12,000-year-old Göbeklitepe burials explain scattered bones
The discovery of the first two intact burials at Göbeklitepe explains that hundreds of scattered human bone fragments across the site likely originated from disturbed ordinary subfloor burials moved by erosion.
summary is enough A quick read explains how ordinary subfloor burials and erosion resolved a long-standing archaeological puzzle at Göbeklitepe.
summary
Archaeologists at Göbeklitepe in Turkey discovered the first two intact Pre-Pottery Neolithic burials beneath building floors, containing multiple bodies placed in pits. Soil pressure, rodent activity, and calcareous deposits heavily fragmented the bones over millennia. The study shows that hundreds of isolated bone fragments found scattered across the site downslope likely came from similar subfloor graves disturbed by erosion and mound shifting. This resolves a long-standing debate, suggesting mundane erosion rather than a singular bizarre ritual or sacrifice accounts for the scattered remains.
key points
- Researchers found the first two intact burials at Göbeklitepe, dating to between 8,700 and 8,000 BCE.
- Bone fragmentation was primarily caused by soil pressure, calcareous deposits, and rodent activity rather than ritual mutilation.
- Erosion and slope movement naturally transported remains from higher subfloor graves into lower monumental buildings over millennia.
who should read it
Readers interested in archaeology, ancient history, and Neolithic social structures.
discussion positive
consensus
Commenters find the mundane erosion explanation refreshing, noting it punctures earlier sensational theories like human sacrifice or skull cults.
pushback
Some point out that individual ordinary burials do not rule out other unique funerary rites entirely, and note that the site's interpretation shifts constantly as data emerges.
More evidence for David Graeber and David Wengrow's reading of the site.
Between Göbekli Tepe, Poverty Point, Cahokia, and other sites we have pretty good evidence of complex urban societies that did not rely on agriculture. And even in these few sites we have abundant evidence of diversity of social structures from radically egalitarian to hierarchical
The linear narrative of the evolution of human societies is dead
Connects the findings to David Graeber and David Wengrow's theories on complex, non-agricultural hierarchical societies.
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