1 00:00:01,840 --> 00:00:07,600 Speaker 1: Welcome to brainsty a production of iHeartRadio. Hey brain Stuff. 2 00:00:07,640 --> 00:00:13,200 Speaker 1: Laurena bolobaum here. It's perhaps obvious to say that eleven 3 00:00:13,240 --> 00:00:18,280 Speaker 1: thousand years ago the world looked very different. Lush forests 4 00:00:18,320 --> 00:00:21,800 Speaker 1: existed where there are now deserts, coral reefs where there 5 00:00:21,800 --> 00:00:25,439 Speaker 1: are now grasslands, and humans hadn't yet the gun building 6 00:00:25,600 --> 00:00:29,639 Speaker 1: very many things. Of course, we can't ever really know 7 00:00:29,760 --> 00:00:32,600 Speaker 1: exactly what our ancestors were up to so long ago, 8 00:00:32,840 --> 00:00:36,720 Speaker 1: because no one had invented writing yet, but places like 9 00:00:36,760 --> 00:00:40,159 Speaker 1: the archaeological site Go Beckley Tepe can give us a 10 00:00:40,200 --> 00:00:45,239 Speaker 1: few clues. Go Beckley Tepe is a monumental site situated 11 00:00:45,280 --> 00:00:48,600 Speaker 1: in the mountains of southeastern Turkey. It's along the lines 12 00:00:48,600 --> 00:00:53,160 Speaker 1: of Stonehenge, but about six thousand years older. The name 13 00:00:53,320 --> 00:00:56,080 Speaker 1: roughly means pop belly hill in Turkish, which is a 14 00:00:56,080 --> 00:00:59,480 Speaker 1: pretty good descriptor for the site. It was discovered by 15 00:00:59,520 --> 00:01:02,920 Speaker 1: a team of American and Turkish archaeologists in the nineteen sixties, 16 00:01:03,440 --> 00:01:07,319 Speaker 1: but their discovery of limestone slabs and flint artifacts wasn't 17 00:01:07,360 --> 00:01:10,520 Speaker 1: recognized from what it was until nineteen ninety four, when 18 00:01:10,560 --> 00:01:13,760 Speaker 1: a German archaeologist by the name of Klaus Schmidt realized 19 00:01:13,800 --> 00:01:18,880 Speaker 1: its significance. It's a mysterious site to this day, partly 20 00:01:18,959 --> 00:01:21,840 Speaker 1: because we can make so few assumptions about the people 21 00:01:21,920 --> 00:01:25,960 Speaker 1: who built it. For the article this episode is based 22 00:01:26,000 --> 00:01:28,960 Speaker 1: on How Stuff Works. Spoke via email with Jens Natrov 23 00:01:29,160 --> 00:01:32,880 Speaker 1: back in twenty twenty. He's an archaeologist who at the 24 00:01:32,920 --> 00:01:35,440 Speaker 1: time had been working on the go Beckley Tepe project 25 00:01:35,600 --> 00:01:41,480 Speaker 1: for some fourteen years. He said, monuments, generally speaking, are 26 00:01:41,560 --> 00:01:44,880 Speaker 1: a particular example of architecture standing out due to their 27 00:01:44,959 --> 00:01:48,880 Speaker 1: size and or the effort necessary to create them. Go 28 00:01:48,960 --> 00:01:52,480 Speaker 1: Beckley Tepe is a noteworthy example in this context, since 29 00:01:52,520 --> 00:01:55,320 Speaker 1: the monuments there marked the first yet known example of 30 00:01:55,440 --> 00:01:59,320 Speaker 1: monumental architecture, and that they were constructed in a cultural 31 00:01:59,400 --> 00:02:06,240 Speaker 1: context of still highly mobile hunter gatherers. The site comprises 32 00:02:06,320 --> 00:02:10,280 Speaker 1: over twenty limestone structures or buildings, many of which are 33 00:02:10,360 --> 00:02:14,959 Speaker 1: round in shape and built with sturdy walls. Inside those 34 00:02:15,000 --> 00:02:19,120 Speaker 1: walls stand t shaped limestone pillars, usually laid out in 35 00:02:19,160 --> 00:02:21,560 Speaker 1: a pattern, with two large pillars at the center of 36 00:02:21,560 --> 00:02:25,480 Speaker 1: the structure, surrounded by smaller ones around the edges. Often 37 00:02:25,600 --> 00:02:30,160 Speaker 1: built into the walls and incorporated into stone benches. There 38 00:02:30,200 --> 00:02:34,400 Speaker 1: are some two hundred pillars in total. The tallest are 39 00:02:34,480 --> 00:02:38,160 Speaker 1: sixteen feet high or about five meters, and they weigh 40 00:02:38,240 --> 00:02:43,079 Speaker 1: between seven and ten tons each. The pillars are covered 41 00:02:43,120 --> 00:02:46,440 Speaker 1: with all manner of engravings, most of which depict animals, 42 00:02:46,840 --> 00:02:51,160 Speaker 1: though not always the animals that you'd necessarily expect. In 43 00:02:51,200 --> 00:02:54,760 Speaker 1: addition to game animals like gazelles and boores, the pillars 44 00:02:54,760 --> 00:03:00,520 Speaker 1: depict foxes, snakes, lions, cranes, vultures, spiders, and square orpians. 45 00:03:01,720 --> 00:03:05,080 Speaker 1: The pictographs seemed to be dominated by animals that wouldn't 46 00:03:05,120 --> 00:03:08,560 Speaker 1: have been particularly good to eat. Some of the pillars 47 00:03:08,639 --> 00:03:13,120 Speaker 1: themselves seem to represent larger than life anthropomorphic sculptures, with 48 00:03:13,440 --> 00:03:16,800 Speaker 1: carvings that give them arms, belt with a loincloth, and 49 00:03:16,960 --> 00:03:21,440 Speaker 1: a head with no face. There are other free standing statues, 50 00:03:21,840 --> 00:03:24,480 Speaker 1: for example, a life sized one of a wild boar. 51 00:03:25,680 --> 00:03:30,080 Speaker 1: Some carvings and statues were decorated with pigments. The round 52 00:03:30,080 --> 00:03:33,040 Speaker 1: buildings that they're in range from about twenty feet across 53 00:03:33,120 --> 00:03:36,520 Speaker 1: to over sixty five feet that's six to twenty meters. 54 00:03:37,680 --> 00:03:41,320 Speaker 1: It's unknown whether they would have had roofs attached. These 55 00:03:41,360 --> 00:03:45,680 Speaker 1: structures seem to be what's called special purpose communal buildings, 56 00:03:45,720 --> 00:03:49,320 Speaker 1: structures that were not regularly inhabited, or weren't used for 57 00:03:49,360 --> 00:03:54,320 Speaker 1: what's considered daily household kind of tasks. Instead, they were 58 00:03:54,360 --> 00:03:58,680 Speaker 1: perhaps temples, sanctuaries, or other places for dispersed groups to 59 00:03:58,800 --> 00:04:03,760 Speaker 1: gather at appointed time times. It seems go Beckley Tepe 60 00:04:04,000 --> 00:04:06,640 Speaker 1: was a work in process for a couple thousand years, 61 00:04:06,880 --> 00:04:09,920 Speaker 1: from around nine thousand, five hundred to eight thousand, two 62 00:04:10,000 --> 00:04:14,880 Speaker 1: hundred BCE. During that time, and especially towards the end 63 00:04:14,880 --> 00:04:18,719 Speaker 1: of it, people were building settlements, raising animals like goats 64 00:04:18,720 --> 00:04:22,800 Speaker 1: and sheep, and cultivating crops. But from what archaeologists have 65 00:04:22,800 --> 00:04:25,680 Speaker 1: been able to surmise from the side itself, the people 66 00:04:25,680 --> 00:04:30,279 Speaker 1: who built it were still primarily hunter gatherers. There's no 67 00:04:30,400 --> 00:04:33,520 Speaker 1: direct evidence that they kept livestock or planted their own food, 68 00:04:33,880 --> 00:04:36,320 Speaker 1: and their tools and vessels were made of stone but 69 00:04:36,480 --> 00:04:41,160 Speaker 1: not pottery or metal. When excavations were in their early stages, 70 00:04:41,360 --> 00:04:44,600 Speaker 1: researchers like Schmidt theorized that it was a monument of 71 00:04:44,640 --> 00:04:48,480 Speaker 1: religious or other cultural significance used by peoples who never 72 00:04:48,600 --> 00:04:53,080 Speaker 1: settled it. It was an astounding discovery because the assumption 73 00:04:53,240 --> 00:04:56,400 Speaker 1: had always been that people who were scrapping for resources 74 00:04:56,520 --> 00:05:01,599 Speaker 1: pre agriculture wouldn't have wasted time building monuments. There was 75 00:05:01,640 --> 00:05:05,640 Speaker 1: even a theory that perhaps religion drove settlement, not the 76 00:05:05,680 --> 00:05:10,040 Speaker 1: other way around. But in the thirty years since, and 77 00:05:10,320 --> 00:05:12,760 Speaker 1: even in the past five years since, how stuff works 78 00:05:12,760 --> 00:05:16,559 Speaker 1: spoke with Noutrough. Given more discoveries and research at the site, 79 00:05:17,120 --> 00:05:21,360 Speaker 1: the picture is a little more complicated. Archaeologists at goe 80 00:05:21,360 --> 00:05:25,560 Speaker 1: Beecley Tepe have found grindstones, mortars, and carved stone vessels 81 00:05:25,600 --> 00:05:28,760 Speaker 1: that were used to process foods like grains and lagomes, 82 00:05:29,200 --> 00:05:32,800 Speaker 1: which we know because of residues left on them. One 83 00:05:32,839 --> 00:05:35,400 Speaker 1: stone vessel that held grain is big enough to have 84 00:05:35,480 --> 00:05:39,080 Speaker 1: made some forty three gallons of porridge or perhaps beer 85 00:05:39,120 --> 00:05:42,280 Speaker 1: at a go that's about one hundred and sixty three liters. 86 00:05:43,320 --> 00:05:47,039 Speaker 1: Perhaps it was only ever used at infrequent parties, but 87 00:05:47,200 --> 00:05:50,239 Speaker 1: even if that's the case, it indicates that the cook 88 00:05:50,520 --> 00:05:55,200 Speaker 1: or brewer had access to a lot of grain. Maybe 89 00:05:55,240 --> 00:05:58,400 Speaker 1: they were really adept at gathering wild grain, or maybe 90 00:05:58,400 --> 00:06:01,680 Speaker 1: they were working on cultivating crops that weren't quite genetically 91 00:06:01,720 --> 00:06:06,159 Speaker 1: domesticated yet. And other structures have been uncovered there too, 92 00:06:06,839 --> 00:06:11,719 Speaker 1: including lots of smaller rectangular buildings with fireplaces and tools 93 00:06:11,760 --> 00:06:15,880 Speaker 1: that indicate that they were probably homes. The teams have 94 00:06:15,920 --> 00:06:19,039 Speaker 1: recently found other indications of domestic life at the site, 95 00:06:19,320 --> 00:06:22,599 Speaker 1: including middens and large pieces of carved bedrock that were 96 00:06:22,680 --> 00:06:26,560 Speaker 1: likely used to collect and store rainwater. If they were 97 00:06:26,560 --> 00:06:29,440 Speaker 1: collecting rainwater. That clears up one of the original doubts 98 00:06:29,480 --> 00:06:31,760 Speaker 1: about the site ever being used as a settlement because 99 00:06:31,760 --> 00:06:34,760 Speaker 1: it is about three miles or five kilometers away from 100 00:06:34,800 --> 00:06:40,080 Speaker 1: the nearest stream. A Natroft said, while the early monumentality 101 00:06:40,120 --> 00:06:43,320 Speaker 1: of the site is definitely impressive to me, it's the 102 00:06:43,360 --> 00:06:46,520 Speaker 1: social implications at the doorstep of one of the crucial 103 00:06:46,560 --> 00:06:49,160 Speaker 1: points in the history of our species is what makes 104 00:06:49,200 --> 00:06:54,359 Speaker 1: this research so fascinating. When go Beckley Tepe was being 105 00:06:54,400 --> 00:06:58,640 Speaker 1: built and rebuilt over those couple thousand years, humans were 106 00:06:58,640 --> 00:07:01,760 Speaker 1: in the process of transitioning from hunting and gathering to 107 00:07:02,200 --> 00:07:06,960 Speaker 1: agriculture and keeping livestock. The site shows what might be 108 00:07:07,040 --> 00:07:11,240 Speaker 1: a bridge between the two ways of life. Some researchers 109 00:07:11,320 --> 00:07:14,440 Speaker 1: even think the site, with all its engravings of wild 110 00:07:14,480 --> 00:07:18,760 Speaker 1: and dangerous animals, might represent a sort of cultural pushback 111 00:07:18,840 --> 00:07:22,640 Speaker 1: against encroaching civilization, that it was a monument to the 112 00:07:22,680 --> 00:07:27,480 Speaker 1: old ways. We may never know what really went on 113 00:07:27,640 --> 00:07:31,040 Speaker 1: at Goebecley Tepe. One theory goes that it was a 114 00:07:31,200 --> 00:07:34,680 Speaker 1: human skull cult that's based on fragments of skulls found 115 00:07:34,760 --> 00:07:38,679 Speaker 1: there that were carved, painted, and otherwise modified after death. 116 00:07:39,840 --> 00:07:42,640 Speaker 1: But whatever the case, it seems that this was a 117 00:07:42,680 --> 00:07:47,240 Speaker 1: place built and maintained by a perhaps transitioning hunter. Gathers 118 00:07:47,240 --> 00:07:51,720 Speaker 1: society to meet up, trade information and goods, and find 119 00:07:51,800 --> 00:07:55,560 Speaker 1: romantic partners, share life hacks, and make friends who could 120 00:07:55,560 --> 00:07:59,360 Speaker 1: help out in a pinch. And if they were performing 121 00:07:59,440 --> 00:08:07,840 Speaker 1: skull cults ceremonies, what better way to build community. Today's 122 00:08:07,840 --> 00:08:10,480 Speaker 1: episode is based on the article go Beckley Tepe the 123 00:08:10,520 --> 00:08:12,960 Speaker 1: Temple that hints at what humans were up to eleven 124 00:08:13,000 --> 00:08:16,640 Speaker 1: thousand years ago on HowStuffWorks dot Com, written by Jesslin Shields. 125 00:08:17,080 --> 00:08:19,600 Speaker 1: Brain Stuff is production of iHeartRadio in partnership with how 126 00:08:19,640 --> 00:08:22,720 Speaker 1: stuffworks dot Com and is produced by Tyler Klang. Four 127 00:08:22,760 --> 00:08:26,760 Speaker 1: more podcasts my heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, 128 00:08:26,840 --> 00:08:28,760 Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.