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Climatic characteristics in the wider surroundings of Göbekli Tepe during (a) Last Glacial Maximum (21 ka BP), (b) Middle Holocene (6 ka BP), (c) Pre-Industrial period (0 ka BP). Data are derived from climate model experiments (PMIP III), Köppen-Geiger classification conducted by Willmes et al. (see [24] for further details and raw data of classification); (d) Modern climate characteristics based on [25]; MAP = mean annual precipitation, MAT = mean annual temperature, T hot = temperature of the hottest month, T cold = temperature of the coldest month, T mon10 = number of months where the temperature is above 10 • C, P sdry = precipitation of the driest month in summer, P wdry = precipitation of the driest month in winter, P swet = precipitation of the wettest month in summer, P wwet = precipitation of the wettest month in winter, P threshold = varies according to the following rules (if 70% of MAP occurs in winter then P threshold = 2 * MAT, if 70% of MAP occurs in summer then P threshold = 2 * MAT + 28, otherwise P threshold = 2 * MAT + 14). Summer (winter) is defined as the warmer (cooler) six month period of October, November, December, January, February, March, and April, Mai, June, July, August, September (after [26]).
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This contribution provides a first characterization of the environmental development for the surroundings of the UNESCO World Heritage site of Göbekli Tepe. We base our analyses on a literature review that covers the environmental components of prevailing bedrock and soils, model-and proxy-based climatic development, and vegetation. The spatio-temp...
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Context 1
... III climate model experiments enable the reconstruction of climatic characteristics in the wider study area for different time periods (Figure 4). The model results suggest that the area around Göbekli Tepe in the Last Glacial Maximum (21 ka BP) was characterized by a summer dry, cold climate (Dsa after Köppen-Geiger). ...
Context 2
... III climate model experiments enable the reconstruction of climatic characteristics in the wider study area for different time periods (Figure 4). The model results suggest that the area around Göbekli Tepe in the Last Glacial Maximum (21 ka BP) was characterized by a summer dry, cold climate (Dsa after Köppen-Geiger). ...
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... The site (Fig. 5) is now protected by two permanent shelters, started in 2016, meant to protect from wind, sun and rain (Notroff 2018); however studies or monitoring of environmental conditions before, during or after the erection of the shelters are not available, and therefore the decision and design of the shelters appear to have been made on general information on the surrounding environment besides other considerations. A paper by Knitter et al. (2019) gives a brief description of the climate of the Şanliurfa province where the site is located, stating that the summers are dry and hot (mean July temperature 30 °C) and the winters cool and wet (mean temperature in January: 4-5 °C). Rainfall is said to occur primarily in autumn, and it can snow in winter. ...
This paper gives an overview of some of the current approaches to the preservation of UNESCO World Heritage Sites in the Mediterranean, represented by some of the most important archaeological remains, with a special focus on the Prehistoric Temples of Malta, and the key approaches to their conservation in the nineteenth, twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Preserving and conserving such sites, sometimes consisting of complex arrays of materials, is a challenge and approaches over time have varied. The lead example is the group of Temples of Malta because they (1) are made of porous limestones particularly susceptible to salt weathering; (2) have been exposed to adverse (exposed, marine) climatic conditions for millennia; (3) have suffered material deterioration over time leading also occasionally to structural problems; (4) have undergone various restoration attempts over the decades, not all particularly successful; (5) have resulted in complex decision-making processes leading to their sheltering; and (6) are facing (like all other sites) climate change, where new action/s may be required. This paper will therefore take us on a journey, led by the example of these Temples, to look also at various other iconic UNESCO sites in relation to past, present, and even future threats, including climate change, as well as approaches to conservation/restoration over the years, with indications for future decision makers on actions to take after holistically understanding the risks and threats.
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... Around 9,500 years ago, city people began to domesticate cats as a means of combating pests like mice in their immediate surroundings. This practice was the beginning of the "environmental sanitation period" in areas where people lived, which played a crucial role in maintaining good health (9). The concept of "One Health" was based on scientific observations during the period of the Greek philosopher Hippocrates (460-370 BC). ...
The "One Health" concept is a universal approach to sustainably balancing and optimizing the health of humans, animals, and ecosystems. This approach is based on the health of humans, domestic and wild animals, and plants in a wider environment in which self-renewable ecosystems exist, with essential characteristics of integration, unifying and holistic perspective. Toxoplasmosis, one of the most common zoonotic infections in both terrestrial and oceanic ecosystems in the world, is an ideal model disease for the "One Health" approach. Toxoplasmosis is a zoonotic disease caused by the obligate intracellular pathogen protozoan Toxoplasma gondii. In the life cycle of T. gondii, the definitive host is domestic cats and felines, and the intermediate hosts are all mammals (including humans), birds and reptiles. The infected cats have primary importance and play a crucial role in the contamination of habitats in the ecosystems with T. gondii oocysts. Thus, ecosystems with domestic cats and stray cats are contaminated with cat feces infected with T. gondii oocytes. T. gondii positivity has been scientifically demonstrated in all warm-blooded animals in terrestrial and aquatic habitats. The disease causes deaths and abortions in farm animals, resulting in great economic losses. However, the disease causes great problems in humans, especially pregnant women. During pregnancy, it may have effects such as congenital infections, lesions in the eye and brain of the fetus, premature birth, intrauterine growth retardation, fever, pneumonia, thrombocytopenia, ocular lesions, encephalitis, and abortion. The mechanism of death and abortion of the fetus in a pregnant woman infected with T. gondii occurs as a result of complete disruption of the maternal immune mechanism. The struggle against toxoplasmosis requires the universal collaboration and coordination of the World Organization for Animal Health, the World Health Organization and the World Food Organization in the "One Health" concept and integrative approaches of all responsible disciplines. Establishing universal environmental safety with the prevention and control of toxoplasmosis requires the annihilation of the feces of the infected cats using suitable techniques firstly. Then routinely, the monitoring and treatment of T. gondii positivity in cats, avoiding contact with contaminated foods and materials, and development of modern treatment and vaccine options. Particularly, mandatory monitoring or screening of T. gondii positivity during the pregnancy period in humans should be done. It would be beneficial to replace the French model, especially in the monitoring of disease in humans. In this article, the ecology of toxoplasmosis was reviewed at the base of the "One Health" concept.
... 9500-8000 BCE) (Dietrich et al. 2013;Kinzel and Clare 2020), in present-day south-eastern Turkey ( Fig. 16.1), is treated in the literature as a unique central cult site whose exposed locality granted control over the region in which the beginning of plant domestication is considered to be located. The ca. 300 m in diameter and 15 m high mound is today characterised by several knolls divided by depressions, surrounded by a limestone plateau with very scarce vegetation and almost no soil cover (Knitter et al. 2019). First reported during a survey by the University of Istanbul, the Oriental Institute and Department of Anthropology at the University of Chicago in the 1960s (Benedict 1980), excavations at Göbekli Tepe began in 1995 by Klaus Schmidt (2000) from the German Archaeological Institute. ...
... The high-altitude location of the site (relative to its surroundings) may also suggest that it was planned to have good visibility (Fig. 1b). However, we also need to take into consideration that at the beginning of the Holocene environmental conditions may have been different to today (Knitter et al. 2019;Nykamp et al. 2020a, b). ...
Göbeklitepe is an UNESCO World Heritage site located in SE Turkey, dating back to 11.7 ka BCE. It consists of laterally aligned, circular rooms without doors and T-shaped limestone columns up to 5 m high, placed in the middle and in the walls of the rooms. Most columns contain animal drawings. Studies have suggested that the site had a special function, e.g., as a temple. Following ~ 2 ka of use, the site was deliberately filled in with stones. Because the site is older than the beginning of the agricultural period, it is unclear what civilization constructed such large structures with only hand axes and what the meaning of the figures on the columns is. Here, the Göbeklitepe stone geology is discussed for the first time. We explain how the columns were produced from Early Miocene Fırat Formation limestones, while the filling stones originated from the thinly bedded Eocene Gaziantep Formation. Both formations are Midyat Group marine units that formed on the northern margins of the Arabian platform during the last stages (Eocene-Early Miocene) of the Neotethys. The lateral equivalents of these units are the building stones of several historical sites in Middle Eastern and African countries, like Turkey. The building stones have traditionally been named according to the production localities, i.e., Şanlıurfa Stone, regardless of the geological characteristics. We suggest emphasizing the geological diversity in names to improve the sustainability and reliability of the production and commercial use of natural stones.
... Furthermore, on-site and off-site effects caused by deforestation and tillage such as erosion and colluviation, or reactivation of dunes altered the natural geomorphology. In ancient cultures from the Balkans to Central Asia, the settlements and ritual sites their selves, the so-called tells or tepes, constitute earthen mounds such as Tell Yunatsite in Bulgaria (Sedov et al., 2017), Göbekli Tepe in south-eastern Turkey (Knitter et al., 2019), or Tappeh Rivi in north-eastern Iran (Thomalsky, 2017). In most cases, the natural geomorphology, the anthropogenically created relief and the resulting relief forms had not merely a spiritual or cultural value. ...
Seventy-five years after World War II, the legacy of the last war in Germany is still visible in near-natural and anthropogenically shaped urban and rural soilscapes of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Area (BMA). Shooting ranges, trenches, and artificial mountains consisting of war debris can be identified across the study area. Our study has been carried out to show how acts of war influence the pedosphere and the geomorphology in the study area. Analysis of war-related landforms and soil profiles in the BMA has been conducted to achieve morphological and pedological characteristics of “soils of war”. Emphasis was placed on geochemical investigations on shooting ranges and war debris soils as acts of war may induce elevated soil heavy metal contents.
Our study displays how humankind, by relocating and reworking natural soil material and depositing war debris, substantially altered the rural and urban landscapes within the BMA. Approximately, 4% of the BMA have been used for indirect or direct military purposes. Our research revealed that “soils of war” on anthropogenic landforms show distinct soil physical and chemical characteristics as well as pedoturbations. We furthermore found out that “soils of war” often contain elevated amounts of heavy metals. On the other hand, these ruderal soils are often habitats for endangered species of the red list and can provide specific ecosystem services. As studies on “landforms and soils of war” in urban areas are still insufficient, further efforts are needed in the future to research the characteristics of these specific landforms, evaluate their ecological risk but also the potential worth of protection.
... 32 Although it is commonly stated that the view towards the Harran plain was important for the foraging community, recent studies on view axes from the site suggest that the view towards the nearby Culap Suyu basin was much more important for herd observations, see Braun 2020. 33 Nykamp et al. 2021;2020a;Knitter et al. 2019. 34 Benedict 1980. ...
Göbekli Tepe is well-known for its monumental buildings with anthropomorphic T-shaped pillars, decorated with reliefs of wild animals which have been featured prominently in earlier works. The abandonment which occurred some 1500 years after the initial occupation of the site, however, remains virtually unexplored. This paper attempts to reconstruct abandonment practices and routines within and parallel to phases of occupation. A crucial source of data for the abandonment of Göbekli Tepe is provided by considerations relating to site formation, including the topography of the site with its mounds, steep slopes, and hollows where strong winter rainfalls potentially favoured erosional processes. I clearly oppose the widespread yet outdated interpretation of ‘ritual backfilling’ of the monumental buildings. Instead, I propose that the inhabitants of the Neolithic settlement were strongly intertwined with their landscape and built environment, which is reflected by the continuous rebuilding of structures as a response to slope slide events, the use of ruins for extracting recycled building material, and the creation of memory spaces by following a specific habitus. I argue that by applying microarchaeological approaches and the social sphere of ‘detachment from place’ the heterogeneity of settlement layout can be reconstructed by including the engagement of ancient people with ruins, abandonment, and memory.
In: Christian W. Hess and Federico Manuelli (eds.) Bridging the Gap: Disciplines, Times, and Spaces in Dialogue Vol. 1. Sessions 1, 2, and 5 from the Conference Broadening Horizons 6 held at the Freie Universität Berlin, 24–28 June 2019, p. 212–239. Oxford: Archaeopress Access Archaeology.
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... The plains are characterized by Vertisols (Özcan et al., 2018;Akça et al., 2018aAkça et al., , 2018b. Recently published results regarding present-day landform characteristics (Knitter et al., 2019) and Holocene relief-forming processes (Nykamp et al., 2020a) show that the hillslopes of the headwater catchments are characterized by periodic sheet flow and soil creep processes, forming colluvial deposits at the slope toes of the valleys. Episodic torrential rains cause concentrated runoff along the thalwegs of the confined valleys in the headwater catchments, leading to erosion of the colluvial deposits. ...
This study presents a meta-analysis of radiocarbon ages for the environs of Göbekli Tepe-one of the oldest monumental structures worldwide-using cumulative probability functions to diachronically assess phases of geomorphodynamic activity as controlled by natural or anthropogenic drivers. We employ sediment cascades as a heuristic framework to study the complex responses of the geomorphological system to various triggers at local to supra-regional scales. Possible triggers include climatic variability as documented by supra-regional hydroclimatic proxy data, regional demographic trends, and local to regional socioeconomic developments such as the emergence of sedentism or the introduction and dispersal of livestock herding. Our results show that phases of intensified geomorphodynamic activity occurred between ca. 7.4-7.0 and 5.8-3.3 ka BP. These phases roughly coincide with phases of population growth in southern Turkey and climatic variations in Turkey and the Levant. The phase between ca. 5.8-3.3 ka BP also corresponds to the time when organized agriculture and the seeder plough were introduced. Also, the identified phases are in agreement with the general trend of varying geomorphodynamic activity in the Eastern Mediterranean as driven by human impact and climatic change. However, neither the Younger Dryas-Holocene transition nor the development of herding during the Pre-Pottery Neolithic left a clear signature. We demonstrate how the different depositional environments in the studied landscape compartments vary with respect to their spatiotemporal coverage and discuss challenges when trying to understand processes that once shaped landscapes of past societies.
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Online first: 16 November 2020
... This region is part of the Fertile Crescent where the first high cultures were established. Already in 10.000 BCE, in Göbekli Tepe near Şanlıurfa the world's oldest temple like structures were erected (Knitter et al., 2019). ...
Geographic Information Systems (GIS) have become an indispensable part of urban and regional planning since the 90ies. Yet, one of the limitations of classical GIS is the lack to directly support the way how the planning process is carried out. They lack the capability to encourage the cooperation of stakeholders that have very different levels of computer literacy and come from very divers sectors. For this, different approaches for participatory planning have been developed among them Geodesign. It is a methodology that combines tools of design, GIS and web 2.0 to foster participatory planning. A complete framework for conducting Geodesign as applied to regional landscape studies has been generated by Carl Steinitz. With GeodesignHub (GDH), his framework was converted into its digital representation that enables a digital design workflow online. The purpose of this paper is to show how different development scenarios can be developed for an underdeveloped region in Southeastern Turkey based on the anticipatory change model defined by Steinitz”s Geodesign framework.
... Thus, the problem of a missing reconstruction of the paleoenvironment at Göbekli Tepe since the Pre-Pottery Neolithic period (Pustovoytov, 2006) still remains. Knitter et al. (2019) provide a first general landform characterization of the wider area, also indicating process dynamics and preliminary hypotheses for the Late Quaternary environmental development. Their geomorphological overview map indicates colluvial deposits at the foot slopes of the headwater catchments and alluvial deposits in the downstream plains-however, without providing a time frame (Knitter et al., 2019). ...
... Knitter et al. (2019) provide a first general landform characterization of the wider area, also indicating process dynamics and preliminary hypotheses for the Late Quaternary environmental development. Their geomorphological overview map indicates colluvial deposits at the foot slopes of the headwater catchments and alluvial deposits in the downstream plains-however, without providing a time frame (Knitter et al., 2019). Building on this geomorphological map, we aim to provide absolute chronological age estimates for the formation of these colluvial and alluvial sediments and understand the involved depositional processes. ...
... The sensitivity of the environmental system is controlled by annual climatic variability, e.g., heavy rainfalls occurring in autumn to early spring . A reconstruction of the Late Quaternary paleoclimatic variability is difficult, because archives for the close vicinity of Göbekli Tepe largely lack (Pustovoytov et al., 2007) and the records from central and eastern Anatolia sometimes show opposing trends (e.g., Roberts et al., 2001;Wick et al., 2003;Jones et al., 2007;Dean et al., 2015; see also Knitter et al. 2019). Pustovoytov et al. (2007) studied stable carbon and oxygen isotope data from pedogenic carbonate laminations on stones from archaeological contexts at Göbekli Tepe to obtain indications for local Holocene environmental change. ...
This study traces the geomorphological development in the environs of the Pre-Pottery Neolithic site Göbekli Tepe by means of radiocarbon dated sediment profiles from its close vicinity. Based on facies interpretation we identify different depositional environments and discuss the involved process dynamics. Our results show that the sediments from the foot slopes are characterized by soil creep and slope wash. Further downstream, in the proximal piedmont zone, fluvial deposition prevails forming a channel and an overbank facies. The sediments at the foot slopes were mainly deposited during Roman and Byzantine times, while those from the proximal piedmont zone cover the period from the Bronze Age to the Roman times. Phases of geomorphological activity and stability can be distinguished in the course of the later Holocene, where organic rich topsoils were buried at c. 4750, 4200, and 3650 cal. a BP documenting phases of landscape stability followed by enhanced geomorphodynamics. These phases fall into the Bronze Age in Anatolia and coincide with an increasing population, pronounced human impact, and climatic aridization that occurred in Turkey around 5.3-4.1 ka BP. Our findings provide among the first insights into the environmental development including the involved process dynamics in the vicinity of the UNESCO World Heritage site of Göbekli Tepe during the later Holocene, also allowing to further develop hypotheses for the period of its occupation.
This study delves into the diverse varieties of table olives and olive oils in the Mediterranean Basin, renowned for its rich cultural heritage and culinary traditions. Focusing on the agricultural significance and gastronomic versatility of these products, the research explores varieties, their unique flavors, nutritional profiles, and historical importance. By examining their regional distinctions and health benefits, the study aims to highlight the integral role of olives and olive oil in Mediterranean cuisine and lifestyle. Ultimately, this chapter aims to emphasize the importance of managing cultivated olive germplasm sustainably for future breeding programs. Additionally, preserving wild and feral olive populations is crucial in the context of global warming and climate change.
