Göbleki Tepe ‘decoded’ — Animals around the North Celestial Pole

the decoding of pillars 2, 12, 20, 21, 33, 38, 43, 51, 56 and the Lion’s Pillar

[Disclaimer: The contents of this post are merely the reflections of the author’s opinions an beliefs, the subject matter holds no scientific weight. The aim is to explore alternative views on history.]

Göbleki Tepe ‘decoded’ has become a bit of a series for me where I try to map out the significant reliefs that are found on the Pillars at Göbleki Tepe. Before diving in a gain I would like to stress that the process is iterative which means that although I have anchor points, there is often room for improvement. Minor shifts can happen as new correlation are made.

I would like to start out by rectifying Pillar 43 and Pillar 2. Below is a figure set of Pillar 43 with the related sky map for the year -9314 (9315 BCE) which is a date backed up by carbon dating. [1]

Figure set 1 Pillar 43, Enclosure D.

In my previous write up about Pillar 33 we have seen that Cassiopeia can be related to a spider. Note that Pillar 43 has a spider like figure on the front side of it, it is for this reason that I mapped the sky map with Cassiopeia on the meridian.

I would like to propose changes for the top segment of Pillar 43. We basically see three birds… The larger one with the disc remains the constellation Cygnus with the star Vega (constellation Lyra). The top right bird remains the constellation Hercules. However the ‘plough’ like figure becomes the constellation Draco as will be made clear in this writing. And the smaller bird in the lower right corner of the top sections becomes Aquila, this also brings back the focus to the Milky Way. The two ‘I’ like symbols represent the solstitial and equinoctial colures that cross the North Celestial Pole (NCP).

Read more | Göbleki Tepe ‘decoded’ — Pillar 33, and the advent of summer, Comparing the bull relief, the Nabta Playa, Giza Plateau connection.

On Pillar 2 I would like to mention that asterisms can shift over time. The Bull asterism is a large one that spans multiple constellations and is described differently across time. The Biblical he-goat (Daniel 8:5–7) is more energetic as it flies across the sky. On the Narmer-Palette of Protodynastic Egypt the bull is more stationary and also fashioned with very pronounced horns. This imagery of the Biblical He-goat and of the Narmer-Palette will be explained in greater detail at a later time.

Figure set 2 Pillar 2, Enclosure A compared to Daniel and Narmer.

Figure 1 Sky map Pillar 2, Enclosure A.

Göbleki Tepe’s bull is more like that of the Egyptians where the head of the bull is formed by the constellation Auriga. The below sky tries to capture the bull without mapping the stars, I will leave it up to the reader to connect the dots. Note that during the period of Enclosure A (c. 8800 BCE) this asterism was visible on the midnight meridian on the summer solstice!

Read more | The Meridian Star, Sphinx’s Aligns To Regulus (Leo) During Fifth Dynasty Egypt.

Ok now that I have made these additional remarks I can draw further correlations on new sets of pillars, starting out with Pillar 20, Enclosure D.

Figure set 3 Pillar 20, Enclosure D — Layer III

It is clear to see that we have a meridian (front side) consisting of a bull (the bull asterism, or Auriga which is its head), a snake (the constellation Draco) and a new figure that could perhaps be a boar (the constellation of Orion) although the depiction is too damaged to be certain . A fox is seen on the right side which I have designated as the area in the sky that we know of as the constellation Taurus (therefore I didn’t flip the image vertically. As before the period for Enclosure D is c. 9300 BCE.

Figure 2 Sky map Pilar 20, Enclosure D.

There is a very distinctive feature about the constellation Orion which is its belt. The belt consists of three stars: Alnitak, Alnilam and Mintaka. As we have seen with Pillar 33 there were three birds on the top segment of the pillar that could perhaps relate to these three stars. We also see imagery of these three birds and a boar topped off by a fox in Pillar 38 also from enclosure D. And then in reverse something that resembles a fox on the bottom above it a boar and at the top five birds on Pillar 12 from Enclosure C, however this would speak against this idea.

Figure set 4 Pillar 33 & 38, Enclosure D (c. 9300 BCE) and Pillar 12, Enclosure C (c. 8600 BCE?)

Figure 3 Sky map of Pillar 12, Enclosure C.

Enclosure C is said to be younger than Enclosure D and it is unclear for what extended period it has been in use. If we take into account precession then the image of Orion becomes more and more elevated as the years pass by. In 8600 BCE the sky would have looked like the image on the left.

Instead of waiting for an extended period of time the people of Göbleki Tepi might also have wandered to the south or have come in contact with people in the south. Only a few hundred miles would gain a few degrees of visibility.

Taken all this in account my proposal remains that a partial group of stars from the constellation of Orion is represented by the commonly sighted boar, where the bow of Orion are the hind legs and the big star Betelgeuse is the large an prominent tusk of the boar.

Another location of excavation at Göbekli Tepe is Enclosure H, at the far western side of the site. A topographic view can be seen below.

Figure set 5 Topographic view of Göbleki Tepe including a mapping of enclosures A, B, C, D & H.

Enclosure H also belongs to layer III, dating from late 10th millennium to the middle of the 9th millennium BCE. [2] The figure set below shows carbon dates for Enclosure H to the left and an alignment comparison between Enclosure C and H on the right.

Figure set 6 14C-Data from Enclosure H and alignment comparison between enclosure H and C.

If the alignment has something to do with the way the people of Göbleki Tepe viewed the skies at a certain time then perhaps the carbon dating of Enclosure H would be similar to that of enclosure C. Of course this is conjecture but the 8600 BCE date seems to be more than coincidental and as a whole supports the idea of a part of the constellation Orion being represented by a combination of a boar and birds. First three, later five.

At Enclosure H, Pillar 56 will greatly resonate if you have been reading my blogposts, have a look:

Figure set 6 Pillar 56, Enclosure H.

The side of it shows the same style of snake (constellation Draco), above a bull’s head (constellation Auriga)and two snakes coming together at a junction point. The junction point of the Milky Way and the ecliptic seems to be a recurring focus point in prehistoric times.

Read more | Protodynastic Egyptian Astronomy, Protodynastic Egyptian Starmaps.

The front plate shows a still image that tries to capture a moving frame as the stars circle across the sky around the NCP. Is it not fitting to have birds of prey or vultures circling the NCP? If this is the case then we can group the numbers and assign a single representing constellation per group. This greatly reduces the signs involved.

Figure 4 Illustration of Pillar 56, Enclosure H.

Aquila (Smaller bird in Pillar 43): 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 13, 17, 27, 29, 33, 35, 36, 37 ,49, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55

Bootus (New entrant): 34

Cygnus (Big bird in Pillar 43): 15, 25, 26, 28, 30,

Draco (Big single snake in Pillar 43): 7,12,18, 21, 24

Lyra/NCP (Disc in pillar 43): 8

the Milky Way (Snakes in Pillar 33): 6, 9, 22, 23, 31, 32, 38 ,39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 50

Ursa Major (New entrant): 10, 11, 14, 16, 19, 20

Figure 5 Sky map of Pillar 56, Enclosure H.

Interestingly this little exercise yielded two new entrants as well namely for the constellation Bootus and Ursa Major. The style of drawing for Ursa Major is very similar to that of the lion in Pillar 51, Enclosure H. The same styled lion (or Ursa Major) can be found in numerous places for example in the “”Lion’s Pillar Building”.

Figure set 7 Pillar 51, Enclosure H and the Lion Pillar relief from the Lion’s Pillar Building.

The animal numbered 34 seems to have antlers, antlers are found on Pillar 21, Enclosure D. The constellation Bootus has the appearance of a head with antlers, is in near proximity of the NCP and is accompanied by a smaller, rounder constellation named Corona Borealis. If we look at Pillar 21 then this might could be a fit. Pillar 66, Enclosure H also shows two animals with either antlers or horns above a hole.

Figure set 8 Pillar 21, Enclosure D on the left, Pillar 66, Enclosure H on the right.

I’d like to close with a fragment of a relief found next to one of the central pillars of Enclosure D. Can you tell what is being depicted here?

Figure 6 Fragment of a relief, Enclosure D.

By Orestes_3113

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References

[1] How old is it? Dating Göbekli Tepe — https://www.dainst.blog/the-tepe-telegrams/2016/06/22/how-old-ist-it-dating-gobekli-tepe/

[2] Göbekli Tepe, Anlage H. Ein Vorbericht beim Ausgrabungsstand von 2014 — https://www.academia.edu/30158476/G%C3%B6bekli_Tepe_Anlage_H_Ein_Vorbericht_beim_Ausgrabungsstand_von_2014