be [tere] for the rest of [his] life” (Knox 2009), which eventually happened. Having found stone structures at Göbekli Tepe similar to those unearthed before at Nevalı Çori (Turkey), Schmidt recognized the possibility that the monuments are prehistoric and culturally related to other archaeological sites in the region (“Göbekli Tepe” 2020; see Noren 2020).

Photo (2016) of Klaus Schmidt (11 December 1953 – 20 July 2014); a German archaeologist who led the regular excavations at Göbekli Tepe from 1995 to 2014. Photo source: Oliver Dietrich (2016) “Göbekli Tepe – The first 20 Years of Research”. In: German Archaeological Institute (DAI) (2020). The Tepe Telegrams. News & Notes from the Göbekli Tepe Research Staff.

Since then, there have been multitude of various studies carried out at the archaeological site of Göbekli Tepe, which became extremely famous for its unique megalithic constructions. As such, it has attracted an international attention of scholars and researchers keen to discover its well-hidden secrets, especially by means of research on the iconography of the Neolithic in the Southeastern Anatolia. Yet before Göbekli Tepe was uncovered, scholars from around the world had become very attracted to the Neolithic period of the region, especially with broad excavations started at the site of Çatalhöyük in 1960s.

Hill of the Navel

The site of Göbekli Tepe is situated on top of a hill that is the highest point of the Urfa Plain in Turkey, with the Taurus Mountains to the north and east, and the Harrain Plain to the south. Turkey itself is an ancient land that bridges Europe and Asia (Conrad 2012). It is also a part of the Fertile Crescent – a swathe of the Middle East and Africa that includes modern Egypt, Israel, Syria and Iraq (Ibid.). In this green belt humans are believed to have first settled and the world’s earliest civilizations to have arisen around 3 000 BC.

Area of the Fertile Crescent, circa 7500 BCE, with main sites. Göbekli Tepe is one of the important sites of the Pre-Pottery Neolithic period. The area of Mesopotamia proper at this time was not yet settled by humans. Photo by GFDL (2019). CC BY-SA 3.0. Source: “Göbekli Tepe” (2020). Wikipedia. The Free Encyclopedia.

In Turkish, the name Göbekli Tepe means ‘hill of the navel’ and to the anthropologists, such as Sandra Scham (2008:27), this is “the metaphor of a human birth to describe the creation of the world.” After her interpretation, the name of the site seems significant itself as by its name it refers to such sacred ‘navels’ as Cusco in Peru, Easter Island and Delphi in Greece (Ibid.:27). Local people believe the hill to be sacred as well (Conrad 2012).

Four stone circles

Ground penetrating radar has allowed to estimate the size of Göbekli Tepe to 300 by 300 metres (Conrad 2012). Professor Schmid and his team have so far excavated four huge stone circles, labelled as A, B, C, and D (Conrad 2012; Busacca 2017). They measure roughly from 10 to 30 metres in diameter (Ibid.). Each one is surrounded by a high stone wall, broken by intervals by large ‘T’-shaped pillars (Ibid.). In the middle of each, there are two massive monoliths up to five and a half metres tall (Ibid.). These enclosures are not analogous to any other existing archaeological structures in the world (Ibid.).

Göbekli Tepe. The main excavation area in the southeastern area of the mound in an aerial photograph by Erhan Kucuk and a schematic map with pillar numbering. Courtesy of the German Archaeological Institute, DAI. Source: Gesualdo Busacca (2017:317). “Places of Encounter: Relational Ontologies, Animal Depiction and Ritual Performance at Göbekli Tepe”. In: Cambridge Archaeological Journal, v. 27, issue 2, pp. 313-330.

Professor Schmid knew that the site has covered many more enclosures than just the unearthed four (Conrad 2012). The map generated from the ground penetrating radar survey reveals that there are at least other sixteen circular structures still buried beneath the hill, and some of them are situated much deeper than the uncovered four (Ibid.). These are hence the oldest enclosures of all, dated back to as far as 13 000 BC, which is the end of the last Ice Age (Ibid.).

Although only a small part of  Göbekli Tepe has been unearthed, it can be concluded that it was built in two successive stages (Busacca 2017:316). The first structures excavated there were erected as early as 10 000 B.C., that is to say in the early Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (Ibid.:316). Whereas the later remains are dated back to the later Pre-Pottery Neolithic B, and strangely they are much less sophisticated than the earliest structures which contain most of ‘T’ shaped pillars covered in zoomorphic sculpture (Ibid.:316). The earliest enclosures were built on the bedrock into slots only about ten centimetres deep (Conrad 2012). The builders set two central monoliths up to five and a half metres tall and carved from a single piece of stone, weighing up to fourteen and a half of tons (Ibid.).

Enclosure D of Göbekli Tepe. Photo by Nico Becker, DAI. Photo source: German Archaeological Institute (DAI) (2020). “The Site” In: The Tepe Telegrams. News & Notes from the Göbekli Tepe Research Staff.

Around the two monoliths, the masons then built a wall of stones and mortar, nearly two metres tall (Ibid.). Set into the wall, there are smaller ‘T’ – shaped pillars between three and five metres high and weighing up to ten tons (Ibid.). Now disintegrated, there is the portal stone and apparently it was an entrance to the enclosure (Ibid.). Once incorporated vertically into the wall, it was carved from a single piece of stone, like pillars, and weighs several tons (Ibid.). Carving these huge sown blocks would have required considerable skills and some knowledge of geology as well (Ibid.).

More advanced technically than later constructions …?

Göbekli Tepe is a much more elaborated structure than Stonehenge, even if it apparently predates the British megaliths by about 6 500 years (Scham 2008:23; Conrad 2012). To build a place like this, Stone Age people would have required a pretty sophisticated level of organization, especially a well-coordinated workforce of stonemasons, diggers, quarry-men, and hundreds of people to drag the stones up and set them in place (Conrad 2012). Together with his colleagues, Klaus Schmidt estimates “that at least 500 people were required to hew the ten to fifty ton stone pillars from local queries, move then from as far as a quarter-mile [over four hundred metres] away, and erect them” (Scham 2008:26). Moreover, according to the theory of the Neolithic Revolution, people had not yet domesticated packed animals at that time to make them assist and so speed up the construction of the stone circles (Conrad 2012). So how did they manage to build something so monumental before they even discovered how to make a clay pot? (Ibid.).

Göbekli Tepe. Main excavation area with monumental Pre-Pottery Neolithic (PPN) A enclosures. Photo by Nico Becker, DAI. Photo and caption source: German Archaeological Institute (DAI) (2020). “The Site” In: The Tepe Telegrams. News & Notes from the Göbekli Tepe Research Staff.

In the quarry from where the stone was acquired, there is apparently one unfinished monolith of seven metres long (Conrad 2012). It is believed that by using granite picks, the Stone Age masons roughly carved it out as it is still in the bedrock (Ibid.). To remove it, they were likely to use primitive levers and a fulcrum (the point against which a lever is placed, on which it turns or is supported) They may have positioned the fulcrum at the front, and then the levers went over it. By these means, the masons were prying the boulder up (Ibid.). A crack on the stone, which is visible today, would suggest the monolith was broken while being lifted up (Ibid.). Having separated the blocks of stone from the bedrock, the builders may have transported them up to the hill by the method described as “rowing on land”; one can imagine people, instead of sitting inside the boat, standing outside it, and pushing down on the leaver and then pulling back on it and so the boulder would be moved forward (Ibid.). Around fifty people would be possibly needed to complete the task (Ibid.). Has this method been ever tried out with a real fourteen-ton (or heavier) block of stone? Is the number of fifty men able to crowd at once around the boulder, which is 15 metres long?

What was the site used for?

The site does not have its counterpart elsewhere, which makes it the oldest man-made construction yet discovered in the world (Conrad 2012). As such it constitutes highly significant monument to be studied (Ibid.). Schmid claims that “the site could not definitely have served for a daily life” (Ibid.). He has worked on other prehistoric sites in Turkey and he says that the structures of Göbekli Tepe do not resemble any kind of clustered dwellings that Stone Age people built (Ibid.). The temple sits on the hill with no direct access to water so people had to carry their food and drink up there, which means they could not stay at the site very long (Ibid.). They had to live elsewhere, possibly on the place of the modern city of Şanlıurfa (ancient Edessa), around fifteen kilometres away (Ibid.).

Göbekli Tepe site during excaviations. Photo by Klaus-Peter Simon (2012). CC BY-SA 3.0. Source: “Göbekli Tepe” (2020). In: Wikipedia. The Free Encyclopedia.

Most archaeologists believe that if the monumental sculpted pillars of Göbekli Tepe show the representations of gods, it is likely to consider the site as some kind of a sanctuary (Ibid.). If so, it would have been the oldest temple in the world (Conrad 2012).

Shrinking temple

Despite various studies, Göbekli Tepe’s function and the meaning behind its imagery still remain unknown (Conrad 2012). The mystery deepens by the fact that after the huge effort to build this extraordinary structure, the people who used it, then subsequently buried it (Ibid.).

The downfall of the oldest temple in the world is as mysterious as the religion it once served (Conrad 2012). For over a thousand years, the temple had occupied the central place in the cultural life of the region (Ibid.). People from hundreds kilometres away may have gathered there and used it as a ritual space (Ibid.). However, as the importance of agriculture grew in time, the temple’s role must have diminished (Ibid.). Thousands years after the large circular spaces with the massive monoliths were built, they were filled in and covered over (Ibid.). Instead, smaller structures were built on top of it (Ibid.). Consequently, it looks like Göbekli Tepe was being downsized: the enclosures had got smaller, the pillars progressively shorter and their number in the surrounding wall had dwindled until there were none (Ibid.). Finally, Göbekli Tepe disappeared in around 8 000 BC, buried beneath man-made hill (Ibid.).

Following the star

Each built circle of stones had been used for several hundred years and then filled in to be replaced by another one (Burns 2017). In total, the builders of Göbekli Tepe constructed twenty such circles – temples, which were different in size (Ibid.). Schmid claims that “it was a part of the program to erect such a circle to use it for some time but later to backfill it completely” (Conrad 2012). Hence the modern appearance of the site, which looks like a mount (Ibid.). It was because eventually all these mounds with covered temples became one big hill (Ibid.).

Cygnus constellation with the brightest star Deneb. Photo by Star Walk (2017).“A Gorgeous Quarter Moon meets Saturn, and the Swan’s Wings bear its Best Features!”. In: Medium.

An author, Andrew Collins, proposes an alternative, yet controversial, theory, according to which the builders constructed the successive temples for astronomical purposes (Burns 2017). Namely, the reason of the multiple rebuilding of the site would be to follow a particular celestial body (Ibid.).

Göbekli Tepe. Photo by Zhengan (2012). CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: “Göbekli Tepe” (2020). In: Wikipedia. The Free Encyclopedia.

Archaeoastronomy survey has shown that 11 500 years ago, the twin central pillars of the most impressive of so far unearthed circles, the Enclosure D, faced the Denab in the sky, which is the brightest star in the constellation of Cygnus (Burns 2017). When the alignments of other twin pillars of Göbekli Tepe were studied in reference to the same star, it turned out that the Stone Age builders apparently kept following the Denab by building successive enclosures as the star slowly moved along the local horizon (Ibid.). Hence the twin pillars within successive enclosures were deliberately aligned according to the star that the people of Göbekli Tepe were observing (Ibid.). As in the process of Precession, the position of stars change overtime in the sky, the builders also had to re-align their temple periodically, each several hundred years (Ibid.).

The downfall of the temple

Some scholars, including archaeologists and geologists, put forward a controversial thesis explaining why Göbekli Tepe eventually ceased to exist. Namely, the Stone Age site is believed to have been destroyed by the Great Flood, recorded not only by the Bible but also dozens of other ancient sources coming from different corners of the world (Burns 2014-2015). Robert Schoch, PhD. (Burns 2014-2015) believes that there is enough evidence supporting the thesis that a great disaster had taken place at the end of the period that marked the end of the Ice Age; as a result, the great pillars of Göbekli Tepe were overthrown and the damage to the temple must have been large and extensive. Attempts surely were made to rebuild it, but people eventually gave up and buried the whole place (Ibid.). Perhaps they wanted to return there one day or leave it for posterity (Ibid.). Or else the temple was naturally covered with earth yet during the Flood, the waters of which had carried huge amounts of soil and organic materials into and over the temple complex.

After Dr. Rose, the reason why the site ultimately disappeared may be possibly explained by the appearance of a sanctuary within the now flooded archaeological site of Nevalı Çori, which was situated around thirty kilometres away from Göbekli Tepe (Conrad 2012). It was a Stone-Age village with a small temple from around 8 000 BC. (Ibid.). A small square enclosure had similar architectural elements as Göbekli Tepe: thirteen stone pillars in its walls and two faceless monoliths in its centre, with arms and hands carved on (Ibid.). In this context, it is a smaller and localized version of the Stone Age cathedral at Göbekli Tepe, looking more like a village church (Ibid.). Dr. Rose says that sacred spaces showing up at that time coincided with the downfall of the Göbekli Tepe so local communities had started to build their own sacred spaces, when the central temple stared losing its importance (Ibid.).

Restoration of a typical interior of Catal Höyük dwelling. The Museum of Anatolian Civilizations, Ankara, Turkey. Copyright©Archaeotravel.

Another explanation of the abandonment of the site is that the descendants of Göbekli Tepe builders were no longer hunter-gatherers (Conrad 2012). They were farmers and they did not follow the religion of their ancestors per se but rather the ideas it represented (Ibid.). Their traces can be found at the archaeological site of Çatalhöyük (Turkey) – which is said to be one of the oldest cities, developed between 8 000 and 7 000 BC. (Ibid.). In a restored house of Çatalhöyük, there are the bull heads sticking out of the wall as much as zoomorphic representations carved on the pillars of Göbekli Tepe (Ibid.). Bulls must have meant large, scary and killing beasts for the society of Çatalhöyük (Ibid.). Bringing that animal power and violence inside the house was probably an attempt to tam it and to domesticate (Ibid.). It could be also a celebration of the animal’s strength or the hunt and prowess of the individuals (Ibid.). On the other side, the respect the Stone Age people had for wild and powerful beasts also hid their desire to conquer them (Ibid.). Accordingly, it seems that spiritual and physical story of Göbekli Tepe was spread far and wide (Ibid.).

Whatever the meaning of its symbolism was, the visible links to its imagery can be found at later sites throughout the region (Ibid.), which signifies it was truly important.

Many myths and legends claim that sophisticated cultures already existed at the very beginning of human civilization (Burns 2010). Robert Schoch, PhD. claims that there are various signs from all over the world that advanced societies had developed much earlier than previously thought (Ibid.). The discovery of Göbekli Tepe is hence completely contradictory to the current view of the slow evolution of civilization (Ibid.). Interestingly, since the archaeological digs started on site, neither a single tool for stone processing nor human remains have been found (Burns 2010; 2017). The former lack contradicts the sophisticated carving created on site, whereas the latter excludes Professor Schmid’s theory of Göbekli Tepe as a burial complex (Burns 2017). It was not either a domestic settlement (Ibid.). An archaeologist, Paul Bahn, PhD., claims that when something in archaeology is incomprehensible, given finds are usually assigned ritual significance but these are pure speculations (Ibid.). Taking into account such facts, will the discovery of Göbekli Tepe radically change the world view of the beginning of human civilization? (Ibid.) Is the find of Göbekli Tepe the missing evidence that mankind’s strangest myths about lost civilizations can be based on facts? (Ibid.)

Featured image: “Göbekli Tepe, Şanlıurfa”. Photo by Teomancimit (2011). CC BY-SA 3.0. (Image cropped). Source: “Göbekli Tepe” (2020). Wikipedia. The Free Encyclopedia.

By Joanna
Faculties of English Philology, History of Art and Archaeology.
University of Silesia in Katowice, Poland;
Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University in Warsaw, Poland;
University College Dublin, Ireland.

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