The Göbekli Tepe “totem pole” : a first discussion of an autumn 2010 discovery (PPN, southeastern Turkey)
During the 2009 excavation season, the head of an animal sculpture made of limestone was identified on the surface of the southern slope of the south-eastern hillock of Göbekli Tepe (Schmidt, forthcoming). All attempts made to remove this sculpture from the surface soil failed.Subsequently, a small sounding was excavated in order to remove the head and to document its context. This sounding revealed that, in actual fact, we were dealing with what appeared to be the head of a large sculpture that was set in a stone wall. In 2010 a larger part of the same area (L9-46), measuring 5.00 x 6.00 metres, was excavated in order to better understand and to document the architectural context of this find. Only now have we realized that this relatively large sculpture is reminiscent of the “totem poles” known from the northwest coast of North America. It had been set in the north-eastern wall of a rectangular room and was not visible originally due to the wall completely covering the pole.
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Göbeklitepe
