The study showed that the temple complex "Puzaty Hill" in Southeastern Anatolia, built six thousand years before the English Stonehenge, was conceived as a single architectural project and created in accordance with a consistent geometric pattern.
The temple stone complex Gebekli Tepe, or "Pot-bellied Hill", whose age is estimated at about 11.5 thousand years, located in the region of Southeastern Anatolia (the territory of modern Turkey), is considered the most ancient megalithic cult structure discovered to this day and one of the most important Neolithic discoveries.
According to archaeologists, the construction of the temple began in the Mesolithic (Middle Stone Age) and continued for several thousand years. Scientists learned about the existence of the "Pot-bellied Hill" in the middle of the last century - and since then, its study has continued. Employees of Tel Aviv University and the Israel Antiquities Authority also take part in the research.
In a new paper published in the Cambridge Archaeological Journal, they report the discovery of a hidden geometric pattern in the building plan and the location of its monolithic columns and stone walls that connect them.
Gebekli Tepe, top view.
“Gebekli Tepe is an archaeological miracle,” said study leader Professor Avi Gofer. - Built by the Neolithic communities 11.5-11 thousand years ago, it consists of huge round stone structures up to 20 meters in diameter and monumental T-shaped columns up to five and a half meters high. Since there was no evidence of farming or animal domestication at the time, it is believed that the structure was built by hunter-gatherers. However, its architectural complexity is unusual for them."
Scientists used a computer algorithm to analyze the geometry of Gebekli Tepe, which helped them establish that three of the monumental concentric circles, the largest of which reach 20 meters in diameter, were originally planned as a single architectural project - in accordance with a consistent geometric pattern. So, if you connect them together, you get an equilateral triangle, while the volumes of the complex themselves are subject to the spatial hierarchy. Although most archaeologists believe that these structures were built at different times.
“The layout of the complex is characterized by a spatial and symbolic hierarchy that reflects changes in the spirit world and social structure,” explains Gil Haklai of the Israel Antiquities Authority. "In the study, we used an analytical tool - an algorithm based on a display of the standard deviation - to determine the underlying geometric pattern."
Promotional video:
The geometric pattern underlying the architectural layout of the Gebekli Tepe complex. The diagram is superimposed on the schematic plan.
As the authors of the study note, their work provides valuable data on the early development of architectural planning in the Levant (a common name for the countries of the eastern Mediterranean) and the world in general, since traditionally scientists believed that certain possibilities and methods of planning, such as the use of geometry and drawing up plans floors, arose much later than the period during which Gebekli Tepe was built.
“This case of early architectural planning can serve as an example of the dynamics of cultural change in the early Neolithic period,” adds Haklay. - The most important and basic methods of architectural planning were created in the Levant during the Late Epipaleolithic - as part of the Natufian culture - and the Early Neolithic. The new results show that architectural planning methods, abstract design rules and organizational models were already being used by the people of that era."
Now archaeologists are planning to move on to studying other Neolithic sites throughout the Levant.
Author: Maria Azarova