When we imagine the Pre-Pottery Neolithic people that lived between 9 and 12,000 years ago, for some reason, we can often think of them as a somewhat serious people, building large and sometimes extravagant communal buildings, methodically hunting, gathering and processing their food, working hard for their strict settlement leaders by day and taking part in intense, spiritual shamanic rituals by night.
It’s easy to forget that these people were human. What’s to say they were not just like you and I? We know they were brewing and drinking beer, and feasting on some tasty meats, bread and crops. Yes, all indications showed they worked hard, but they must have also had forms of entertainment.
What did these people do to entertain themselves? Whilst pondering the question, I remembered some of the finds from the amazing site of Tell ‘Abr 3 in Syria. For more information about this site, see my video from September 2024: [ Ссылка ]
It was occupied at the same time at Gobekli Tepe and Karahan Tepe, and it contains some incredible examples of architecture and artefacts from this time, including , six hard, stone balls, all different colours, but the same size, polished and scattered on the floor.
How they were used is a mystery. Did they have a domestic use? Were they heating stones used in cooking? Were they ritual objects? Were they decorative? Or could they be pieces from an ancient game? Watch this video to learn more.
All images are either my own, are taken from Google Earth, Google Images or the sources listed below. Please subscribe to Ancient Architects, Like the video, and please leave a comment below. Thank you.
Video Contents:
0:00 Introduction
0:26 The People of the Pre-Pottery Neolithic
2:05 Tell 'Abr 3 Revisited
3:36 Special Building M1
5:42 Six Stone Balls Discovered
7:09 How Were the Stone Balls Used?
10:04 More Stone Balls in the Pre-Pottery Neolithic
12:09 Stone Balls Interpretations
13:38 Were the Stone Balls Used For Entertainment?
15:56 Concluding Remarks
Sources:
Plant Food Processing Tools at Early Neolithic Göbekli Tepe, by Laura Dietrich: [ Ссылка ]
Tell 'Abr 3 (text), by Thaer Yartah: [ Ссылка ]
Tell 'Abr 3 (images), by Thaer Yartah: [ Ссылка ]
Stone Balls from Salat Cami Yani and Hasankeyf Hoyuk, Neolithic Sites on the Upper Tigris, by Osamu Maeda: [ Ссылка ]
The Tepe Telegrams Blog: [ Ссылка ]
The Neolithic Cemetery at Tell el-Kerkh by Akira Tsuneki, Naoko Hironaga, Sari Jammo: [ Ссылка ]
Non-Formal Sling Balls? Evidence of Geofact Commodification at LPPNB Ba‘ja, South Jordan, by Hans Georg K. Gebel: [ Ссылка ]
#ancientarchitects #gobeklitepe #prehistory
