So Fair a House

2011/09/28 by Edward B. Banning · 5 citations
Earth and Planetary Sciences · Arts and Humanities · #Archaeology and ancient environmental studies #Ancient Near East History #Ancient Egypt and Archaeology #Prehistory #Pottery #Archaeology #Cult #History #Identification (biology) #Ancient history

paper · doi:10.1086/661207

openalex publication_date 2011/09/28 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/06/24

Abstract

Archaeologists have proposed that quite a number of structures dating to the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A and B in southwest Asia were nondomestic ritual buildings, sometimes described specifically as temples or shrines, and these figure large in some interpretations of social change in the Near Eastern Neolithic. Yet the evidence supporting the identification of cult buildings is often equivocal or depends on ethnocentric distinctions between sacred and profane spaces. This paper explores the case of Göbekli Tepe, a large Pre-Pottery Neolithic site in Turkey that its excavator claims consisted only of temples, to illustrate weaknesses in some kinds of claims about Neolithic sacred spaces and to explore some of the problems of identifying prehistoric ritual. Consideration of the evidence suggests the alternative hypothesis that the buildings at Göbekli Tepe may actually be houses, albeit ones that are rich in symbolic content.

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Cited by

• Geometry and Architectural Planning at Göbekli Tepe, Turkey
• Modified human crania from Göbekli Tepe provide evidence for a new form of Neolithic skull cult
• THE FORMATION OF EARLY NEOLITHIC COMMUNITIES IN THE CENTRAL ZAGROS: AN 11,500 YEAR‐OLD COMMUNAL STRUCTURE AT ASIAB
• Göbekli Tepe [wikipedia]
• History of Mesopotamia [wikipedia]

Related

• The role of cult and feasting in the emergence of Neolithic communities. New evidence from Göbekli Tepe, south-eastern Turkey
• Modified human crania from Göbekli Tepe provide evidence for a new form of Neolithic skull cult
• Göbekli Tepe – the Stone Age Sanctuaries. New results of ongoing excavations with a special focus on sculptures and high reliefs
• Göbekli Tepe, Turkey. A brief summary of research at a new World Heritage Site (2015–2019)
• A small-scale cult centre in Southeast Turkey: Harbetsuvan Tepesi