Gobekli Tepe

[Gabe]

Hello all;

I thought i'd share with you my latest moc, which is also my entry for round 4 of the MocOlympics on MOCpages. For this round, my catagory was "The Doorstep to the Temple of Wisdom"- Choose a real ancient civilization (Mesopotamian, Egyptian, Chinese, Harappa, Iranian, Greek, Roman, Mayan, Aztec, Incian and so on) and build a temple in their style of art and architecture.

During my research, i stumbled across the amazing story of Gobekli Tepe, and was so captured by it that i couldn't get it out of my head. I knew then that i had my subject, or rather, that my subject had me!

A bit of background: Gobekli Tepe (means "belly hill")is a hillside in Southeast Turkey, where the oldest known temple complex in the world was discovered in 1994 by a German archaeologist called Klaus Schmidt. It is a complex of 20 or so circular buildings of various ages, the oldest of which has been dated at 11,000 years old - to put that in perspective, that is 6000 years older than Stonehenge! It is so old that it predates both agriculture and metallurgy - as incredible at it seems, achaeologists believe these temples were constructed by nomadic hunter gatherers using only stone axes and flints. The giant T-shaped limestone megaliths that form the site are decorated with animal motifs in both shallow relief and also more sculptural forms. The spaces in between the megaliths were filled in with drystone walls, which often incorporated low benches in thier design. Nobody knows what type of religion or spirituality the makers of the temple had, but due to the frightening nature of the animal carvings, (which include vultures and lions) some speculate that it could have been a death cult or necropolis.

It has long been believed that neolithic societies only started to build such enduring temples once they had settled into complex agrarian communities; domesticating wildlife, making pottery and the like. However, the evidence at Gobekli Tepe presents a different picture altogether - a hunter gatherer society whos spiritual life led to them later settling in the area (possibly to maintain the temples they had built) and developing agrarian technologies. In short, thier religion lay at the very root of who they were to become - us.

Part of the problem of building "in the style of" our neolithic ancestors is that no-one really knows what the structures looked like when they were originally standing. Some have speculated that the T-shaped megaliths were meant to support a roof of some kind, but all evidence of that has long vanished. So i decided to simply build a neolithic "Gobekli Tepi" style temple as they appear to us today - as mysterious, awe-inspiring ruins, speaking to us of the very beginnings of our search for wisdom.

Overview of the temple layout. You can see the circular design with the supporting megaliths and drystone walls and benches. A ceremonial trough is also present, opposite the temple entrance.

The archeologists use wooden walkways to move from one part of the temple site to another, lessening the risk of damaging or disturbing new finds. They also have a rough shelter for storing tools and collecting smaller artifacts.

An archaeologist examines a lion motif sculpture on one of the central megaliths, whilst a labourer helps to gently clean the temple floor. Another archaeologist takes photos of the temple layout from the walkway. Although they are in the same physical place, the doorway to the wisdom they seek is very different to those of thier neolithic ancestors...

I hope you have enjoyed my build. More pics can be found on my Flickr, or MOCpages. Thanks for looking!

[cimddwc]

Wow, great! Many details, the overall scene, and nicely built around the raised baseplate...

[trooper 278]

Agreed, I think, I have already seen it somewhere... But again, great work!

[Viceroy]

Fantastic! You've really captured the essence of a dig site. I try to avoid using raised baseplates but you have incorporated it flawlessly, hats off to you sir.

[Gabe]

Wow, great! Many details, the overall scene, and nicely built around the raised baseplate...

Thankyou! I've been wondering what to do with that baseplate for a while now.

Agreed, I think, I have already seen it somewhere... But again, great work!

Thanks! Yes, you may have seen it on Flickr or TBB - i was as shocked as anyone to get blogged.

Fantastic! You've really captured the essence of a dig site. I try to avoid using raised baseplates but you have incorporated it flawlessly, hats off to you sir.

Cheers mate! It is something of a tribute to all the archaeology docos i like to watch whilst building. Also, don't knock the raised baseplates, they are very useful sometimes!

[Hartfan]

Lovely idea. Great MOC.

[lorax]

Fantastic! You've really captured the essence of a dig site. I try to avoid using raised baseplates but you have incorporated it flawlessly, hats off to you sir.

I didn't even realise there was a raised baseplate in there. I agree, it has been used beautifully. (And gives me hope that I might one day use one of my raised baseplates).

[Vindicare]

You know how good of a job you did? ..... Do you? No? Well, I'll tell you. I didn't even notice the raised baseplate till I started reading the comments. The overall is great and so much to look at it, you camouflaged it well.

[streifen]

that rickety wooden bridge and makeshift shelter are great!

what have they dug up this time round?

[Gabe]

Lovely idea. Great MOC.

Cheers!

I didn't even realise there was a raised baseplate in there. I agree, it has been used beautifully. (And gives me hope that I might one day use one of my raised baseplates).

Thanks! Which baseplates do you have? I'm quite fond of the older castle ones, some of the patterns on them look really interesting. I think the key to making them look natural is to increase the number of steps up to the raised level - unslightly gaps can be covered up in a variety of ways.

You know how good of a job you did? ..... Do you? No? Well, I'll tell you. I didn't even notice the raised baseplate till I started reading the comments. The overall is great and so much to look at it, you camouflaged it well.

Aha, thanks! I'm slowly imporving my landscaping skills, anyway.

that rickety wooden bridge and makeshift shelter are great!

what have they dug up this time round?

Thankyou, they were fun to build! I actually had Derfel Cadarn's tutorial in mind when stringing the walkway, and was really pleased with the way it came out.

They are digging up a neolithic stone temple btw.

[Hoexbroe]

Excellent! Fantastic colours. (I suppose I only have a handful of dark tan peices ;-)) -and espeically good use of an akward baseplate!

I also saw this on TBB. Congratz.

[Derfel Cadarn]

This is a really great moc! Its always good to see something different and this has so many great features. The bridges look great and you have really captured the look of a 'dig' site.

Nice written information as well, great job.

[Gabe]

Excellent! Fantastic colours. (I suppose I only have a handful of dark tan peices ;-)) -and espeically good use of an akward baseplate!

I also saw this on TBB. Congratz.

Thankyou! I did put in quite a big order of dark tan 1 x 2 plates for this - i doubt if i'll need to get any more of those for a while! It's such a lovely colour though, and has so many uses.

This is a really great moc! Its always good to see something different and this has so many great features. The bridges look great and you have really captured the look of a 'dig' site.

Nice written information as well, great job.

Cheers Derfel, and thankyou for your execellent tutorials btw, i can think of many applications for yr techniques that extend far beyond building medieval-style buildings and i am itching to try them out! Certainly i already owe a debt to you for pointing the way with your excellent landscaping, it is a yardstick that i constantly judge my own landscaping by.