Thread by @SortedEagle

A recent archaeological dig in Turkey has turned the mainstream archaeological community on it’s head. Gobekli Tepe was excavated by Klaus Schmidt of the German Archaeological Institute. What has caused such disbelief among mainstream archaeological community is that this megalith is dated to be around 10,000 B.C, when human beings were still in the hunter gatherer phase [1]. Gobekli Tepe is approximately 12,000 years old and to give you some context, it is 7,000 years older than the Stone Henge!

Gobekli Tepe consists of large T-shaped pillars constructed in a circle. Each pillar is about 20 ft in height, weighs over 10 tons and has pictorial depictions of certain animals on them. Such as birds, snakes, foxes etc. There is no mainstream explanation of what these sculptures represent but I will provide my explanation of what these pictorials might depict.
Being brought up in the Hindu faith, I am quite familiar with some of the Vedic myths and legends. As I was looking and contemplating on some of the pictorials, I could not help but think how closely similar some of these pictures are to the Vedic stories.
In this blog, I will offer my perspective on the depictions on few of these pillars. I would like to remind you that I am not a Historian or an Archaeologist by profession. I simply offer my views as a curious person with an interest and passion for understanding our human history. I would also like to remind you that the mainstream explanation is non-existent still.

Take for example pillar 12, it consists of a wild boar with a circular hole right above its snout. When I first looked at this image, I immediately thought of the story of Varaha. A Vedic deity who is half man — half boar. The story goes as such, The Earth was submerged by the primordial ocean and Vishnu (The Supreme Lord) took on a half man — half boar form to lift the earth with his snout and between his tusks. When Varaha returned the earth/land to its original place, he ushered in a new era for humanity after the cataclysm/deluge [2].
If you take a closer look at the picture, you can also see five bird-like animals, which could represent the five Devas (lesser gods/angels) in the adjacent picture. These five Devas are called “Pancha Bhootas” (Five elements of creation), such as Sky, Air, Water, Fire and Earth. In the above symbolism, the Devas are paying homage to the Supreme after he saved the Earth and all life forms from the cataclysm.

This half man — half beast form also fits the pictorials on the pillar quite well because archaeologists think that the T-shaped structure of the pillar is anthropomorphic. The top T-pillar represents the head and the bottom T-pillar represents everything below the head. There are depictions of arms, fingers and loin cloth on the sides to represent a human-like being of some sort in a T-shaped form [3]. I interpret this, along with the animal carvings on the sides as a half man — half beast like deity which gives credence for it representing Vedic deities such as Varaha.
Another such example is pillar 43 in Gobekli Tepe, which depicts a bird-like deity and right below it (with a arrow head, left of the scorpion) is a snake. These characteristics are very similar with another popular Vedic deity named Garuda. Garuda is a half man-half bird deity who often acts as a vehicle mount of The Supreme being. He is also the enemy of the serpents and carries/wears a snake in Hindu iconography [4]. Garuda also cures people of snake bites and venom.

In Pillar 43, if you look closely at the bottom of the pillar, you can see the bird carrying a headless being with a penis (perhaps symbolizing a male deity). To me, the bird is being represented as a mount, just like Garuda. Garuda is also a solar deity who is sometimes ascribed as a charioteer to the Sun god. In the sculpture, the bird is holding a circular object and if this should represent the Sun, then this pillar may strongly depict the Vedic deity, Garuda.
You may be wondering, “How can the carvings from Gobekli Tepe, which is in South East Turkey, be connected with Indian myths and legends?”. The Vedic religion, language (Sanskrit), people and culture share their origins from the Proto Indo-European (PIE) family. PIE has it’s origins in Anatolia (Anatolian hypothesis) or Central Asia (Kurgan hypothesis), where Gobekli Tepe is situated. About 4000 years ago, some Proto Indo-European people migrated and settled in Northern India [5]. They also brought with them their religion, culture and language and ever since, has become an integral part of Hinduism.

It is no exaggeration to say that Gobekli Tepe rewrites human history. It was built by humans 11,600 years ago, when they were still in the hunter gatherer phase! Previously, archaeologist and anthropologists believed that hunter gatherers were incapable of such monumental and architectural feats, but yet Gobekli Tepe stands here with all it’s awe and mystery. It is 50 times the size of Stone Henge spanning across 20 acres! Mind you, this monument was built even before the invention of the wheel.
Mainstream archaeologists and anthropologists first believed that religion, megaliths and civilization was a by-product of settlement and agriculture. And the agricultural revolution was brought about when humans transcended from the hunter gatherer phase [7].

But what Gobekli Tepe tells us is, Religion and Megaliths came first! Religion and megaliths brought people together and this lead to settlements. To feed the new complex organizational structure, the hunter gatherers figured out agriculture, which then lead to civilization [7].

This is crazy! Something must have motivated them to undertake such a monumental task at such a primitive stage. The Vedic myths and legends are rife with cataclysmic events that wiped out most of humanity. Such as the story of Varaha, who ushered in a new beginning to humanity after a deluge, Matsya, who is connected with the flood myth and Dwaraka, The legendary lost city of Krisha which was consumed by the ocean. These stories evoke a sense of fascination for Hindus and I still remember my grandmother narrating these stories when I was a child.
Gobekli Tepe was built 11,600 years ago. The timeline of construction of this megalith is crucial. It was built soon after the end of the last ice age. This was followed by great climatic changes, global increase in temperature and rapid rise in sea levels. The inception of this event is called Meltwater Pulse 1A and it is described my paleoclimatoloists as a “Catastrophic rise event”. This was a global catastrophe witnessed by many populations all around the world [8].

Although archaeologist do not tie the construction of Gobekli Tepe to rapid rise in sea levels, I cannot help but connect these two events together. With the potential similarity between the symbolisms in pillars of Gobekli Tepe and Hindu iconography, the migration patterns of the Proto Indo-Europeans, and the abundant stories about floods in Vedic myths and legends, I believe these two events occur in relation, with more than just a mere coincidence.
Currently, mainstream archaeologists and anthropologists do not have an explanation for the symbolism in Gobekli Tepe, since only 5% of the megalith is excavated. The purpose of this blog is to offer a Vedic perspective for these carvings and offer a new line of research into Gobekli Tepe.
We Hindus believe that our stories are deeply rooted in antiquity but we never had a context to some our myths and legends. Perhaps Gobekli Tepe could offer us context, just as how our stories can offer an explanation for Gobekli Tepe.

Prediction:
We see that there are strong connections between the carvings in Gobekli Tepe (and its sister sites) with the Vedic symbolisms. If this connection is true, we may excavate an enclosure with fish carvings on T-shaped pillars. In the Vedic myths, The Supreme takes on the first avatar as a fish [9], where he warns Manu (The primordial man) of an impending cataclysmic flood and instructs him to build a boat and rescues him along with the seven sages. That enclosure will contain details of the flood myth.
Credit : Gautham V Reddy.

Located in the Germuş mountains of south-eastern Anatolia, this property presents monumental round-oval and rectangular megalithic structures erected by hunter-gatherers in the Pre-Pottery Neolithic age between 9,600 and 8,200 BCE. These monuments were probably used in connection with rituals, most likely of a funerary nature.

Distinctive T-shaped pillars are carved with images of wild animals, providing insight into the way of life and beliefs of people living in Upper Mesopotamia about 11,500 years ago. But they match more with the Hindu civilisation carvings.

Göbekli Tepe, regarded as one of the world’s oldest archaeological ruins discovery and its oldest temples, was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2018 under the following criteria (i): to represent a masterpiece of human creative genius, (ii): to exhibit an important interchange of human values, over a span of time or within a cultural area of the world, on developments in architecture or technology, monumental arts, town-planning or landscape design and (iv): It is an outstanding example of a type of architectural ensemble which illustrates a significant stage in human history. Again it’s very similar to the ancient texts in Hindu scriptures that explain the advanced civilisation of Bharat.

The distinctive and well-known T-shaped (anthropomorphic) pillars from Göbekli Tepe were carved from quarries in the adjacent limestone plateau using stone and bone tools. They match with the ancient Indian tools that go back to maybe Mohanjodaro.

Excavations and research under way since the mid-1990s also provide a more balanced and detailed view of the relationship between the various aspects of usage and the prehistoric importance of the property.

Building B is located in the Main Excavation Area/Southeast-Hollow. It has a round ground plan and measures approximately 10 metres in diameter. A total of seven T-shaped limestone pillars have so far been discovered set into its circular wall. The two central T-pillars bring the total number of monoliths in this building to nine. However, as the building is not yet completely excavated, further pillars might appear in the future. The floor of the building was excavated over several square metres in the area between the two central pillars. The floor of this building is made of a lime mortar or plaster. The inner-facing broad sides of the two central pillars carry depictions of life-size foxes (in low relief).

Rear view of a T-shaped pillar from Building B with the low reliefs of a predator and a snake.

A high relief of a big cat from building C worked on T-shaped pillar, below a depiction of a wild boar, dichotomy of hunter and prey is tried to be described in this scene.

Eastern central Pillar from Building D. The anthropomorphic characteristics of the T-pillar (arms, hands on the stomach, belt and loincloth) are clearly visible. The pillar in the background carries depictions of wild animals and insects.

One of the most spectacularly adorned pillars at Göbekli Tepe is P43 in Building D. It is decorated on three of its sides. The west-facing broad side is the most lavishly decorated. It features animal depictions and abstract motifs.
Credit : This exhibit was created by Sanliurfa Tourism Development/UNESCO