Göbekli Tepe's pillars are ancestors, not gods
Some of the 11,000-year-old pillars at Göbekli Tepe have arms, hands and belts carved on them, so they are giant figures. Klaus Schmidt, who dug the site, saw it as a ritual center, and many writers since have called the figures the first gods. Our theory: they stand for honored ancestors or the founders of the group that built the place.
What fits
- They wear belts and loincloths, like people, with no wings or animal heads.
- Many later Stone Age sites in the region honored the dead and kept skulls.
What does not
- The pillars are far bigger than any person and have no faces.
- Wild animals carved around them suggest a spirit world, not family history.
Your turn: Gods, ancestors, spirits, or something we have not thought of?
Read the files first
This is a theory for discussion, labeled as ours. The files linked above say what the record actually shows.
Updated