The Beginning Of Civilization

It is amazing, but several different spots on earth have been labeled the birthplace of civilization. What exactly does this mean? Does this indicate that the particular area being talked about was the very first area where humans got together and lived as a group? That is how I see the meaning, but sometimes what is being referred to is more like the first city that humans created. In any event, all these places are very ancient. A temple exists in an area of Turkey that is over 11,000 years old. To put this in perspective, that is far older than writing. One archaeologist said about this temple, “This is the first human-built holy place," Scientists have searched around the area for any evidence of a settlement, but if there was one, it has been wiped out by the sands of time. In order for the ancients to build this temple they had to move monolithic stones weighing several tons each and stand them up. Again we have to ask that age old question, how did they do that? The temple is located at Göbekli Tepe, Turkey.

Left: A part of the remnants of the T shaped pillars.
Right: Temple View
Author: Gevork Nazaryan
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It is believed that about 20 structures exist in and around the temple. Each structure contains pillars linked by walls to form circular, or oval structures. This certainly was quite an accomplishment for people living this far back in our past. Apparently this place was occupied for many thousands of years, as layers have been found. The dates are not set in stone, excuse the pun, and the temple could be thousands of years older. Here is another amazing thing about the temple, it predates pottery, metallurgy, writing, and the wheel. It was believed that prior to the discovery of this temple, that there was not enough human organization to ever construct anything like this. At some point in the past, the temple was buried under about 500 meters of soil and this preserved it. Why this was done probably will always remain a mystery.

Typical Room At Çatalhöyük
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Another very ancient complex is also located in Turkey. It is the settlement at Çatalhöyük. It has been estimated that about 10,000 people lived at the eastern mound. While not as old as Göbekli Tepe, the site has been dated only 1500 years later. Another mound that was much smaller had settlements located to the east. The settlements are said to have been abandoned before the start of the Bronze Age. The Bronze age is believed to have begun at about 3,000 B.C. This site was composed of domestic buildings. The buildings are extremely well preserved and some have ornamental paintings on the wall. The purpose of these paintings is unclear, they could have just been for decoration. The site was first discovered in 1961 by James Mellaart, but he was banned from Turkey for his involvement in the Dorak affair. He had published drawings of important artifacts that later disappeared. In 1993 excavation began again.

Statue Of A God
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In Çatalhöyük one finds that no sidewalks, or even trails were used. Instead the type of construction that one would find in a bee hive was employed, with all the huts or buildings jammed together. You would get to one by walking across roofs and entering through the ceiling. All the rooms were plastered and the plaster was smoothed. Archaeologists found that all the homes were very clean. Trash heaps were employed outside and they contained food waste, sewage and wood ash. It seems that the people that lived in this community were very careful to keep it nice. As homes would begin to fall apart, some were demolished and a new one built on top of the rubble, thus making the mound even higher. This village contained the remains of those that died. They were buried beneath the floors and especially under the hearth. Pieces of early textiles have been found at the site. The murals on the walls of the homes are reminiscent of cave paintings.

Nevalı Çori is another ancient settlement in Turkey and dates 500 years later than Göbekli Tepe, this makes this site extremely ancient. The main reason that this site was excavated was that the Atatürk Dam was to be built and the scientific community was trying to save as many sites as they could. Flint tools that were found there helped to date the site. Some dates for this site even put it at 10,000 B.C., which would make it over 12,000 years old and thus older than even the temple at Göbekli Tepe. I don't think that anyone ever expected to find such ancient temples and buildings. Now that we have found such old structures, we have to wonder if there are even older ones lurking out there? I think that chances are they they did exist at one time, even if they no longer do.

This settlement contained long, rectangular houses. The typical one had three parallel rooms. Each room had a wall dividing it. There were foundations under the homes that were made of large and small stones. Channels were under the homes and it is thought that these provided drainage. Other theories state that they may have let air in to cool the homes. A temple was cut into the hillside and pillars were used. Statues were found made from the local limestone.

It seems that we were not the loners that we were thought to be and even in early times we grouped together in communities. Since communities could not live on hunting alone, agriculture had to be developed. Maybe modern man could learn something about cooperation from these early peoples.