GÖBEKLİTEPE
Asia Minor is home to some of the world`s greatest archaeological treasures, and in the Southeastern plateau of Anatolia sits one of them and most mysterious of all: Göbekli Tepe (= potbelly hill in Turkish). It was given this name due to its smooth, round and soft contours of hill that rise ca. 800 m over the sea level. Six miles from Urfa, an ancient city in Turkey, it is one of the world`s most iconic monumental sites which dates to the 10th millennium BCE and therefore predates the Neolithic Tower of Jericho by ca. 1000 years, Stonehenge by 6,000 years and pyramids by 7,000 years.
Göbekli Tepe captures the minds and hearts of travelers, visitors and academics. Who would not be captivated by it? It has drawn the attention of archaeologists, anthropologists and historians and become one of the most studied sites of all antiquity. Its breathtaking and mysterious megalithic rings and circles of mesmeric T-shaped monoliths display level of sophistication and artistic achievement which were unmatched for thousands of years. Only after Göbekli Tepe and Jericho followed by the megalithic complexes in the Mediterranean sphere (e.g., the Temples of Malta), along the rise of the great civilizations of the ancient world, namely Sumer, Egypt, and Babylon, humankind would be able to create such monumental architectures.
This project aims to virtually reproduce the site using 3D technologies such as photogrammetry, computer vision, 3D image modeling and virtual reality. During the interpretation stage of the excavation findings, reliability, accessibility and elaboration of the digital data and models are imperative.
The 3D reconstruction of Göbekli Tepe is a many faceted process which extends the data and visual records of the excavation site far beyond its geographical location. It allows the archaeologists to develop deeper, more involved and sophisticated understanding of the whole site as well as individual construction objects.
These digital models are also valuable as they are able to “freeze” the state of the monuments as to the date they were created thousands of years ago and keep them forever as in their “hay days.”
In other words, digital models enable archaeologists to virtually revisit Göbekli Tepe and observe its monumental structures as they were in their original states 11, 000 years ago.
The digital modeling of Göbekli Tepe provides the opportunity to document the information in a more accurate and accessible way. Moreover, 3D visualization will make the excavated site more interesting for the wider public.
In this paper Göbekli Tepe is revisited. Answers to questions about it are sought with the help of 3D models.
Figure 1. Aerial View
Figure 2
Figure 3. Lion Relief
Figure 4. Wild Bull Relief
Figure 5. Wild Boar Relief
Figure 6. Snakes Relief
Figure 7
Figure 8. Gobeklitepe 3D photogrammetric modeling
Figure 9. Gobeklitepe 3D photogrammetric modeling VR Spot 1
Figure 10. Gobeklitepe 3D photogrammetric modeling VR Spot 2
Figure 11. Gobeklitepe 3D photogrammetric modeling VR Spot 3
Figure 12. Gobeklitepe VR Visualisation
