Similarity of symbolism between Gobekli Tepe and Kortik Tepe

Allister Coombs brought these images of symbols at Kortik Tepe to my attention recently. I have seen them before, but think they deserve to be highlighted now.

Kortik Tepe's symbolism is discussed by Benz and Bauer in 2015 in the Journal of Ritual Studies. They attribute the symbolism to shamanism, much like the archaeologists working at Gobekli Tepe who attribute its symbolism to shamanism as well. Kortik is not that far from Gobekli, being part of a group of settlements near the other great Mesopotamian river, the Tigris. Gobekli is much closer to the Euphrates. The Kortik settlement is thought to have begun during the early part of the Younger Dryas and therefore is thought to predate Gobekli. But since we don't know Gobekli's true age, this is conjecture.

Since it is obvious that Gobekli's shamanistic symbolism is strongly linked to astronomy and the Younger Dryas impact, we can expect the same of Kortik, and this is indeed borne out by the evidence. Note that there are well documented links between shamanism and astronomy - see Ed. Krupp's book, for example (Skywatchers, Shamans and Kings).

Above are a couple of images from Benz and Bauer's paper of chlorite vessels - basically kinds of stone cup or container. Benz and Bauer state;

"At Körtik Tepe this type of incised bird decoration is exclusively found on the bucket-shaped chlorite vessels and is nearly always associated with snakes, and sometimes with scorpions and circles (Cogkun et al. 2010; Özkaya and Cogkun 20 1 1 ). This combination of motifs was so canonized that even the very abstract version of simple crosses and zig-zag lines can be interpreted as birds and snakes/water (Özkaya, San, andYildizhan2002, fig. 13)."

They also highlight the similarity with Pillar 43 at Gobekli. I agree. The disk symbols therefore naturally symbolise the sun and signify that all these symbols are cosmic objects. Therefore, like on Pillar 43, we can interpret these animal symbols - the bird-man, bird-of-prey and scorpion as being similar to the constellations Ophiuchus, Sagittarius and Scorpius. Likewise, the snakes likely reference meteors or comets.

We see the bird-man/Ophiuchus much later as the Master-of-Animals at Tepe Giyan (circa 4000 BCE, see above). Notice the stars in the background of these images. This is expected considering that Ophiuchus is the autumn equinox constellation at this time. I suspect Egyptian Thoth is also linked with this bird-man.

Looking again at chlorite vessel 67 above from Kortik, we even see a solar symbol perched on the wing of a bird of prey, just like on Pillar 43 although the scene is reversed left-right. Does anyone think these concentric circles are intended to symbolise a human head? The circles are even in a similar relative position to the disk on Pillar 43 at Gobekli. Therefore, it seems likely that this chlorite vessel depicts, yet again, the Younger Dryas impact.