READING PASSAGE 1
You should spend 20 minutes on Questions 1-13, which are based on Reading
Passage 1 below.
Gobekli Tepe: a remarkable discovery
Between roughly 10,000 and 11,000 BC, in a remote corner of Mesopotamia, now in
modern-day Turkey, a people who pre-dated the invention of the wheel and lacked even
basic technology such as metal tools, built an enormous complex of stone pillars called
Gobekli Tepe (Potbelly Hill). To achieve this, they shaped blocks of limestone into pillars
at a stone quarry. They then moved each pillar, weighing between 11 and 22 tons, a
distance of 100 to 500 metres from the quarry to the Gobekli Tepe site. There, the
pillars were arranged in rings, which usually consisted of eight upright pillars. Each pillar
comprised two stones placed together in the form of a 'T'. Typically, six of these pillars,
connected by low walls, made up the circumference of each ring and two taller pillars
were situated in the centre. The tallest pillars reached almost five metres in height, and
the largest rings were almost 20 metres in diameter.
To date, nearly 200 pillars have been found by archaeologists at the site. A menagerie
of animals, including bulls, foxes, snakes, spiders, donkeys, gazelles and lions had
been carved in relief on the stones. There are also strange depictions of human-like
forms on the stones. Experts have noted that art from other sites around the world
created at roughly the same time typically depicts animals in herds, while at Gobekli
Tepe, the images are of individual fierce-looking beasts.
Although archaeologists had been aware since the 1960s that there were old limestone
slabs at Gobekli Tepe, these were for years generally dismissed as nothing more than a
jumble of broken stones of fairly recent origin and uncertain purpose, and the site was
essentially ignored. Then in 1994, German archaeologist Klaus Schmidt took a closer
look and realised that the unusually rounded appearance of the hill was something that
'only man could have created' and archaeologists began studying the site more
carefully.
In addition to traditional excavation, which has uncovered a treasure trove of flint tools
as well as four rings of pillars, geomagnetic surveys were also conducted. The surveys
revealed 16 additional rings buried in the hill that had been left undisturbed. It appears
that every now and then, ancient builders filled in a ring, pillars and all, with dirt, gravel,
flint and old tools. They then erected a new circle over or near the old, buried one.
There are differing opinions about the purpose of Gobekli Tepe. The stones display
prominent depictions of vultures, which are birds commonly associated with the dead,
and it is possible that Gobekli Tepe was built as an ancient cemetery. However, some
people say that the great age of the stones and the lack of any writing on them make
interpreting the builders' motivations virtually impossible.
Of the many discoveries made at the site, perhaps the most intriguing is that the
builders do not appear to have become settled before constructing the monuments. The
indications are, in fact, that they were nomadic hunter-gatherers. This is remarkable
because, up until this discovery, most experts believed that in order to build massive
structures like those found at Gobekli Tepe, a society needed to have the organisation
and resources that could only come about through people living in a settled agricultural
community. The evidence found at Gobekli Tepe, however, appears to seriously
challenge this conventional wisdom.
Archaeologists have been digging at the site for more than 20 years, and have yet to
find evidence of a well-established ancient settlement such as houses, hearths, cooking
sites, or rubbish dumps. However, they have found 100,000 fragments of the bones of
wild game animals like boar, gazelle and deer, which strongly suggests the site was
used by hunters. And, unlike the dry landscape found around Gobekli Tepe today,
11,000 years ago the region was a paradise that would have provided ample natural
nourishment. It would have been full of fruit and nuts, all readily available to be collected
by gatherers without the need for farming.
All of the evidence suggests that these vast monuments at Gobekli Tepe were not built
after a settled way of life had been adopted, but that the process of construction itself
eventually caused the builders to abandon hunting and gathering. It seems that a large
number of the enormous population required to build the complex eventually chose to
remain nearby. Only after the monuments were finished did they adopt a more permanent
lifestyle. They began cultivating wild grasses in order to feed themselves and in this way
started basic agricultural practices. In fact, the original strains of the modern wheat that
people farm today have been traced to an ancient village only 32 kilometres from Gobekli
Tepe. In addition, there are indications that the first pigs raised in domestic conditions
were kept at a village about 100 kilometres away.
