What were the pillar buildings of Göbekli Tepe for?
Most likely: the enclosures were roofed communal and ritual buildings within a permanent hunter-gatherer settlementAhead on the evidence, not yet confirmed. It needs two reviews to be accepted.
Where it stands
Five answers have been proposed. The enclosures were roofed communal and ritual buildings within a permanent hunter-gatherer settlement. leads, with evidence 4 for, 1 against: partly supported by its tests. Four are still possible. Of the three narrower questions under it, none is answered yet.
Why it matters
The site's fame rests on Schmidt's claim that these are the world's first temples, built by hunter-gatherers before farming and before villages[1]. If they were instead communal houses inside a settlement, the story of how monumentality, ritual and farming relate in the Neolithic changes[2][3].
Answers 5
History
- Schmidt puts forward: the enclosures were open-air sanctuaries used by mobile hunter-gatherers who did not live on the mound.
- Schmidt: central pillars 5.5 m tall with anthropomorphic reliefs, far larger than any PPN dwelling.For: The enclosures were open-air sanctuaries used by mobile hunter-gatherers who did not live on the mound.
- Banning puts forward: the enclosures were large roofed houses in a society that did not separate sacred from domestic space.
- Banning: lithics, bone and grinding tools from the fills look like settlement debris.For: The enclosures were large roofed houses in a society that did not separate sacred from domestic space.
- Dietrich et al.: whether the domestic buildings are contemporary with Enclosure D or later has not been shown in a published…Against: The enclosures were roofed communal and ritual buildings within a permanent hunter-gatherer settlement.
- Dietrich & Notroff: the enclosures lack the hearths, floors and installations found in PPN houses.For: The enclosures were open-air sanctuaries used by mobile hunter-gatherers who did not live on the mound.
- Kinzel & Clare: domestic buildings, rock-cut cisterns and more than 7,000 grinding stones are present on the mound.Against: The enclosures were open-air sanctuaries used by mobile hunter-gatherers who did not live on the mound.
- Kinzel: repairs, rebuilding, seismic damage and moved pillars show long use-lives.For: The enclosures were roofed communal and ritual buildings within a permanent hunter-gatherer settlement.
- Hürriyet Daily News: ordinary houses with small T-pillars exist at Karahan Tepe alongside much larger pillar buildings, so the two…Against: The enclosures were large roofed houses in a society that did not separate sacred from domestic space.
- Bianet: karahan Tepe combines pillar buildings with houses and was settled from about 9400 BC into the 8000s BC.For: The enclosures were roofed communal and ritual buildings within a permanent hunter-gatherer settlement.
- Gresky & Clare: two intact PPNB burials were found on the mound in settlement deposits.Against: The enclosures were open-air sanctuaries used by mobile hunter-gatherers who did not live on the mound.
- Gresky & Clare: intact burials in settlement deposits; scattered bone in the enclosures explained by deposits sliding…For: The enclosures were roofed communal and ritual buildings within a permanent hunter-gatherer settlement.
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