Abstract
This paper is a sequel to the author’s paper in reference [1]. Material here is not duplicative, thus the two papers need be read in sequence. In the earlier paper evidence was presented which established that Gobekli Tepe’s Layer III (for structure D) part of the monument, the oldest structure (excavated thus far) at Gobekli Tepe (GT), is post PPNB construction. This paper adds more to that evidence, and proposes a date for GT’s initial Phase for structure D: late Mesolithic. Specifically, the paper expands on refuting the generally accepted dating of GT, evidence that is based on carbon-14 dating of enclosure C, set at 7560 – 7370 BC which, as pointed out in [1], was in turn based on contaminated evidence from the fill. This paper also expands on the CentralPlace Theory notions from Economic Geography first suggested there, in placing GT within a spatial and temporal context. Basically it establishes that a complex cultural center the size of GT could not have appeared in a vacuum and at the time period of the Younger Dryas.
