How to Support the Ancient Architects Channel: Subscribe to Back-Up Channel: www.youtube.com/@MattSibson Donate via Paypal: www.paypal.com/paypalme/ancientarchitects Become a channel member: kzitem.info/rock/scI4NOggNSN-Si5QgErNCwjoin Join my Patreon: www.patreon.com/ancientarchitects Follow me on X: www.x.com/mattsibson
@XXPYR0XX
10 күн бұрын
ur accent is unique. good video but why do you unnecessarily elongate your words. in my country if you talked like that people would give you weird looks. but the powers at be will halt any further excavation for later generations. archelogy is dead as we know it. halted for later generations after we are all dead.
@jamesfowley4114
10 күн бұрын
Is there a file available to print the part of the site like you have? I have an idea but would like to contemplate it much like you did.
@katherineevangelia11
10 күн бұрын
really really interesting. maybe you are right.
@user-yr5nv2gv7m
8 күн бұрын
11:16 what makes you think the natufians came before them? then where did they go and why?? it was the natufians, just like the 'home team' at jebel sahaba, at nabta playa, at gizah... those 'anatolian farmers' who supposedly colonised the whole atlantic coast and major rivers of eastern/central europe left orion symbolism absolutely nowhere... the even genetically related (shared 'north african' E1b1b1b (Haplogroup E-M81); formerly E3b1b, E3b2 Y chromosome haplotype) berbers/garamantes and dogons however, well pretty much everyone else with internet connection and inclination to interest in this scene knows well...
@russelbrown6275
8 күн бұрын
Hey maybe you can make some of your 3d models of the site for sale to the public.
@JFJ12
10 күн бұрын
I think it would be interesting to invite ordinary village Africans specialized in traditional clay buildings to inspect these structures and ask them what use these could have had. There are still many African villages thriving like in South Sudan etc. where the traditional way of building clay houses and huts and food storages are in use. Sometimes these African structures look way more 'simple' than these tepe things, but the way the roofs are constructed in an intricate manner vary very much from place to place and are an expression of local culture. I think these societies still share much in common with those of the tepe's and their insights might shed new lights and complete the whole picture.
@user-wb5rk5ox8q
9 күн бұрын
What a great idea!
@rtk3543
9 күн бұрын
Good idea, our 'modern' hi tech views often over think these structures and aren't always able to recognise basic practical designs.
@JFJ12
8 күн бұрын
@@rtk3543 In Kenya the art of traditional roof building has died out. If they now want to put a traditional roof instead of metal plates on their 'mudhouse', they have to hire in carpenters/roofers from nearby Uganda.
@Apollo1011
6 күн бұрын
@@JFJ12 I do believe the roof building still survives in the small village areas of Egypt where they still live a traditional lifestyle.
@jancvitkovic8144
10 күн бұрын
As an archeologist I think it is a water collection system. The most important thing for every community is water. Makes more sense, at least to me. The structure is carved in a bedrock, so it keeps the water. The roof (not the floor) is inclined, so the water is flowing probably to some kind of filter and then into a basin. Why roof? To keep the water clean (flying leafes, sand, etc.) (The pillars carvings hidden under the floor make no sense, since nobody could see them) There are also canals from the upper parts of the setlement leading to the basin. Or leading the water out of the basin, if the incline of the canal is oposite. Even today you can see water staying there! The lower hole in the structure wall is aproximately at the level of water surface in the basin (my assumption), so it must be the water delivery point for the people and maybe even for the animals. Simple as that. At least to me.
@knutblume907
10 күн бұрын
You can see in the pictures the structure stores 2 centimeters of water and has an entrance door at the lowest level.
@jancvitkovic8144
10 күн бұрын
@@knutblume907 of course 2 centimeters today, since the structure is damaged. Walls were once higher and plastered and the level of water much higher.. And who says that that hole is an entrance? I think it is an exit for water, the delivery point for the water, which coul be managed: closed or open.
@knutblume907
10 күн бұрын
@@jancvitkovic8144 Hmmm, a head under water is even more unthinkable than in a crawl space. Or it was their water deity. And a wooden roof above water molds like nothing else. I think more of a cave to consume mushrooms and for religious mambo jambo. Was it Freud talking about tunnel/cave building, the subconscious and male sexuality? The will to penetrate so to say?
@kongswethai3964
9 күн бұрын
@@knutblume907 or a gate...
@jeeppayton
8 күн бұрын
Just don't take into consideration all the megaliths set in your cisterns because they did that just for fun. How obtuse can you get?
@fransopdien2198
10 күн бұрын
I am a farmer in italy in the mountains we have huge watertanks made of cement, you can only grow something if you have a water storage for the dry season. Food storage is done above the soil, water in a hole the pillars are used for wooden beams, and covered with leaves and mud
@knutblume907
10 күн бұрын
Do you have an entrance door on the lowest level of your concrete tank and sculptures of human heads on the inside?
@kathykonkle1097
9 күн бұрын
@@knutblume907 Well, it's clearly NOT for some silly ceremony. It's obvious that it has a real purpose.
@knutblume907
9 күн бұрын
@@kathykonkle1097 Obvious? For you perhaps.
@aprilrainequineartistandph7845
9 күн бұрын
Root crops are stored underground. They tend to be high in starch that is essential for human life. Parsnips have been shown ,with infield research, to have good crops with just a few generations of selection from the wild European landrace. Many crops have probably died out through over harvesting and bad years. One such crop, probably a member of the celery family, which was a contraceptive for men and women, was over harvested to extinction ,and is mentioned a lot in historical documents.
@russelbrown6275
8 күн бұрын
@@aprilrainequineartistandph7845what a load of 💩. You must have asked chat gpt for that answer
@eliinthewolverinestate6729
10 күн бұрын
Ever dig a seep and have it stop seeping water. You go behind it to get water again. Water is important. Could be reason for the whole settlement.
@DCFloridasport
9 күн бұрын
Agreed. My theory is it was exactly that, a sediment tank that filtered spring water flowing into it and through it, just like countless sewage plants use to this day to filter waste from flowing water.
@kathykonkle1097
9 күн бұрын
@@DCFloridasport It resembles the Roman baths where they lit fires underneath the floor to heat the upper steam room.
@Sweetdibbs
8 күн бұрын
@@kathykonkle1097 how do you imagine the water was held if the pillars reach ground level? So where do you believe the separation was made from heat to water? There's no sign to indicate a separation barrier at the base of the pit/pillars..
@charlesblithfield6182
10 күн бұрын
The 3D printed physical model is so cool. The idea of this as an investigatory tool is great and IMO should be used more often. It’s far more revealing to hold and examine such a model as a real object as opposed to 3D rendering on a flat screen, but VR rendering/goggle exploration could be equally revealing.
@AncientArchitects
10 күн бұрын
Yep. The 3D model is very cool. I can spend ages looking at it, trying to work things out
@lostpony4885
10 күн бұрын
@@AncientArchitectsif you pour a little water into the model something might appear to you.....
@jamesfowley4114
10 күн бұрын
Like the guy said in Close Encounters of the Third Kind, next time, try sculpture. 3d prints like that are an inexpensive way to see more clearly.
@DCFloridasport
9 күн бұрын
Instead of dry...think wet. That may be a settling tank for filtering sediment from the spring water that flowed from the spring that was once there. The water flowed into it and over the lip into that larger enclosure creating some sort of water supply for the settlement. The pillars were double duty, they created a slight restriction to the waters flow, and also supported a roof that covered the filtering system. Finally, the filtered sediment that accumulated was cleared out periodically was used as fertilizer and soil amendment. This type of sediment collection and removal is used to this day all over the world in even the most modern water filtering systems.
@DouglasPrime2024
10 күн бұрын
This is why i watch you. Great work!
@AncientArchitects
10 күн бұрын
Thank you
@theurbanghost
10 күн бұрын
+ 1 👍
@Eyes_Open
10 күн бұрын
I am supposed to be working. But I have no choice except to watch this video immediately.
@SquidzitAce
10 күн бұрын
I hope you're not a surgeon. 😵
@itsnot_stupid_ifitworks
10 күн бұрын
Same
@JonnoPlays
10 күн бұрын
This is the way
@jakhan4203
10 күн бұрын
Xxxx
@TopazBadger6550
10 күн бұрын
@@SquidzitAceEyes Open is a historian.
@solardisk3
10 күн бұрын
I think it's important to consider over the thousands of years the site was probably used for a lot of different things, restructured, and repurposed. I still think AA is a water spring that flowed into AB and covered like a cistern. All of these structures look like they're carved along a natural stone shelf where there may have been other spring features. Maybe later the spring dried up and AB was converted for grain storage. Maybe still later it became a religious initiation temple. It probably was ALL these things and much more.
@knutblume907
10 күн бұрын
There is little built over it. Otherwise nothing would have survived. The place was inhabited for a few generations and abandoned when the weather changed. Today the place lies in complete remote wasteland. No tree grows there naturally. No food no people.
@TGBurgerGaming
10 күн бұрын
This.
@kathykonkle1097
9 күн бұрын
@@knutblume907 Yes. Whatever it was it depended on water in some manner.
@--Singularity--
9 күн бұрын
I don´t see any point leaving 10 pillars there if you contain only water there. There´s not much rainfall on those areas and those times there were rivers..
@Sweetdibbs
8 күн бұрын
If the place had running or flowing water, wouldn't there be more erosion to be seen, indicating a higher presence of water in the specific area? That would be an easy figure in my opinion.
@chilledwalrus
10 күн бұрын
I think the most likely explanation was afforded by the recent team from the University of Toulouse in which it was surmised that enclosure AB was an ancient brew vat for the fermentation of barley reed wine. Traces of ingredients were in ratios suggestive of a product with about 10% alcohol. Other evidence notes the head’s (carved into the wall and protruding above the floor) expression is clearly inebriated. Also, note proximity to the communal enclosure. Buckets of the fresh brew could be easily integrated into the various ceremonies and offerings in the communal enclosure. There are channels carved into the bedrock, which were used to bring water to the vat. Clearly, much effort went into the work chains for the end product and further analysis is expected to reveal that the brew may have been used for medicinal purposes. All the physical evidence points to this new theory.
@randomisedrandomness
9 күн бұрын
And how would they drink it? They didn't have pottery. That chamber would easly get contaminated and grow mold after first use.
@morgan97475
9 күн бұрын
The world's oldest pub! I love it!
@chilledwalrus
9 күн бұрын
@@randomisedrandomness Good questions. They had vessels for transporting water made from hides, bladders, and woven reeds (water proofed with bitumen). It appears honey was used in the mixture, evidenced by trace enzymes, which have anti-bacterial and anti-mold properties allowing it to function as a preservative. Doubtless, they had many, many years to perfect the process.
@treestv9805
9 күн бұрын
Interesting theory. Some think that the ancient Sumerians formed permanent settlements to enable the brewing of barley beer. They loved beer and there are many written clay tablets many about it. It was women's work and required constant monitoring. The Egyptians loved beer too. Building labourers were paid in bread and beer. Alcohol is sterile and can be safer to drink than contaminated water.
@aquil3scach088
8 күн бұрын
Ancient bacus
@windfoil1000
10 күн бұрын
I'm glad to hear your hypothesis as I have felt the site's purpose was practical in nature from the start. I tried to imagine what processing may have occurred and I think you've hit the nail on the head with your thoughts. Food is of little use if you can't store it so this technology would have been essential to making any progress on securing future food supply. Good thinking.
@ancientoverland5387
9 күн бұрын
I always watch this channel before a workout, because whatever Matt says is always a stretch.
@ThatLadyBird
10 күн бұрын
A granary doesnt need to be water tight, ie dug out of solid bedrock...but a place to collect and store water does. Also there are clearly visible (water) channels from AA leading to the lower level AB 🤔 No doubt they stored grains and lots of other useful plants but they wouldve put it in an earthen pit or in an elevated area where the rodents couldnt reach it--not directly adjacent to their domestic/ritual area. A decade ago, I heard some Turkish archeologists hypothesize that they couldve been making beer in those large stone pits, so its possibly a water+grain=beer storage pit 🤷♀️
@jackwitkowski7818
8 күн бұрын
Fantastic video! I think, you are so close to discovering the purpose of this structure. There are many puzzles that fit together, and it was a place to store food. I think that water was also used for this, which was a coolant and forced air movement. Probably the water flowing through the channel, flowed into the interior under the floor, thus lowering the temperature above the floor. You have to look carefully and find the place where water flowed out. Water from the source is usually very cold, it had to flow into the interior all the time, so it had to flow out somewhere. This caused constant cooling and circulation of cool air inside the room with food. A very clever solution that worked on its own and did not require human action.
@kalamala13151
10 күн бұрын
A floor or roof makes sense- however because the head, animal statue, and door is below the floor or roof the deep bottom part was clearly an important space and not just to encourage air flow, rat or water channeling but was intended to be accessed and observed by humans down below. Plus the other site demonstrates you don’t need a granary so deep which is hard work to dig all that space out unnecessary.
@breakingthewall2112
10 күн бұрын
This
@TigerLily61811
10 күн бұрын
I like Matt's theory but the depth is making me pause. That's a lot of work to dig it 7 feet deep if you only need 1-2 feet for air flow. Why the extra depth? what purpose would that serve for Matt's theory?
@CountBasie56
10 күн бұрын
Great work, Matt. I'm so looking forward to your next video on the subject. Much respect from Western Australia.
@phoneguy4637
10 күн бұрын
thx for the upload 😊 göbekli tepe and carahan tepe are like a treasure chests and story books.
@JonnoPlays
10 күн бұрын
Great work on the video!
@ashby4211
10 күн бұрын
Personally I would favour the simple water storage hypothesis but I'm not even an amateur archaeologist, just interested in life on earth pre known history. I don't know what the rainfall was like in this region 12,000 years ago but in any large settlement a nearby water source or a facility to store water would be essential.
@AdamC-u1n
10 күн бұрын
I’ve thought of this idea, too. This could change the ideas about the other, larger pillared rooms. Instead of the pillars supporting a roof structure, it’s reasonable that the pillars supported a floor for a room above. Having a large room underground or semi-underground would be at a constant temperature year round. During hot, dry months they slept downstairs. During wet months, they moved upstairs. Maybe?
@Joe-sg9ll
10 күн бұрын
many are saying there wasn't a roof at all. and they haven't found wood remnants (would they?)
@DriverDad58
10 күн бұрын
@@Joe-sg9ll I don't think they would, unless it was burnt as I understand it.
@ajkaajka2512
10 күн бұрын
@@Joe-sg9ll I think they found empty spaces where wood would have been (fallen on the ground) and then it roted away, leaving a cavity.
@DoodlesMcpooh
10 күн бұрын
Far more likely a smoking or drying room for meat.
@solarterra
10 күн бұрын
yes, like a smoking room
@Buckdawg
10 күн бұрын
It think it definitely had some sort of water connection.. there's carved waterways leading directly into it, and its central situation providing for the domestic surrounding rooms would suggest it was a source for them. Whether it filled up all the way and was used in a ritual sense, with perhaps people sitting slightly submerged atop the pillars, or if it was purely practical in a arrogation/water storage sense, or even if it was covered somewhat with the ridge and pillars providing support for a wooden beamed floor, I'm still figuring out..
@STRAKAZulu
10 күн бұрын
Perfect timing! Headed to work, and need new history news to get me through the commute!
@AncientArchitects
10 күн бұрын
Enjoy
@timboslice980
2 күн бұрын
I just found that the oldest cultivated edible plant is the fig tree. 11,500 years old found 13km from Jericho. It’s crazy to think what was going on at that time in the world. Figs are naturally inedible, theres a mutation that produced edible Fruit but it can’t reproduce without human intervention. Amazing stuff i wonder what secrets from that time period will be discovered next and the synthesis of that information keeps me glued. Thanks matt!😊
@peterdore2572
10 күн бұрын
YES. Gobekli Tepe and Karahan Tepe's Circular Sttructures are mostly for Food Storage! Thank You. This has been my growing hypothesis for about 4 years now. Im glad we share it. We gotta spread that info. The Temple Hypothesis is now long discredited. Seemed fair at the time, tho. Im so glad that someone else notices how Rodents, Insects and Humidity as a Prime Enemy of Human Settlements
@davidrobertson6014
10 күн бұрын
I think what's more impressive than the pillars themselves are the probably millions of other stones brought in and stacked up, the whole hill in both sites look man made.
@AncientArchitects
10 күн бұрын
The whole site is absolutely fascinating. So much diverse architecture
@ScarsNotFresh
10 күн бұрын
Good point!
@cypresscustoms
10 күн бұрын
AB really looks like it was meant to hold water. I wonder if they tried to keep live fish in there and the pillars are there to hold up walkways over the water. Just a thought.
@fransopdien2198
4 күн бұрын
they did not need to keep fish, when you are hungry you just go to the river and catch some fish again, you use modern life to give a reason for how people lived thousands of years ago
@cypresscustoms
3 күн бұрын
@@fransopdien2198this place was a large community settlement. They possibly had large longterm grain storage so why not have a way to keep live fish or other protein’s. It is just an idea, a thought experiment, the fact is we don’t know how these people lived day to day we can only speculate so is it not better to keep an open mind and at least talk about outside the box ideas.
@Krisoler
10 күн бұрын
The presence of water at the bottom would help keep the interior cool, acting as a primitive refrigerator.
@Momusinterra
8 күн бұрын
Cool, damp air would encourage mold and mildew.
@burtlangoustine1
7 күн бұрын
The cool air layer is air conditioning or rather, temperature control. Didnt Romans use under-floor compartments depending on the buildings purpose? Salted Beef, Cheeses and all other foods all need optimum storage.
@brianevans8733
5 күн бұрын
@@burtlangoustine1Italy and Greece have pretty great climates for preserving food for the most part.
@Hunting4knowledge
4 күн бұрын
@Momusinterra that was my first thought. Using water in an already decent place for food storage would just spoil the food.
@lindachandler2293
10 күн бұрын
Roman hypocaust heating immediately came to mind.
@scottbillups4576
9 күн бұрын
Minor correction - Mud does NOT have good insulating properties. It has good 'thermal mass' properies. This feels the same to us, as long as the hot/cold cycles of day/night in dry areas are faster than the thermal mas can change temp. However, don't build a mud house in seasonally cold areas like Canada, Finland, Tibet. The mud's thermal mass will cool, and then stay cold for months. Its a terrible insulator. Just FYI
@GRMNCVS
9 күн бұрын
What would you use as a good natural insulator?
@scottbillups4576
9 күн бұрын
@@GRMNCVS Strawbales are firm, uniform size and shape, and have R2 per inch (that usually means R34 walls. I think I remember that correctly) Straw bales will rot if they get wet, so there's rules on how to use them safely, but they work great. Slip straw is another good insulator, but finicky to mix and apply right.
@bujinkanatori
2 сағат бұрын
What ever archeologists find, but dont understand, they say "Its a temple, something to do with religious activities." And when more data comes, it normally is revealed it is something practical that helped survival.
@blueboy2727
10 күн бұрын
None of that explains the height of the pillars or the little snaking channel that runs from AA to AB. It couldn't have been to channel water away, as it's located above the enclosure. Not very efficient or even practical. I still say it was for water purification.
@JMM33RanMA
10 күн бұрын
Logical, rational and probable speculation is the best kind! Thanks, Matt, for another riviting video!
@Eskos1976
10 күн бұрын
The room AA doesn't look unfinished at all to me, quite the opposite. There's even a place where you can stand over the hole in the bedrock - like it was meant to store liquid and you can extract that liquid with a bucket from the hole? It could have been -like some suggested earlier- a water storage, OR a hole for brewing beer, or even a wine press! Really fascinating stuff, many thanks for sharing!
@paulblase3955
10 күн бұрын
This is a _pre-pottery_ Neolithic site. One reason for going to home-based storage would be ... the invention of pottery. Of course we still use granaries, so I'd keep looking for them.
@TommySaucierPlourde0
10 күн бұрын
Amazing thought process. Great work @AncientArchitects
@AncientArchitects
10 күн бұрын
Thank you
@azwrenchmaster5334
10 күн бұрын
So, a communal enclosure, with phallic pillars, a carving of someone with their mouth open, and holds water...must be the first known grotto!
@missionoutdoorsITM
10 күн бұрын
Yes liquid food storage! It's obviously a large brewing vat that was covered with a skin top and stones around the edges to hold it in place to prevent evaporation and rodent infestation. In those days it would have been all about the beer 🍺
@TGBurgerGaming
10 күн бұрын
Someone 12,000 years ago said: This place will last forever. And here we are.
@DriverDad58
10 күн бұрын
Can't argue with the importance of food storage. But why raise a floor so high for this? And why put decoration under the floor? Wouldn't this just trap water and make it even more damp? I don't think one would store food over a known pool of water if possible, and AB would seem to have the ability to hold a lot of water. Seems more likely this was a covered grotto, with water coming in from the AA direction, and draining into AD. If someone went "upstream", through the portal, they'd have experience a dark pool list with torches and facing decorated pillars, the carved head, and staring right at them the curved decorated pillar in the middle. I don't always agree with the "ritual use" tag that gets attached to everything excavated, but given the right spiritual beliefs and some good old fashion theatrics, entering this space, or passing through it, would be almost like a haunted house!
@neohermitist
9 күн бұрын
Maybe they were tanks for holding or farming fish
@aranciataesagerata2506
10 күн бұрын
I appreciate your explanation about the food storage building hypothesis but I must disagree. Have a look to all the granaries you have shown in the video. All the pillars are above the natural ground level to avoid moisture, insects and mice. If you want to protect your food you cannot storage it at ground level. In Karahan Tepe, AB enclouser’s pillars are excavated below ground level so the floor should had been at ground level giving rain, insects and mice an easy access to food. Also the human head sculpture… why carving something that cannot be seen? In my opinion this enclosure and AA space are both related to water. In AA pond, water was stored and in AB enclosure it was conducted on top of the pillars and heated thanks to a big fire among pillars bases. Everything was covered with a roof and smoke could had scape just in front of the carved human head giving the appearance of a man blowing the smoke. AB enclosure acted as a boiler and AD building was a communal sauna.
@Dan-DJCc
10 күн бұрын
Perhaps it was a malt house where grain was dried and toasted on the false floor above carefully managed heat beneath. Beer making.
@wrdennig
9 күн бұрын
I really like and appreciate your reconstruction and explanation of this dig. Even if you are proved wrong, it's an exciting step forward in understanding our predecessors .
@drPeidos
5 күн бұрын
Be it a granary or not, I agree with you about the first phase being only the small pillars, it makes a lot of sense. And the unfinished structure looks very similar, very interesting the way they digged holes on the rock.
@oo2free
10 күн бұрын
I have been commenting on your channel's content since its early days, often complimenting your careful, rational reasoning and the 3D temporal awareness your knowledge base enables you, which has led to some very good hypotheses, such as the subject of this video. Channels like yours and Tina's have much more freedom to present new data to the public, along with speculations and personal opinions on the possible meanings of said newly exposed discoveries, than the professional archeologists and anthropologists who must be mindful of the political minefields. I am immensely grateful that you do this without the influence of the exploitative sensationalism a particular poltergeist pervasively haunting media left like a skidmark in the undergarments of said media while he was a living being. That is why I value and follow your channel. I would support you financially if I were capable. The result is that you present relatable, cutting-edge reporting and analysis far superior to what the pros can do, given the constraints on those pros. You are just being you in the right time and place to guide me along a portion of the cookie-crumb trail I have followed my whole life. Suppose my long run of long-runny comments on your content has appeared on your radar in the least. In that case, I am fairly confident that your opinion of my wild speculations, distorted observations, and interpretations is far less flattering than my stated opinions of your clarity and rationality of yours. The irony is that your astute observations and conclusions reinforce the prejudiced suspicions and speculations I have been harboring regarding the impact of this era of human history and the trajectory that has led humankind to the present-day nightmare, at least for most humans. That is the significance of the discovery data generated by these excavations, viewed through the lens of sociology and political science. The specific observations you presented were the change of food storage practices over time and the resulting shift in power to, then, away from the elites, unless I got that backward. It doesn't matter which direction, really; the amazing thing is we can detect that there was a power shift. Edit: I may need to clarify something for you. I suddenly recalled my earlier comments were under a different username.
@MarekGo-p8p
10 күн бұрын
AB was a drinking water reservoir. The head shows clearly the usage purpose. The pillars were to maintain a cover roof. These human like beings needed water to survive and the only source was rain because they lived on the hill.
@peterloader974
10 күн бұрын
It's a fertility pit. Young maidens sat on the pillars, cleansed by steam from heated water in the basin below.
@thomvinson
8 күн бұрын
Well thought out Matt, bravo sir!
@Freakoutski
10 күн бұрын
I like this hypothesis, but I still prefer mine that better explains the height and form of the pillars. The pillars support a raised floor that had deliberate hidden) weak points so that an unwary victim could fall through. The underfloor could have something nasty (spikes/predators) or even soft things (hides/straw) to catch the victim. The height and smoothness of the pillars are so that they cannot be climbed by a person, keeping them trapped them below the floor. The carved face would be something to spook you while you were down there. I know it's an idea that is easy to dismiss as someone that watched too much Goonies or Indiana Jones. But there's plenty of evidence they used traps for animals. Why not ritual traps for humans? EDIT: I forgot to say, they pillars (except one) are carved from bedrock, so they are unable to be pushed over.
@aranciataesagerata2506
10 күн бұрын
I have thought about this purpose too
@Sunyataji
8 күн бұрын
Clever hypothesis! Kudos 🤓😎👍
@Amash796
10 күн бұрын
The lack of a drainage hole in the main pit would allow water to collect which wouldn’t be ideal for food to be kept above it.
@Joe-sg9ll
10 күн бұрын
reminds me of the Coneheads movie. amazing that thoseintheknow seemed to have known more about such spaces and elongated skulls
@WickedFelina
10 күн бұрын
It doesn't take a degree to see the pillars look like phalluses. I don't think it has anything to do with the "right of puberty." From the little guy holding his "THING" tells me that men throughout time, up to the cod pieces and ancient roman phallus windchimes used to ward off the evil eye hung outside homes, I believe the thinking was it had magical, and powerful abilities. It didn't take long for humans to decipher it was a major part in the creation of life. A brand new human being which when you think about it, must have been godly especially in those times.
@Joe-sg9ll
10 күн бұрын
word. there are theories about a transition from thinking of women as creating life spontaneously and thus being divine to men "taking that power" from them after discovering their own role. not definitive that that's how it happened or when it would it have
@TWOCOWS1
9 күн бұрын
Thank you for continuing to record and show the new Mirazan sites (the original, local local name for the recent official government name). Mirazan means a "miracle maker". The local, childless Kurdish women give offerings at the hill, hoping for a child. The fertility myth of the hills still lingers. Mirazan is the meaningful, local name for this entire super old civilization/culture. A lot better than the silly name of Gobekli ("potbelly")-- given to it by the ruling government there . I hope you continue showing us more and more of the Mirazan sites as they get dug up
@EleventhMonkey
10 күн бұрын
In warm arid climates, people have stored grain below ground for thousands of years. When stored at ground level the temperature fluctuates. However rainfall could ruin tonnes of grain due to ergot growth and spread at a site like this, and with no water management to see, it's suggests a hot and arid climate, so where was all the water they needed to farm if that's the case. That site could hold hundreds of tonnes of grain, which then suggests a very large group of people needed feeding.
@richardredfern8086
8 күн бұрын
Good work sir. I have another hypothesis for the Pillar Shrine at Karahan Tepe for your enjoyment: To me it looks like a shrine to Learning: A Professor lecturing to his students, perhaps about organization, engineering, agriculture, and perhaps astronomy. The first post Ice Age Professor!
@argosz8046
10 күн бұрын
Love the idea of 3D models for use in museums, for education, and for amateur collectors.
@arcticbio
10 күн бұрын
They should sell them...I would love to buy one!
@bpersun7
8 күн бұрын
I read Buffalo Bird Woman’s Garden by Gilbert L. Wilson. The native Americans built very sophisticated pits to store crops. They hid them underground to protect the stores from raiders. This is an interesting hypothesis. Well worth consideration.
@user-iq2yp1dn1q
9 күн бұрын
You are a professional archeologist that strives to make sense of the bigger picture.
@woutervanbelleghem8676
10 күн бұрын
I'm sorry. I like your content, but here I think you're mistaken. Why would someone build a stair and portal to a granary, inaccessible, by the placement of the stairs; AND the height of the portal, (door) to enclosure AB, does not allow for a human to pass through, if the floor was at the height of the human-faced sculpture at the top. And the stairs from AB to the granary, would have led, to what, the basement? And why would they have constructed it that heigh, heigher even, by your own admittance, then was clearly displayed to be a merely +/- 30 - 50 cm in the other granary's displayed by yourself in other regions? They don't look similar. The ones you displayed as granary's? none of them have a carved human figure beNEATH the floor, I mean, logic dictates, you wouldn't spend all your time into carving something you intended to go under the floor. Let alone, you might have designed the "door" from AB to that encosure, with the required allowance for humans. And besides that, you might have not carved the stairs at all. Just saying.
@ajkaajka2512
10 күн бұрын
You have a point. It is high and the acces is awkward. But he also mentions that what we see is how the site ended, not how it started, maybe it was originally build for something and later rebuild into something else. He also shows how it could start lower but maybe there was a flaw in the design. So they made it higher. Maybe later they used the bottom to collect rain water or spring water and the top had a roof and they stored something there on top of it. Or didn't. If there was storage with mud walls, normal opening would be a part of the mud wall, so nothing is left of that now. Or maybe it was just a covered water reservoar.
@Username-qx9gk
10 күн бұрын
You can see the channel carved for water to fill it. Looks like it was upgraded at one or more points in time to hold more water. Covered to keep out heat/light/insects (people?). The older section upgraded in height with a higher side wall, the newer section (carved back into the mountain) already featuring higher pillars. I think the tapering section on the pillars is from organisms growing/erroding what must have been the high water mark over a long period. The doorway is a bit strange, perhaps at some point it became a bath house when so much stored water was no longer necessary in the area, at that point also adorned with the artistic carvings
@NeonEleven
10 күн бұрын
Things out of place are for the spirit world. Humans have always had imagination and I’d imagine my dead relatives looking over my food supplies. A stairway to the spirit world. Carvings of spirits or gods or whatever? Remember there was no internet so the peoples of the time could come up with all kinds of shit.
@Username-qx9gk
10 күн бұрын
@@NeonEleven Having access to a large store of clean water to survive through times of siege or drought, would have been a big deal
@katielee705
10 күн бұрын
Yes l posted my thoughts on this post, he is obsessing over the TEPES.
@tomrichardson1426
9 күн бұрын
Amazing. Just amazing. I have thanked you many times for your hard work and resurch. I have no problem thanking you again for bringing history to me in a way that is so easy to understand.
@douginorlando6260
2 күн бұрын
The architecture of the Tel Abr site is compelling evidence Gobekli Tepe’s large buildings had log ceiling beams on stone pillars holding up a roof. Since pillars and walls and benches were decorated in the important communal structures, I suspect their ceiling beams were also decorated
@redwoodcoast
8 күн бұрын
That was a noble effort but I believe it comes up short in the logic dept because of the depth of the cavity. Such a depth would be unnecessary for air circulation as well as rain diversion, but it would be what would be needed for storage of rainwater. You spoke at great length about the storage of grain but never once mentioned the storage of water. Unless there are clearly identifiable wells or cisterns in the area, water storage should be first as an explanation for the depth of the pit.
@fr57ujf
8 күн бұрын
The only reason I question your interpretation is that structure AB is so much deeper than the subfloors of the granaries. If the only purpose is to provide airflow why make it so deep?
@duhkirk
9 күн бұрын
It’s their brewery 😊 Beer created civilization.
@johnstaber557
Күн бұрын
Civilization started the day they decided to make containers. I figure they had good berry harvest one day. To much to carry or eat. I imagine a hollow of some sort rock wood or clay. They came back a few days later to consume their “ stored” fruit. Alas it had fermented. A half hour or so after consumption they were having a good time. The cave girls looked better,they danced better. Then someone thought we have to make bottles. Once you have storage you can create commerce, save for the future and celebrate in seasons without fruit.
@aresaurelian
9 күн бұрын
Best way to preserve meat without salt, smoking it. These could be meat smokers. This is why they are so small, comparably. They would not move the meat, but let it hang to dry, and then used the smoker for storage of all kinds of food. The AB structure could be for some other function though. An experiment we could do is to measure temperature in a structure built upon a pillared hole like this, and if it was significantly cooler than other rooms if water was beneath too.
@ajkaajka2512
10 күн бұрын
Amazing. I love your content. I love that you research and dig for more, never stopping, never being fully satisfied. Having a 3D model, working with it. Finding that site in Jordan is incredible and I think you are up to something. I had also noticed the flat top of that head and the side of enclosure AB and I thought that could mean it was covered. Also AA really looks to be work in progress. Keep going, one day maybe your theories will be confirmed and kids will learn about them in school.
@Gumdaar1
10 күн бұрын
If possible, please consider in future adding to your models some form of scale i.e. a human shape, a horse; anything. I'm American so it can easily be a school bus, to avoid nuisance words like cm, meters :). Kidding aside, It seems an oddity to place any form of non-water storage where water can gather, ever. That would be once, and a redesign immediately following; IF they survived the season to do it. Regarding my annoying scale request - looks at a glance that the height difference between the leveled pillars is a comfortable seat. Could have simply been a sitting shelf/floor for gatherings?
@iamllux
10 күн бұрын
There's definitely evidence of water. There is also an obvious ledge around the edge and spaces for something to set into. Other than that I don't know. More ideas are better than none.
@debrarobinson57
10 күн бұрын
The head at Karahan Tepe is highlighted by sunrise at Winter Solstice. The light comes through the portal & moves across the face for a perid of time. .There may well be a granarry there, but those pillars are too tall, that's too much work, but we haven't uncovered any yet. Bear in mind how little of these sites have been excavated.
@Suxipumpkin
10 күн бұрын
Great work. I love your ideas but I'm not convinced of this one. This enclosure would get too wet. It is set into limestone, which is very porous, and on a hill enabling water to flow down into the enclosure. The climate would have been a little wetter than currently so it would be very difficult to keep anything dry in this structure. Even with a suspended floor, it is still below ground level and an opening into another enclosed space (AD) would not provide enough air circulation to keep the stored food dry. I would imagine they must have had some form of food storage but it would probably be in the living areas for easy access (as in other similar settlements) rather than ajoining a ritual space. Of course, I agree that this is all speculation but I don't think that this enclosure would be dry enough or raised up enough to keep it dry.
@neohermitist
9 күн бұрын
I agree about the air circulation. Air will not circulate naturally in any enclosed space. However I can image a series of connected chambers with a fire in one chamber with an open roof that causes a small vacuum in the other chambers and allowing for air to be pulled in.
@chrisjones1075
10 күн бұрын
Love this idea. And the reasoning behind it. Again, totally solid work.
@DBentonSmith
Күн бұрын
For crying out loud, people. It is so obvious that I just can't believe that it's not common knowledge. The pillared oval chamber with steps down into it at either end was a ceremonial pool of water. A bath, if you will. Just look at it! You can still see how the water level etched a high-water mark and leached the walls below that level. The steps DOWN into a basin carved from bedrock gave access/egress into a watertight "bowl", which is why it was built that way, to hold water.
@MuddyPoppins
10 күн бұрын
I think it’s fairly simple… The whole area was developed as one big giant zoo used to house, re-breed, and re-populate the earth, all of the animals unloaded from Noah’s arc.
@Yezpahr
9 күн бұрын
Your theory sounds great, I hope it gets looked at by the archaeologists of the area and also hoping that they're not as apprehensive to new ideas as the ones in Egypt running the show there.
@monikadeinbeck4760
10 күн бұрын
I think it is a cistern. we have carved channels flowing into it and we have a tub in the main room that could have been filled from the cistern. The unfinished enclosure uphill was propably planned to be another cistern, but was never finished excavating. This doesn't mean there couldn't have been a wooden floor above the cistern which was used for storage.
@douginorlando6260
10 күн бұрын
I love your educated conjecture of what was going on 11,000 years ago. Could AA be a well? AB upper floor a granary. AB lower floor a meeting room restricted to the leadership, the large room being the public meeting place? One thing I strongly suspect is autocratic leaders who ruled by force (as opposed to more cooperative buy-in) would want to control all the grain and food reserves. They would have banned the family owned granary. And an autocratic rule would last generations but over centuries could come and go (switching back and forth between autocratic control of food reserves and then family control of their own granaries). The stone head in AB lower room would be to invoke authoritarianism and help legitimize inheriting power from leader to his son. The leader does not rule alone and the elite who are allowed into the AB lower room are collectively the group that runs Tepe town. I can picture a mystique tradition where a large group gathers and only the elite are seen entering and coming out of the AB door with their official decision. It is a means to differentiate class hierarchy. It will be interesting to estimate populations of the various Tepe towns and get a feel for how many people the small elitist group controlled. I also bet ancestor worship/adoration played a part in establishing legitimacy of generational class structure (which would have been promoted by the beneficiaries, I.e. the elitists). Neanderthals never grouped up more than about 50 people (possibly driven by food and disease). Their mind set would not easily adapt to “the urban jungle” conniving manipulative environment of big communities where class structure turns the instinct of working for the groups’ good into being taken advantage of by others.
@MuktiArno
10 күн бұрын
@AncientArchitects I'm going to drop you another gem :) hope comment doesn't get deleted. It's a sensitive topic. I'll try my best to keep it PG. First, I can not shake the similarities in layout between these sites in Turkey and the sites in Malta. While the design and construction are not simillar, nor anywhere near eachother in construction date (according to main stream science), the function seems simillar. That said, we never consider ancient healthcare when thinking of people back then. We assume they put all this effort into building these stone structures, for rituals? Why not something more tenable like a hospital? Maybe not a hospital but in fact a labratory where sacrifices were used to mix medicines. The ancient greeks have this documented surprisingly. And I'm blown away at how advanced they were. At the same time their medicine to us would be considered obscene by our modern day standards. The phoenican pirates dealt with slaves, so that provided a fresh supply of bodies to experiment on. Fenale children were administered daily microdoses of viper venoms and the Tryrian Dye as a halucinegetic to provide Hallucinations. By puberty her immune system would convert her b0dy flu1ds into an antidote for others to consume. She would become a priestess godess or oracle. Bone marrow was extracted which is a source for stem cells. Mixtures were made with plants, herbs, b0dy flu1ds, in crucibles with mortar. In Malta they found mammoth bones. Imagine mixing growth hormones with a human baby? You may engineer an.....anunaki 😅 I think these were human breeding grounds. I know they did it. You can read about it. The question is where did they do it. Probably in places like these.... In fact I've come to wonder, how much of our evolution is self directed or self inflicted ? Just as our modern healthcare medications likely impact our genepool, so did theirs! You could also think of it as a prison. Parts of the steucture are holding cells. Part of it for food storage. Part of it for experiments.
@tierneylogan5943
10 күн бұрын
This is probably the most intriguing theory I’ve heard and would also explain why they don’t want to excavate it any more.
@MuktiArno
10 күн бұрын
@@tierneylogan5943 the knights of malta went after Paul Cook. There be giants down there 😀
@MuktiArno
9 күн бұрын
I'll go further. These are healing centers where people pilgrimage to offer their young, and in return, they would receive medicine. Hence sacrifice. Stem cell extraction from the soft spot in the head known as the third ventricle. Look that up. It's where the waters of life came from. Gross but medicine. Can you say adrenachrome? ...I guess I understand why archeologists would think of it as fertility rights. They don't have the healthcare mindset.
@irisapartments8156
10 күн бұрын
I think the snake looking cauvert was a drain so that the grainery had a water subfloor which kept rats from getting to the grain above the floor. The other opening drained access water and allowed workers for inspection. The water could also be used as a cistern
@HydrOwelder5
10 күн бұрын
The grove and head was the floor level, with just a small part of the pillars showing. Very big lenses were placed in position on the pillars. The figured pillar was not put in later. It was meant to be the only one that pivits.
@OldDogWoodworks-vg8io
9 күн бұрын
While the bedrock pillars could plausibly be structural support members for something above, it would make little sense to dig so deep into the rock to create the pillars to support a granary above. Even in today's much drier climate, the deep excavated pit is prone to capturing water, which would have made the air in any room above very humid and destructive to any grain stored there. The climate was much wetter 11,000 years ago, so the AB pit was more likely to have been permanently flooded. If it were meant to house an elevated granary above, the pit should have be much shallower, and have at least one water drainage trench to keep the grain dry. But that then begs the question: why deliberately dig what appears to be a holding space for water (or some other liquid)? Standing water would have gone fetid, so it is unlikely to have been used as a cistern or bath. Perhaps it was a vat for fermenting wine or beer.
@_majortom_
9 күн бұрын
what you do is amazing. please keep up.
@sue_downing555
10 күн бұрын
if the pillars supported a floor for food, grain, then it would be necessary to drain and vent the pit under the floor, holding valuable grain that be deteriorated by moisture from standing water And of course you need a drainage sys and maintenance access to move the water away
@oldmech619
10 күн бұрын
AB is a was a cistern. You can see the water channel leading up to it. It had a ceiling to protect the cistern. Remnants of the roof has been removed. Remember this settlement lives on a hill. It is a long walk to get a drink. It also rained a lot more back then. There are other cisterns.
@ihsanerayketenci
10 күн бұрын
This place was clearly an ancient bath, or hammam. There are many more modern examples in anotolia like ephesus, rome or byzantine bahs. This was also being used as public bath.
@atomicsmith
9 күн бұрын
A granary floor only needs to be elevated to avoid mice and rats. AB is much deeper. Its use is definitely water related. The description of the fill sounds very similar to a sand filter. I think this could have been the filter for the larger cistern next door.
@jeeppayton
8 күн бұрын
It was buried. They knew a global catastrophe was imminent. They didn't want their work lost and destroyed. In fact, the placement of pillars in my opinion, will reveal the north star was not at the north pole! I think it's a record of the past and they used the pillars the way stonehenge was
@johnswindale9115
10 күн бұрын
Again, another interesting theory. Looking forward to the next content.
@morkusmorkus6040
10 күн бұрын
Really good hypothesis Matt. It is easily the strongest hypothesis I've seen for AB. Occams razor agrees IMO since its the hypothesis that makes the fewest assumptions.
@Klausklinkerbayer
10 күн бұрын
It's a brewery for beer!
@AncientArchitects
10 күн бұрын
I fancy a beer 🍺
@BalzakTheD
10 күн бұрын
You might not be far off... The way Barley is malted could use a structure like this... Barley is soaked until it starts to germinate and then the moisture is driven off... If you soaked the grain and laid it on a woven mat (for example the bottom of the floor at @24:00) then force hot air under and through (a reason for stair access underneath) halting the germination and giving you Malted Barley you could then mill and turn into beer... But the same process can also be used for preserving other grains and other foods... It could then be used for long term storage as the air flow underneath would keep things relatively cool and dry.
@michaelfritts6249
9 күн бұрын
Was scrolling through comments thinking "beer" as a beneficial byproduct. A German friend (I'm from Washington State) once said "we drink water too.. we just strain it through grapes first" "Beer" can ferment in a mud puddle.. "wine" can fernent with berries on the vine.. Birds get "drunk" and make drivers feel sad every year along the Pacific coast.. I am sure this is not unique.. Grain good. Spilled grain inevitably wet? Byproduct beer? Good!
@anderssvensson4554
10 күн бұрын
You could be on to something here. All possibilities must be explored. It’s the thrill of the chase.
@jackthomas2051
10 күн бұрын
Did they find a large amount of grain? If it was a granary there would be a lot of it that fell through the floor into the “basement”.
@plutoplanet4275
10 күн бұрын
Well done, seems reasonable, logical and even probable.
@AncientArchitects
10 күн бұрын
Cheers!
@plutoplanet4275
10 күн бұрын
@@AncientArchitects I love it when amateur archaeological enthusiast put more logical effort into interpreting site info. I believe this occurs as the result of pursuing an answer without a preconceived bias as to what a thing should represent. At any rate, your explanation makes more sense than anything else I've seen on this site. Thanks for sharing.
@trenchrot
10 күн бұрын
could be an old strong-room. A place that used to have a heavy roof and could store valuables or food in a central location. The head carving could just be a flourish due to the importance of the room. It would have one, easily defended entrance. They may have used the bedrock pillars as a way to dig less stuff out and support a floor for a structure above.
@elihinze3161
10 күн бұрын
Another great video! I love your use of Blender. Really helps drive your points home.
@alden1132
10 күн бұрын
I wondered if perhaps the "heads" of the supposed "phalluses" were not originally created as part of the sculpture, but rather part of a single, unbroken, solid stratum, which was supported by the pillars, leaving the area inside the "pit" as an enclosed space, sealed off from the outside except for the staircase? I can speculate wildly as to why someone woukd build such a space, but the ruins support such an interpretation, in my opinion. If I'm correct, perhaps the "pit" was intended as a resonant chamber for a ritual "dance floor" above, to create a "thunder" like effect? Or, perhaps fires were built in the pit to heat the upper surface, perhaps for the purpose of brewing large quantities of an early kind of beer? These are just a couple of possible somewhat-practical theoretical uses for such a structure, but my point is that it wouldn't have to be purely ritualistic in function.
@rogerdudra178
10 күн бұрын
Hard to tell if the people of that time stashed their grain. I sure would. I think you're right. Makes sense to me.
@andymccracken4046
8 күн бұрын
Thanks, good thinking, you are probably correct.
@hitthelike3608
8 күн бұрын
Excellent hypothesis! I agree
@johnfraser6013
10 күн бұрын
Fascinating research, and your new theory. Thank you for sharing! 👍👍
Пікірлер: 634