Gobekli Tepe's Pillars

The Origin of Writing, part 3

The general view is that writing began almost simultaneously in Egypt and Sumer around 3000 BC. As far as I know, scholars think it began first in Sumer, and transferred to Egypt shortly after.

A popular theory, due to Schmandt-Besserat, is that writing evolved out of symbols used to record trade in the 4th millennium BC in Mesopotamia. I'll try to show here that this is only part of the story - writing also developed from astronomical notation.

A great resource is the book 'Visible Language' by Chris Woods from the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago. It describes the transition to writing in both Mesopotamia and Egypt with copious illustrations of relevant artefacts. Rather than copying its images, you can obtain a pdf freely here. It focuses on the symbols used in each place just before writing appears in the historical record, around, 3500 to 3000 BC. Since writing emerges as a 'logographic' script initially, it is these symbols, supposedly, that are most important in the transition from symbol to script.

I'll focus here on the chapter that deals with Mesopotamia, as this is thought to be where writing appears first. The book displays various symbols in use at the time - and I supply an astronomical interpretation for most of them.

1. Figure 2.9 on page 41. Notice how the Mesopotamian symbols for 1 day, 10 days, 1 month, 10 months, 1 year etc all look to be based on the 'sunset' symbol found at Gobekli Tepe (the handbags on Pillar 43), as well as on the Scorpion King desert scene (see an earlier post).

2. Page 51, items 2 and 3: these 'V' symbols are also seen on Pillar 43 at Gobekli Tepe. Recent work shows they very likely symbolise the counting of days - each V represents a single day. On Pillar 43 they appear to be describing a lunisolar calendar.

3. Page 53-55, items 4, 5, 7, 8 and 10: all these seals have ibex symbols. According to our zodiac this represents a constellation similar to Aquarius at the winter solstice from around 3400 BC to 1900 BC (as seen on the Uruk Vase, Scorpion King desert scene, and Cippus of Horus scenes - see earlier posts). In fact, the observation that the ibex symbol in these cultures at this time represent a constellation similar to Aquarius was first made by William Hartner in 1965.

4. Page 54, item 9: this seal has fish - we haven't yet decoded this symbol, but perhaps it is an early example of Pisces (known as the fish today), replacing the tall bending bird in the GT zodiac. Pisces comes just before Aquarius, meaning this seal likely precedes the previously-mentioned ones with ibex symbols. The change-over occurs around 3500 BC, meaning this seal's age is perhaps slightly older, by a few hundred years, than claimed.

5. Page 55, item 11: A lion attacking a bull is a very common scene in Mesopotamian art. At this time, around 3200 BC, Taurus is the spring equinox constellation and Leo is the summer solstice constellation. Clearly, the zodiacal symbols for Leo and Taurus have already switched from the horse to lion (for Leo) and rhino to bull (for Taurus) in this region. Strangely, on the Pashupati Seal from India circa 1900 BC, we also see the horse has switched to a tiger (for Leo), but the bull still represents Capricornus, with the rhino still representing Taurus.

6. Page 56, item 12: the master of animals is also a very common motif in Mesopotamia, and other places - even the Americas perhaps. Here he is showing mastery of ibex, I think, meaning master of the winter solstice perhaps?

7. Page 57, item 13: textile workers with scorpion and feline? figures. Scorpius is the autumn equinox constellation from around 3500 to 2500 BC. As before, Leo is the summer solstice constellation over this entire period.

8. Page 57, item 14: textile workers? I doubt it. More likely these are images of the goddess Inanna in her 'comet' form.

9. Page 68: farming scenes or astronomical scenes? We have the bull and feline again. As the feline is hovering above the bull, this is probably astronomical. But the bull seems to be driving a plough - but who is guiding it? Possibly it is Orion, holding a club or sword, the constellation next to Taurus. Scenes of combat between a man and bull are replete throughout the region and beyond. They likely represent the Orion-Taurus pair. In the image below, we perhaps see comet symbols again, not textile production.

10. Page 70, item 39: Inanna symbol - looks just like a comet to me. It is also the same shape as 'tholoi' houses/shrines. Inanna symbols are normally interpreted as 'door posts' to these tholoi houses/shrines, a strange symbol for a goddess. More likely, in my view, her symbol represents a comet, just like the menat for Egyptian Hathor with whom she is connected, which is also used as a door post for shrines with a tholoi/comet shape.

After these items, the book begins to show very early Mesopotamian texts using a combination of pictures and abstract marks. How they derive from the earlier astronomical symbols is not clear exactly. But it is clear the astronomical symbols are extremely important.