An 11,500-Year-Old Central Heating Hypocaust system at Karahan Tepe? | Ancient Architects
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- čas přidán 4. 06. 2022
- Disclaimer: This is a brand new, original hypothesis from Matt Sibson of Ancient Architects. If anybody has made this claim before me, I can honestly say I am unaware and that I did devise this whole idea myself.
The more I learn about the Pre-Pottery Neolithic people, the more I've discovered they were far more advanced than I ever thought.
These people, who lived 11-12,000-years-ago, made terrazzo concrete floors to line enclosures, they had lime-plastered walls, they quarried and carved huge pillars with beautiful relief carvings, they made bread and brewed beer, they made well-worked stone vessels, tools and weapons and there was clearly architectural planning for the main sites like Gobekli Tepe and Karahan Tepe.
These people were not mere hunter-gatherer nomads settling for the first time and living a basic existence - they already had well-developed skills, techniques and technologies.
But knowing all of that, Karahan Tepe is a settlement that has left me baffled, mainly because of the strange pillared enclosure, labelled AB by archaeologist Necmi Karul. Many have already given a possible explanation for its form and hence its purpose, but I have always been unsatisfied with the answers.
I've looked at other ancient sites from other cultures that came later in history, read archaeological reports on Karahan Tepe, looked at raw footage, pictures and interactive models, and have devised a new hypothesis as to what this pillared enclosure is.
In my opinion, what we are looking at is a hypocaust - said to have been a Roman invention around 80 BC - but I'm claiming this was envisioned 9,000+ years early by the Pre-Pottery Neolithic people of SE Anatolia, in modern-day Turkey.
Please watch this 30-minute video as I go through the detail of the enclosure and state my case for this new Karahan Tepe hypothesis.
All images are taken from Google Images and the below sources for educational purposes only and special thanks to the Dakota of Earth Channel for the drone footage. Please subscribe to Ancient Architects, Like the video and please leave a comment below. Thank you.
Sources:
Sketchfab Interactive Model: sketchfab.com/3d-models/karah...
Necmi Karul 2021 Paper: dergipark.org.tr/en/download/...
Photographs by Santha Faiia: grahamhancock.com/karahan-tep...
Martin Sweatman Lunisolar Hypothesis: martinsweatman.blogspot.com/2...
Andrew Collins archaeoastronomy explanation: • Karahan Tepe Discovery...
#KarahanTepe #AncientArchitects #GobekliTepe
Update: Today I’ve had created a scale 3D model of Karahan Tepe using drone footage I published a few months ago. I’ve now ordered it to be 3D printed and I should have it in a couple of weeks. I plan to do a few experiments with water. I’ll keep you posted. 👍
Awesome idea! Can't wait to hear the results. Have a great day!
It's a great idea ... and the best part is there were no space aliens ... ;-)
But you'll have to do that phd to convince the skeptics.
Great idea, Matt!! I foresee a possible issue with this model. Have you thought about hydrophilic/hydrophobic interaction of surface material and running liquid ? Perhaps the choice of material and size of the 3D print are important factors.
You'll want the water to run off slopes and through "canals" in a natural fashion, not droplets of liquid sticking to your model..
If the model does not work as intended, you may do some surface modification, or chsnge the liquid' s surface tension and hydrofilicity.
If the model works as intended, then that's great, if not I am available to come up with some possible approaches!
Friggen awesome! Can't wait to see what you come up with.
Very useful, about the water hypothesis.
8:54 I work in the water industry. What I see is a settling pond. dirty water comes into one side of enclosure AB and water movement slows in the pond to allow the muck to settle out. a cover would help avoid outside influences from disturbing the settling water. the cleaner water, on the top, exits to the larger pond where it can settle even more and be drank.
That's what I thought too. There's more sign of water wear than of fire. The basal layer than would be the settled sediment.
@@crhu319 interesting idea, it would help to know what water sources where available in the subregion at that period. technically the hypocaust makes just as much sense but it would seem that traces could be found if fire was used !
This is an interesting hypothesis, it could have been basically an ancient water purification system. Cool :D
@@ottodidakt3069 there would be traces of sediment buildup from the waterflow if it was a filtration system. The volume of space taken by the columns would be inefficient for water storage, but functional for heat transfer.
@@customsongmaker As Cr Hu points out, there is a build up of sediment at the bottom of the enclosure AB and I agree with Matt a chemical analysis of that basal layer would help determine further, but it was apparently built up over a longer period of time. As for the columns being inefficient for storage, I think that’s missing the point of the original settling pond idea. The purpose isn’t storage of water, but decontamination of flowing water. As also pointed out in this thread, the source of the water would have to be determined since this would require a steady flow of water to work. It’s also interesting to factor in the channel running from it-maybe an overflow spout, or perhaps it was diverting filtered water to another place/purpose?
Wow! This is not only brilliant but also ground breaking work, Matt. Incredible job formulating this original and very compelling hypothesis. I can appreciate your careful and meticulous approach with this. The implications are so important because we may have to re-write history. This calls for an academic paper to be written on the subject for peer review. Thank you for this solid contribution.
I hope there is some way to prove it! :)
@@AncientArchitects I had noticed the similarity between the Roman structure and Karajan Tepe but thought I was just being silly and didn't know what I was talking about lol
@@AncientArchitects Matt!!! What is the piece you use for your intro music?
@@AncientArchitects didnt the romans also use hypocaust rooms to malt grain??
If this is a hypocaust there must be a) a system to transport and store heating material, b) a huge building on top that should have left traces such as a stone foundation. If a public building or palace there should be pathways for larger groups of people to arrive.
If a pond there should be seen canals and a place where the generator or mill or sawmill or stone lace or stone crusher could have been placed.
with a degree in Archeology or without, I'm gonna say that is the best theory to date!! Kudos for always thinking outside the box and not always going with the old " it's a temple" ruse lol
this is probably my favorite channel that discusses ancient finds...keep up the excellent work!
So not water storage as I've suggested? The problem with the current archeological beliefs is nobody is thinking for themselves. Even if you don't agree with me. Unless that's a degree in following the old dogma. Look learn and keep an open mind.
I dont know how you can be so confident its not a temple.
@@waltonsmith7210 the 'Gods' were water, fresh and salt. So it could be both. But I was talking of one chamber in particular. Also any significant ancient community requires water. Most from Peru to petra have a strong connection to water for a very sensible reason. Also during the ice age a supply of unfrozen water supply would likely be useful. We worshipped the water of lifefor a reason.
These sites have already rewritten history so it's not a far reach at all. Great hypothesis!
The possible bath house in AB looks a lot like the ritual baths found in Qumran. The details of how the bath house was used are detailed in the dead sea scrolls which were discovered nearby 📜 Maybe it's worth comparing these sites a little bit in another episode expanding on your theory. Lots of similarities between the two sites when you look at AB as a potential bath house. I did a quick Google images search and I couldn't find the image I'm thinking of which I saw in another video but the deeper part you mentioned looks very similar to another bath used for the exact purpose you talked about which was dunking the whole body. They also feature a ledge around the edge for sitting in as well as a prominent ledge near the dunking area. Looking at those images got me thinking about how they look very similar to the ruins of the bath houses in San Francisco as well. We know from photos that those bath houses had a huge floor and glass enclosure on top but all of that is completely gone today and only the foundations that were underneath are left to explore. I've been to that site many times and it is nearly impossible to imagine the huge structure that used to be there. Just goes to show your comment about these being ruins is spot on. Even ruins from the last century are completely unrecognizable a hundred years later let alone thousands. Maybe you could touch on both those sites in a follow up if you ever do one. Ritual baths and bath houses are a cross cultural idea that goes back a very long time.
An interesting hypothesis, certainly not above the ability of these neolithic people.
However, there are some aspects of the thesis that I find less convincing.
1 - While it is a problem to heat water when large vessels are not available, the traditional way this is achieved is by heating rocks and submerging them in a pool.
If the intention was to provide a bathhouse with hot water, digging a recess and depositing heated material would be much simpler and easier to maintain.
2 - Sooth is a particularly staining aerosol, if the place was filled with smoke, I surmise, traces should still retrievable in the porous recesses of the structures.
3 - While floor-heating may still be plausible, a waterproof and heating conducting floor, (meaning able to transfer significant warmth to a body of water above) could have been difficult to achieve and maintain. I would find it more reasonable to imagine that the place could be used as a floor-heated sweat lodge, instead. A place of ritual cleansing (as in some historically described cultures) that is followed by a passage, perhaps a ritual one, to a pool-room or bathhouse in the same complex.
@@Sergius248 I regret making a similar reply before reading yours. A sweat lodge didn't occur to me. However, as hunter gatherer North American tribes used them, they could have started made of materials like those used in the Americas, that later developed into permanent structures.
@@Sergius248 I agree with your sauna/sweat-lodge idea: water overflowing from AA onto the hot floor of AB would be turned to hot water and steam, with any excess water flowing out along the small side channel.
As if these structures weren't hard enough to explain already, in a time when humans were 'supposed' to be hunter-gatherers; but now they may have incorporated more advanced technologies, such as indoor heating and bath-houses!
Clearly, we have underappreciated our ancient ancestors!
@E Van There is no evidence that I know of that refutes the out of Africa hypothesis. Racists resist the science because they can't abide not being superior, and there are those who can't accept science because of their superstitions/religions. Name a reputable scientist and peer reviewed article to support that claim.
A fantastic hypothesis. This reminds me of something said by Graham Hancock. Hancock believes that his proposed ice-age human civilization may have been as advanced as the Romans were at their height. If your hypothesis proves to be correct, it may add fuel to Hancock's proposal. Looking forward to more about this idea of yours.
Thank you
I know you are an expert on Karahan Tepe, I would very much like to believe your theory. Great job, sounds convincing, but I feel that you yourself are not fully convinced. I'm waiting for the next parts of the puzzle!✌
It’s early days. I just need data really. Analysis of the fill and to really be able to go inside and take a closer look.
@@AncientArchitects You should go there and investigate it yourself
@@ancientsitesgirl and he should take me with him to take notes and do drawings 😄
I would contribute to the trip, I’d love for you to go in person!
@@Joie-de-Vivre33 gee thanks, that's kind of you! 😄
Some of the proposed fill could have been intentionally placed rocks used as a thermal battery intended for holding the heat within the pillared area so after the fire died out it would still radiate heat. If that was the case there may have been insulation on the side walls. If that really was a water tank or pool on top then that red sediment may may originally been what filled the voids between the flat rock and whatever was used to finish off the surface above the flat rock before settling down when the floor/ceiling collapsed. That pit near the proposed furnace could have easily been used to hold ash for later disposal or use.
You'd also think if this was used this way that there would have to have been a good deal of fuel nearby as well as residue embedded near the furnace areas.
Regardless, a fun hypotheses. Keep at it. I really appreciate that you mentioned these people will likely very practical people. Likely they were well incentivized to let very little go to waist. Another method of refining your hypothesis, or any hypothesis for that matter, is to look for the likely evidence of input and output streams of such endeavors. If there was fuel needed, how much, and of what type, what was the likely source, if water was in abundance where did it come from, did it change over time, if there was fuel collection how many were likely needed to support that gathering, if a waist stream was created where would it likely end up or what would it have been turned into?
This is pretty old stuff to look at, but as we run through compelling hypotheses we'll likely find traces of the tale that tell the story.
Wonderful comment. Appreciate the feedback
That's what I was thinking about, however it looks like water is meant to flow into the enclosure. Could it be a big pot? Like for boiling water (creating steam?) There's a few different ways they can contain heat, but this looks to function with water.
Good list of clues for archeological analysis. My field is history, which is multidisciplinary,,but I am still not anaecheologist and could only guess admittedly at the various scientific experiments and tests that could be applied to the cite to determine if your observed potential clues yield pay dirt. The red earth idea I also thought of and possible evidence of sustained fires.I did not think of a lot of those ideas. These tests would be paramount to disproving or to proving this hypothesis.
@@ThatTieDyeGuy You could ask the same question about every example of Roman hypocaust system in the world. Where is the soot and carbon there?
@@AncientArchitects nevermind, thought this was an open discussion...
It makes sense that it would be a communal bath house more than a fertility cult shrine. It is practical. I wish they would do a lidar of the entire area. I bet it was a stopover for travelers.
Agree.
This was made during the mini ice age of the younger dryas, right? I bet things like this must have been important to surviving some of the worst winters, especially if food was more scarce and so there was less calories to burn to keep you warm.
After your explanation on how this heating system workes it makes sense. The aerial photo at 16:25 the first thing I thought was meeting area at AD and pool at AA. But your final explanation I believe is correct. Congratulations
Thanks. I think it works. Sure, there are more questions and gaps in research, but I don’t have loads of public data and info to work from. 👍
If you take interest in Roman history, then you totally need to research the cultural ancestors of Romans - the Assyrians; and later ancestors of Assyrians - the Hittities, ancestors of Hittities - the PPNA you already know. There is a clear usage of the same symbolics, political technics and industrial technics by all of those cultures.
Thank you
Some people wonder about the importance of Karahantepe. Let me explain the importance of this new discovery in a few points:
*1-)* Before this discovery, mostly it was thought that the reason for civilization and settled life was agriculture. However, Karahantepe revealed that this is not the case, or at least not completely.
*2-)* The history of humanity is of course very old, but the origin of settled life and civilization was known as approximately 10,000 BC. However, this new discovery showed that it was older. This means that the civilization history of humanity has extended, which can change many concepts from the history of belief to historical events that are not understood.
*3-)* In the history of humanity, it was assumed that civilization developed like leveling up and continuously. That is, the oldest civilization was supposed to be the most primitive. But the Karahantepe excavations showed us the situation that civilization did not develop like tihs at all. According to this classical notion, sometime after the end of the ice age, around 11,500 BC, people like them should have lived in caves, but this discovery showed that this was not the case at all.
i doubt that there were enough natural caves and rock shelters to go around for people to dwell & live in, on the broader landscape, granted some areas caves and rock shelters are quite abundant ,As In parts of Turkey/Anatolia and in some valleys in France & Spain, & as in Cappadocia & other areas with soft geological features where massive cave systems were hand hewn on multiple levels that likely span back in time much farther than, thought, theorized or accepted today.. The whole Turkey/Anatolia area is a fascinating & intricate landscape indeed, seems strategic location in human's history of development in Eurasia from the distant ancient past to present being many civilizations cross roads of sorts. I am sure ancient people in the past viewed, reflected and pondered on even older peoples remaining ruins & and creations in caves and shelters as well as free standing developments & of coarse the endless habit of recycling and repurposing the massive amounts of materials founden situ or scattered about as material sources & labor saving convenience.Just the thought of that whole hill at Gobekli Tepe being extensively developed, used for a period of time, then carefully filled in with rubble & covered up for what ever reason is a mystery in and of itself.
civilazation reset from YD cataclysm
I tend to agree with your hypothesis Matt. It would be interesting to see a chemical analysis as well. Also if any charcoal was found to analyze for carbon dating might help.
They can already date the site based on the material that it was buried under. That gives it an accurate date of burial but not when it was constructed. It may be thousands of years older, it was just buried at THAT time.
charcoal would indicate it was being used for filtration purposes, rather than used for dating.
@@bjmurrey in the Paleolithic? I wasn't aware of it being used for its filtration properties that long ago. If you have anything I would love to read! But yes these sites are already pretty well dated to the younger dryas period, almost all the Tepe sites to my understanding
@@SamtheIrishexan amazonians did similar water works and earth works in similar time periods. Terra praeta is same principle but reverse. Just what strikes me when I see the "schematic" layout of the place. Fascinating stuff. Mayans did a lot of this with limestone cisterns as well, to capture, contain, and purify water in the jungle where there is basically zero rainfall and no ground water sources or even soil. Just a humid desert. But I am open to other ideas, but if I had that on my land I would use it for a water filtration system that irrigates crops on the hillside as gravity takes it down the hill via swales and channels. I'd expect there to be more "basins" at various points below this complex if my hypothesis is correct. Essentially limestone "ponds". And the plants can and do root in the limestone and get minerals and water from them like a sponge. So that's my disprovable hypothesis.
@@SamtheIrishexan I appreciate your thoughtful comment, too, friend.
I have always thought that there must have been a risk of burning the house down when you have a hypocaust filled with smoke from a fire, especially if floor above is wooden, or the wall flues are adjacent to .wood and plaster. That problem must have been solved if similar systems outlasted the Romans.
The other things that stood out are that when we look at ruins we may be viewing the basement rather than the ground floor, and that excavations may take us below the level that the inhabitants actually used.
Modern archaeologists study the "fill" as well as the bare bones of the structure, since it may contain some of the "meat" that fleshed out the body of the building and tell us more about its use and its users than the stone skeleton alone can tell us. I hope the infill was not just thrown out, as would have happened in the 18th and 19th centuries.
so is there any chance that there was hydro thremal springs in that area? AA definately looks like it could have been some type of well or natural spring.
Interesting hypothesis, however the traditional Roman hypocaust designed seemed to have pillars which seldom were. More than 2 to 2 ½ feet in height. The Pillers found at Gobekli seem to be more on the lines of 12 to 16 feet in height. The amount of wood needed to adequately provide heat for a Hypocaust chamber which was 12 to 16 feet tall would be significantly greater than that needed in an average Roman Hypocaust. Also it would make no sense to carve incredible creatures on the Pillers present at sites such as Gobekli Tepe only to enclose them in a heating chamber as no one could view them. Finally, If these spaces were used as a Hypocaust I would think all of the Pillars would have SIGNIFICANT carbon residue on them. If on the other hand, they were enclosed worship spaces where people gathered, I would expect there would be much, much less carbon residue.
Karahan Tepe and Gobekli Tepe are two distinctly different sites with different looking pillars. I don't think he proposing gobekli tepes large enclosure is the same.
Didn’t he say that these pillars are about a meter high? These specific pillars in this particular enclosure
Hi Matt I think you are onto something! If you don't mind me sharing my thoughts they are simple and I've only had a quick check to see if possible they are viable so here you go using your ideas of a heated floor in AB it reminded me of how people malt barley and then knowing this process is a 3 stage process having 3 enclosure and simple brewing has 3 things needed grain, water and heat your description water chanels heated floor, I checked and there is evidence to suggest that the resident people's were mainly meat eaters but there's a couple of papers 2020 saying they have found evidence that the use grains was more prominent than they thought through new techniques being used. Anyway I know this might sound a bit wacky but brewing had to start somewhere at sometime. Hope this stimulates some thoughts. Brewing has always been associated with with ritual and worship
Thanks for listening
Regards Dave
OMG! that was my thought and I replied earlier that the floor could have been for drying sprouted grain to make beer! I read the paper on the chemical analysis of beer residue at Goebekli Tepe and this seems so reasonable.
@@susanohnhaus611 Hi Susan yeah I saw that article whilst I checked out the idea. Matts idea and research is great fermentation and food preservation have always been at the forefront of human survival hence ritual and worship. Nice to see you are thinking along the same lines
Regards Dave
Yessssss. This makes so much sense to me. I truly appreciate Matt's glorious logical leap on the raised floor (and most definitely roofs!), but nobody would build a heated pool if they could have a brewery instead. AA is the soaking/germination room, they put the grain in bags and dropped them in the plunge pool area. AB had a hard heated floor to dry the germinated seeds. (The underfloor face looks like a god of hot wind.) AD is the finishing area with lots of horizontal surfaces for processing and baskets and such. The furnace and heated room were probably damaged in some way and decommissioned, but the big room was still useful long after. Listen to the Prehistory Guys podcast #22 Beer in the Neolithic with brewing experts Merryn & Graham Dineley. This was a malting facility.
@@heidilindborg7601 Thank you for your comments it's definitely worth some further investigation but is feasible and explains the magic number of 3 processes to make the fermentation processes!
Regards Dave
I thought maybe it was just a sealed water tank. The fill might have been added in times of drought to push water up and over the edge like adding a brick to your toilet tank
Nice idea, but the water would flow out of the hole into the large enclosure Bedford ever reaching the lid with AA 🤔 Unless it could be closed.
This is a very solid hypothesis. Archeologists need to step away from the idea that everything was for religious ceremonies. I think it really limits their thinking, we need more "outside of the box" people (like you) studying these sites.
I totally agree. I amazes me how many things are interpreted as ceremonial or phallic. The first assumption should be practical and functional.
It is similar in function to a Chinese Kang bed that is heated from kitchen smoke diverted through the enclosed box area and then vented out of the living area. The bed it takes in heat and releases it slowly throughout the cold nights. During the day it provides a warm platform for people to sit. Same principle, but without the element of water being heated.
Yep. And maybe no water. I think the heating element explains the form. I briefly mentioned the kang system in the video
@@AncientArchitects , the case for water present is good though. Visually there seems to be some water/ lime deposits to support that. A test for water deposit and mineralization would show it. I love your work.
This makes me wonder if the filling in AB originally stopped a foot or two from the ceiling, thus providing enough convection for heat exchange, but also more thermal mass to maintain heat.
Thank you for watching and for being here! If you want to support the channel, you can become a CZcams Member at czcams.com/channels/scI4NOggNSN-Si5QgErNCw.htmljoin or I’m on Patreon at www.patreon.com/ancientarchitects
Archaeologists, it has to be a tomb or temple 🤨🤨🤨
I was less thinking hypocaust (and yes, I did see the connection immediately from you previous video), but more like some kind of underground body of water. Either storage or ceremonial. The pillars are more rounded and spaced like maybe a raised path above water? The curved floor reminds me of a swimming pool. So I'm thinking ceremonial pool. 6:59 also looks like water could flow from one "pool" to the next. But your heated pool theory is also very compelling. I think water was the key here.
@ancient architects , what if you filled these up with water? What if the tops of those pillars were just above the water? What if you threw in some torches for light? You picking up what I’m putting down?
It’s speculative, but makes sense.
see 10:24 where you talk about a channel. Drainage possibly.
It's obvious to me that it's water storage. Fresh water was worshipped. Also the overhead picture there's a water channel directing water in on the right hand side. Fairly common to store like that in the past.
your most interesting video so far 👏
Fascinating hypothesis! I would love to see some academic research on this as I think it is one of the best ideas I've heard for what these structures may have been used for.
Wonderful thesis! Please, continue to explore. And a big thanks for all your remarkable video's. I've learned so much.
Thank you for that - and for watching!
Why I contribute to your Patreon is because of your detailed analysis, keep up the work.
Thank you - and thank you 🙏
Question: Wouldn't there be findings of soot or condensation crystals or whatever kind of thing would remain on the stone pillars and inside walls after decades (at least) of pumping heat, smoke and or steam into the room. Be curious to know what kind of remains they scrape off the Roman stone floor heating pillars and inside walls...
Edit: okay I see you mention you would like to see chemical analysis. So you thought of that. My other question is if chemical analysis is commonly used in archeology -- because I have long wondered If they've tested for evidence of blood in such sites as this one and Gobeki Tepe, suggesting possible sacrificial rites.
sometime the external furnace transfer the heat across a shared wall into the basement cavity without gasses entering the basement space. less efficuent, but less likely to have gas leaks into the residence. if no gas exchange, no soot of hydroclast pillars.
My thoughts as well. There would be soot somewhere. I think the better purpose for this structure would be a cistern especially considering how hard it would have been to get water up there.
@@hubriswonk I think it was a cistern, just with a basement. And when they got the fire going it warmed it up.
I would suspect ash or clay at the very bottom. I worry most of this evidence would have been destroyed when it was decommissioned and buried. Plus I think it got decommissioned because it failed, aka sprung too big of a leak.
This is AWESOME! Exactly why I started following your channel. Great hypothesis, can’t wait to watch you develop it further!
The questions that I can think of after watching your hypothesis are 1. the source of water, the underlying water table (possible aquifer/spring/well? 2. possible structure above a room/bathhouse. 3. water flow direction, could that pit be a soakaway next to the proposed furnace?
A lot of questions - and I appreciate the comment. I would imagine there is an ancient spring nearby, maybe dry today. I imagine many of these PPN sites were chosen because of a water source. Some Tas Tepeler sites still have running, natural springs.
@@AncientArchitects at the time when the structure was used there's a good chance the area was wet enough. After a quick google search I've found a dailmail article which might send you down a rabbit hole: "Did climate change rock the cradle of civilisation? Global warming shaped the Middle East 5,000 years ago, claims study"
@@AncientArchitects one more keyword for searching: "holocene climatic optimum". Probably with the added "middle east" or "fertile crescent" as well. Might bring some interesting results.
@@AncientArchitects Possibly an artesian well if the water table rises.
Very well thought out and examined. 👏👏 you could very well be onto a SHOCKER of a find here. Even if you are wrong, you are one of the few people asking the hard questions and not pretending you are smarter than they were 11,000+ years ago 👏👏👏👍
I like your new hypothesis Matt, I think it would makes sens. Anyway, the visual similarities between Kaharan Tepe and the roman heating system are stunning to say the least.
That’s what got me started
@@AncientArchitects it's a great hypothesis - my only question would be what about the odd C shaped pillar? Why is it different from the others and what would that mean in your hypothesis?
Heating System? Matt, this was the next level :)
Even 12 year old child could deduce, AB was covered fresh water reservoir, while AA was open space bath pool. Never heard fresh water have to be covered to remain drinkable? Ok, you have deduced, there was a stone slab lid. But why then you invented heating pod, instead of just assuming, those people needed water for drinking and cooking? There are three water inlets from the slope, for collecting rain water, isnt that obvious?
Also that filling stuff. From Gobekli Tepe there is this myth about ritualistic filling. But the truth is much simpler. After place was abandoned for whatever reason, material just built up and eventually, covering slabs broke and filled the space between pillars. Simple as that.
Hole between AB and AC? For taking water out and sipping it into the hole on the AC floor, for daily usage.
Channel from AB towards lower ground? For taking out excess water during heavy rain, you dont want to overflow reservoir.
What I am not sure about is wall between AA and AB. Could be there because excavator made a wrong assumption because of two biggest stone arrangement which could match just by accident. I dont think, barrier between AA and AB is worn down, it was made like that on purpose. Cross filling? It is matter of levels.
Hope I gave you some realistic ideas. It is really not hard to stay hard on the ground, those sites are wonderful but too much imagination could spoil ability to think logical and analytical. Remember Gobekli Tepe with initial religious drama? It was temple, bla bla. I knew that was domestic, those were houses, not temples, on the first sight. The same here. Inlet channels? Outlet channel? It is about collecting rain water. Pillars and flat slabs? Covering. BTW, excavators made a big mistake there. They should live that remaining big slab on the pillars, where it was found. Now, that is ruined forever. And now idiots are thinking about faluses and star constellations, as usual.
Keep good work, Matt. Your videos are always interesting. Just control your imagination a bit.
Are you saying the Romans didn't have heated pools?
Always love you hypothesis. This looks and sounds about right. Great work
Thank you
@@AncientArchitects welcome
I love the thought Matt, and I have no doubt that those people had the capability to pull something like that off. But as for that particular feature being a hypocaust system I personally have to disagree, primarily due to the fact that the pillars are different heights, and also because they are stylized. Why would they put work into stylizing them if they were just going to plunk a floor on top of them? Anyway, just my two cents. I hope you are right, because that would be an incredible development. Thanks, and keep up the great work!
Such works might just have been the tip of the iceberg of grander works that might have been above that are now destroyed or just lost to time or moved to other places when they moved finally. Or taken what was above as building material for some future place in the later days of the settlement. The stylization was probably the mark of craftsmanship at the time of its original creation or close to it, now just a worn pieces.
That was a great thought process on what it could be. It shows you dug deep about the possiblity .
Ty. Keep up the great work.
Thank you
Nice idea, but there's problems with it:
1) The lowest entry point (for a furnace) is not low enough to make sense. Surely a furnace would need to be open right at the floor level. Otherwise what's the point of having the floor be even deeper than the furnace level? That would just waste heat, by having more volume of air that would need to be heated. All the schematics of the floor-heated saunas that you showed had furnaces at a lower level than the pillar room for this reason.
2) And if the 70 cm hole opens downward, then how did they force the smoke downward and through the bottom room (AB)? Surely the large room would be full of smoke long before the smoke would decide to exit that way.
3) If that room (AB) is meant to be a closed space, never to be entered by people except for maintenance and only existing for smoke and hot air to pass through then what's the point of the carved stone faces? It takes quite a bit of effort to make those. One wouldn't go to that much trouble in an industrial room that's nearly never entered and certainly never entered by guests. (This one isn't really a strong problem, seeing as how there's a lot of dumber things that people have wasted money on.)
4) One of the floor panels was present until removed and the others may have been destroyed in ancient times. But it seems suspicious to me that they would have been somewhat gas proof along the edges between. The romans had a sort of concrete at one layer of the floor for this exact reason. You suggested ancient plaster too, but there are no reports of any of this material having been found there.
5) It would have taken an epic amount of heating via furnace to turn a now lost room into a sauna. The problem is that a furnace would also work as a fireplace for the large room (AD). The large room would also have been quite hot by the time they could heat up 10+ tons of water and the stone panels.
But... What if the whole purpose of the large room (AD) was to store all the fuel that would need to be immediately available? Because burning only wood, you would need to have lots of it available. You wouldn't want to have to bring more every single day, so some extra would be justified. And the floor of the pool would have been difficult to make water proof. So maybe the floor of the pillar room is seemingly unnecessarily deep to have a place where water can go in case of accidental leaks?
I believe those dug outs and pillars at Karahan Tepe were (in part) ancient swimming pools. I think the pillars were for people to sit on top of or to just hold onto while swimming.
I think you are absolutely correct. The heating would be very important, and would also provide a level of heat to the large room AD which people would gather in. It seems people have always wanted the same things throughout the ages... warmth, a nice place to bathe/soak after a long day, and a place to gather with others to sing, tell stories, and be together. We are not that different. Thanks for your detailed and thoughtful research.
100%. Also, with that fire in large room AD, why wouldn't they be cooking some of their kill from all the hunting they did during the day? They were hunter gatherers, weren't they? As far as we know? So you bring in your kill, they say hey you stink to high heaven. Have a warm bath and your antelope will be all grilled up and ready for you after you towel off.
Brilliant! Expanding on your insight…. It often seems human smaller scale structures go through a lifecycle. May I suggest that the original design was heating water above the first four pillars. As the settlement grew, they decided to expand the heated surface area. Absent knowledge or an attempt at a less labor costly expansion, they dug out the space marked out by the the shorter pillars, possibly thinking adding a stable cavelike space with a stout thick ceiling would additionally heat more of the surface above it, expanding the volume of hot water in the AB pool. The third phase was a ‘repair’ phase. The earth over the shorter pillars was inadequate long term as a floor, even though thicker than the original floor of the pool. The repair was to excavate the dirt floor addition, stack stones on short pillars and create a homogeneous floor across all the pillars. The ‘odd’ pillar might have been introduced because a planned or existing pillar cracked and they required a replacement. It may have been a pillar from elsewhere repurposed.
Finally, once the floor became structurally unsound after that, it became a danger and deciding not to repair it again, they filled it in.
I agree the larger room was a sauna.
Here are some testable hypotheses to support your primary hypotheses.
I believe the reddish brown fill at the bottom was what was left when they drained the pool as it became too filthy for use. While draining they probably swept debris out with draining water. If this was a bath, the distinctive nature or the reddish brown fill would be a mix of plain dirt tracked into the pool PLUS EXFOLIATION from bathers.
Run a spectrometer on the reddish brown fill. I bet anything that the distributed volume of chemical constituents would equal c1 (chem constituents of nearby dirt) + c2(chem constituents of exfoliated human skin). We KNOW what theses chemical constituents are. If you can get sensible estimates for c1 and c2, surely it would be outlandish to think it coincidence!
To test the idea the original under pool heating was expanded, sample the depth of the reddish brown matter around the 4 tall pillars and separately around the four short pillars. If the reddish brown matter depth is significantly different, it supports the explanation for differing size pillars.
Finally, I suspect the deep hole in the sauna was the well-spring that provided a steady source of water.
PS The foot wear between the the sauna and pool is astonishingly severe. If you look at step wear of know older structures, it would be hard to believe it was in use foe any less than hundreds of years.
I like the idea that the intentional burying of spaces was just normal ‘urban’ fill of an obsolete structure for purposes of safety. So nice and mundane. Not mysterious at all!
If this goes anywhere, particularly the spectrometry I,suggested. Please include me as author. I’m in the biz and publications count. I’m also happy to generate the c1 and c2 estimates for paper using spectrometry results.
This is an interesting thought. I'm afraid that Matt is not in the position to get the reddish brown rubble investigated, as he has to work from a distance. Perhaps you can inform the local authorities and have them run the spectrophotometer tests and contact Matt when you have the results..
While I’m an applied statistician in academia, archeology is not my field so I have no connections. Maybe I will cold call an archeologist on campus. I will be sure to acknowledge that the overall substantive hypothesis is Matt’s. I bet some professionals watch his vids. They are excellent!
@@kfgold5194 I agree. It was very nice to witness Matt becoming data driven, evidence based, and enthusiastic as ever!
It doesn’t matter if your right or wrong. New, open minded, free thinking, is progress! THIS is how we find the truths of the ancient world 🌎. Bravo 👏
Cheers from the Appalachian mountains of Kentucky USA 🇺🇸
I am very happy more people are taking an interest in ancient history and are willing to come forward to discuss new ideas!
Dakota of Earth is such a open and nice guy
He’s brilliant. A genuine nice guy
Thank you for sharing Matt ! Late 2021, I drove out to Karahan Tepe for a walking tour of the excavation site. We stumbled upon some 6-8 inch lines etched/carved into the stone west of main excavation A/B. It can be viewed around the 3 minute mark of my ‘Karahan Tepe’ video. My question is this: Do you have any insight into the use of these markings or have you found similar markings during the course of your research into the Tepe excavations ? Thank you for any thoughts/interpretations 🙏🏼
🦗 🦗
I think the next step here would be to build a model and see if it works or not. It wouldn't have to be huge, a one meter model to see how it warmed up air sent through the hole would react and if it is enough to actually warm water over it.
Even if it is a hypocaust, it could just have been to keep the floor and the building warm, or it could have been a bath or a warm water system.
I don't think just looking on what is left is enough, a model might not 100% sure prove exactly what it was or how it worked but I think it would prove and disprove some ideas.
The best would of course be to 3D scan the entire thing and print it out as a scaled perfect model on a 3D printer but that might be a bit too much for starters, the beautiful drone footage and some basic measurements should be enough to make an acceptable model to prove the concept.
It is certainly an interesting idea and one I can't discard with the information I have but I can't say if it would work or not and how it would work as it is now.
So yeah, great job, Matt. :) It is an interesting theory.
I'm all the way through the video. This is absolutely fascinating and amazing work, and even as a developing hypothesis it's hard to see how there is ANY other explanation to the details on show here. Incredible work.
In Nottingham, such a heating system is very useful. Winter is cold in England. But not in Turkiye. Even today, in winter, they just wear one pullover more. There is not much heating.
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I think this site is built on an upland area of Turkiye. Also 'Tepe' means hill. It might be cold up them thar hills.
For all we don't know about this site and indeed this time in history, I'm willing to believe that this is the most developed hypothesis for this chamber.
Stellar work on your part.
Fascinating hypothesis, Matt! You've made some really plausible observations!
Excellent work, Mr. Sibson. Hopefully various forms of analysis on the stone can answer this question. If it were a furnace for a long time, this should be measurable. Best of luck with your phenomenal theory!
I love this idea and your videos in general! When I was thinking about this room a few months ago in a previous video I thought that maybe wooden beams went across the top and allowed for curtains to be pulled down in between each section, cause I think this was potentially a sleeping area
Nice idea
Does this change the above-ground look of Karahan Tepe? And would these possibly apply at Gobekli Tepe, too, or no?
Fantastic video! Great work and really inventive thinking!
Can’t see it applying to Gobekli Tepe yet, unless we find a similar pillared enclosure - lots of pillars in close proximity
@@AncientArchitects great work here Matt, solid hypothesis. Personally I like this sort of analysis, it's healthy to speculate because it allows you to work through scenarios and eliminate things that don't hold up. Regarding Gobekli Tepe I don't think we would find something like this, Why? Lee Clare believes GT may have been a last ditch effort to keep the hunter gatherers lifestyle alive, and GT was not a site that was always occupied becuase they wanted that hunter gatherer lifestyle, which is why it seems to be quite different to other sites in the area. Also IMO the fact that they were not always there may support why they had to repair the natural infill so often after it happened, rather than actively preventing and managing the falling debris.
Clare mentioned other sites were moving away from that lifestyle which may (in a small way) help support your idea here Matt. This type on ingenuity is most likely an activity of a settlement that wants to occupy the site full time.
Keep going, hope you get more breakthroughs.
I streamed this on TV so was unable to comment at the time, but this is an absolutely brilliant hypothesis. In fact, your projected furnace structure reminds me of ancient ovens I've seen. While the 'grinding tools' video indicated that they used coarse grains for beer and gruel, it seems they could also have had the multi-use function of baking flatbreads over the fire that fueled the hypocaust due to the size of the furnace aperture.
Very much looking forward to your models and work on this amazing paradigm-changing site.
Your work is the best. You never try to convince us. You invite us to think for ourselves providing the most amazing imagery.
I seen the post the other day when you said you was 2/3 of the way done with the longest video you’ve done in a year and since i seen that post i been waiting for it!!!!!!!!!!!
*were
Enjoy - thanks for watching and commenting
Perfectly cromulant!
Loving it!!!
Thanks
@@AncientArchitects Brilliant!
What a brilliant hypothesis! I think we are jaded by the term "pre-pottery" as if that means "pre-ingenuity"
Yes. They did make vessels out of stone and terrazzo - the same lime-based material they used for flooring and cement.
This is by far the best theory I've heard. It would be helpful to have some idea of how it looked when it was built. I've been trying to imagine it.
Interesting hypothesis. Sounds and looks promising. A couple of questions though, where is the flue that drew the heat from the fire in AD through enclosure AB? If there was a fire at the enterence between AD and AB then the rock the fire was on whould show signes that would have been found by those excavating the area.
Great stuff!
Thanks for watching
I’ve really appreciated the evolution of this channel. To me, it went from alt history to actually history
I like this hypothesis, makes a lot of sense. Making a vid like this requires countless hours observing, researching, recording and editing. 30 minutes! Your channel is 100% hard work ;)
I wonder if the first layer was put in to increase the heat (less space to heat.) Also, I'd love to hear from an engineer on how much load a floor like that could hold. That much water would be damn heavy!
The deepest "floor" depth is bedrock methinks.
The deepest "floor" depth is bedrock methinks.
Archaeologists, it has to be a tomb or temple 🤨🤨🤨
Here's another idea. Maybe it's a malting floor. The grain is spread on the raised floor in AB and dampened, then raked and heaped until it germinates. Then the floor is gently warmed from below as you suggest and the grain raked about until it's dry. Then the grain is shoveled over the wall to AA causing the erosion seen. It's then spread on the floor in AA to cool and finally swept into the pit in AA for storage. When one wants to make beer the pit in AD is filled with water and stones are heated in the "fire place" then dropped into the water to heat it. A couple of basket fulls of grain are added with the occasional stone to keep the temperature up, then the water/grain is covered and allowed to cool. A week later the 'mash' will have fermented into beer. When it's all been drunk the remaining grain can be eaten as griddle cakes or 'haggis' or it can be fed to animals.
I think you're correct. Redirecting hot water could be used to heat other buildings.
The carved head peering into the so-called hypocaust, under the floor level, seems to create difficulties for the hypocaust theory. It looks like there might be slots for planking along the top side of the basin that would support a floor (or even a ceiling, or even plausibly a domed rush roof for all we know) but why carve a face if it is concealed? And why put the floor on top of the rocks piled on solid pillars instead of say, on the stone columns themselves, as this makes no structural sense?
The rocks on top of these pillars may have been used as infill in leveling out the site for the second phase of its occupation, when it was hastily floored over. Perhaps it was a ritual sauna chamber (!). Then perhaps the water channel flowing out of the basin might suggest there was a ritual bath above if the space even WAS a hypocaust (unless that channel carried water away from the roof!). Again, assuming that there even was a floor originally above the space at all to create a hypocaust or an enclosed heated area, which is not at all clear. Add to this that the chamber is much taller and more spacious than your typical hypocaust if you put living people into the space. It is configured more like a shrine. The small entry to this space, called impractical for a shrine is not at all necessarily of the sort. Entrances to Japanese teahouses or tight entrances into prehistoric caves often are part of ritual progress, to humble all initiates into the spaces by forcing them through small or short openings to face the divine or assume the proper humble spirit.
Because there is another observation that I do not yet see discussion of, something people apparently missed. And that is the large curved stone placed upright in the center of the group of bedrock carved pillars in the pit and given no consideration other than it was placed independently of the others, which were carved from the living stone. This is the only stone that was not carved from the bedrock of the basin, and has a distinctive placement opposite the entry (! like later religious structures of all stripes!) and curved shape and surface markings indicating perhaps a religious idol! Not only would this reinforce the sacred nature of the space against its utility as a floor heater, but would start to make or add to a statement about the religious beliefs of these people, an important revelation.
This basin was filled in along with all the other structures in an attempt to conceal the site. Why? This suggests that the basin was part of a central power or ritual center, and not a simple floor heating system. I like the objective temper with which you approach these archaeological mysteries, although your theory of the robbing of the Great Pyramid begs many questions, I have to say. I do not think that it is correct. Scott Zema BA MA Art History and Architecture, University of Washington.
Why carve the face if it’s concealed? Because this is obviously a sacred site so even cleaning and preparing the fire area would have a holy sacred aura. Maybe part of a becoming a man ceremony was to make a fire below for the elders who would meet above and that face was part of the initiation. These were still hunting/nomads who bury valuables, maybe they would ceremonially bury it when they knew they were to follow a herd. This would also mean that stability wasn’t as primary concern because maybe like current day Burning Man this site was used once a year then abandoned. I see this area as something akin to a fair or festival where to maintain a sense of unity between tribes who shared hunting and proto-farm land they would use this site to meet, do drugs, and figure out the next years events etc. I can see this being a temporary city in the desert for a few weeks before the would bury/burn it all so it could be preserved for the next year of initiation and celebration. It’s a way to constructively compete, trade and have cohesion.
@@ALifeWellStevedI like your theory of the sites use, I think that it was more likely the space was used for a ritual purpose and not simply the underpart of a heated area above, although a heated bath on top of the structure seems possible, but again we have that fancy face decorating the basement! Perhaps two ideas, a heated sauna beneath a heated bath, are valid. But perhaps more likely is that the basin/chamber was used as a shrine. The ritual use of the basin itself as a chamber with pillars and a votive stone(!) itself makes more sense than the idea of a simple heating floor assembly. The sauna/ritual use of this space makes sense of the stone head, the carving of which is a lot of work for a simple scare for the cleanout workers of a hypocaust, and may be the head of a god or ancestor intrusive into the shrine. Not many faces on the site. Without hardened tools this was a real challenge and a carved face had to have an important purpose. Also steps in the chamber? Again, a lot of fancy work out of consideration for simple maintenance workers. I do think that an attempt was made to bury and flatten out the site when the area was still in use; again, to eliminate shrines or ritual or a theocratic revolution explaining the burial of the shrine/basin. The burial appears hasty and violent, and the stones atop the pillars may confirm a hasty decision to make the shrine essentially fill under a new floor above and make use of the opportunity to use the columns for structural integrity.
This is superb!!!
Thanks
@@AncientArchitects I think you are surely onto something with this idea, good sir!
I can definitely see this Matt. Would love to see more on this. Great job.
It looks like room AB would be the hot room and AA was the plunge pool. Hot/cold exposure runs deep through many cultures and has many health benefits, it's also cheap for a pre-pottery civilisation to do!
I would expect to find carbon deposits. Your hypothesis isn't unreasonable.
I have no specific analysis to view on the fill, but that the bottom is reddish-buff coloured and the upper part of the fill is “darker”
Hi Cat Man!
@@ancientsitesgirl
MEOW!!!😻🐾🐾🐻
As for my non-expert self, a practical hypothesis will beat a ritual one every time 🙂
Impressive Matt, you are on to something very solid here. Congrats my friend.
You should also check on the Korean Ondol as a similar design when the floor is heated, and some of the heat is used for cooking. The floor is heated for sleeping during cold nights. The room is also insulated and carpet or rushes are used as floor insulation to make a comfortable sleeping area.
cement floors... bread and now central heating... clearly this is a high civilization not a primitive one....
Far from primitive. They were not farmers, but technologically speaking I think they were very innovative
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Very nice. Thanks. Excited for this one. Just starting now
brilliant analysis Matt. You taught me that simplest hypothesis is the best one. At the beginning of the video I thought that room was the chaman/lord/king's bedroom. Full of animal skins to make it confortable, you know, for him and his many spouses. But in the end you convinced me it was a climatized pool. There will be necessary in the future a heat analysis, just to make sure it was enough powerful to heat water to 40 Celsius degrees at least.
They look very similar to the ancient statues in Ukriane. That are still out on the open.
Fascinating information, as always. Thanks Matt!
You forgot something, water was very scarce on site so heated water wouldn’t have been wasted like that. I know you remember seeing the rain catching basins so that further shows that water was adequate.
You forgot something, the timescale. 11.000 years ago the Sahara was wet and lush, so there's a good chance that similar climate could've been around this site as well.
Obviously as climate change is happening regardless of what people do, the dry Sahara and Middle East is not what it used to be ten thousand years ago.
Maybe it did have a stone roof and was a food storage facility? But this heated floor thing does sound plausible as well. Maybe that small channel could had been used to pour water that went through the hot floor and traveled to the bathing area(AD)? Water could be circulated through the system to keep it warm
I think you've really got something there Matt.. It looks and makes sense
Thank you
Let’s get some chemical analysis done to the staining on the side walls of Structure AB… that would be very interesting and definitive! Great work Matt … respect for having the balls to put yourself out there like that 💪🇨🇦
Thanks for posting these great photo and site details Matthew. Creating a hypothesis for this amazing site, does warrant a shot in the dark -- so congrats for all the research and thought you've applied to develop yours. If I may add a couple of thoughts of my own they would be: If the pillars in AB where intended to hold up a floor, would they have not carved all the pillars out of the bedrock at the same height. I would think that the concave top of the shorter columns indicates an object would have topped them to support the stone roof. There have been numerous examples of civilizations of this period that infilled their cultural and spiritual sites to protect them from a known coming catastrophic event -- if the objects topping the shorter column where of importance they might have been moved somewhere else.
I think I think you are 100% right. There's clearly something going on, and it's probably the first hot water heater! 👏 👏 👏, Respect for you, sir.
You're missing a very vital part, the massive soot build up from a furnace, that could be easily carbon dated.
Id say one of the MOST intriguing theories I've heard since any of these tepe's have been unearthed.
Best one as yet, well done 👏
I have made inside jokes with myself over the amount of conjecture in this field of archeology. It seems too easy to tell a story about what an artifact's use or purpose. But this examination of evidence at this site raises my spirits. This is fantastic work and I look forward to additional finds and results from testing. I can't wait to see the 3D model.
The positioning of the opening next to the large open area would also be the perfect place for a community fire for that area. If you look from the top that part is also slightly wind protected by the Ridge behind it.
Ok. I live in KY, limestone central. This includes a lot of limestone basements. I used to live on Limestone St. in Lexington. A lot of Kentucky homes that burned down, or suffered fires, have similar unfinished basements with heat damage that mimics the discoloration on "The Face"'s side of the enclosure. As Lexington, the area I'm more familiar with, switched from either firewood or coal to natural gas furnaces, you can (could, there's been a lot of "urbanization", unfortunately) see some of these still visible when I viewed them. Also, the coal shoots and occasionally the several decades old wood, which I once helped haul out. A lot of old houses that were just plain huge had been converted into apartments and I loved exploring old houses even when I wasn't in my cups. I actually found a secret entrance into a space that served some damn function in a closet and it was a simple "push the panel and it opens' but wasn't obvious, and the friend did not realize the particulars of the apartment they were renting. [But I ran into similar in Virginia visiting relatives with ties to the Underground Railroad]. Undisseminated aspects of US history.
I know that an archaeological dig done on the budget and time period that Karahan Tepe was initially excavated leaves us with minimal samples. However, the walls can be scrapped with minimal effort or damage. I concur it would be minimal to do so. Actually this video might create exactly that sort of effort. :) It's not an insane request from a somebody who is just insanely curious. You're drawing future travel dollars to an area of Turkey that quite frankly needs tourism dollars. I wanna see these sites. I have for decades. Just reach out to them. I don't think they'll throw you to the shitter in this day and time. I mean they might, but I think you've got a good thing here. And that crazy looking stone L shaped pillar was put in after they realized the floor above wouldn't hold with ALL THE OTHER PILLARS. I think the floor fell at one point and it's the one that replaced the weak point in the flooring support system. Again, limestone, it doesn't handle heat well.
I found this video after seeing the pillars of Karahan Tepe and immediately thinking they reminded me of Roman bath sites I’ve seen all over the Middle East and Europe. Especially with the carved channel that appears to be made for water to run into that area. It would be incredible if that technique went that far back.
Matt sir, I’m only 6 minutes in and I don’t know if you focus on it. But the carving of the face “blowing air” into the room is the most compelling evidence
Makes sense to me....People do have to get clean...The cold plunge really convinced me being a Sauna buff. Very cool idea
Videos like this are what make me keep coming back to this channel. Now I'm curious as to how far back in time it may have been when people first learned how to make bathhouses, because this setup of Karahantepe looks like it was already an ancient design at the time. It must have been quite an elegant place in its heyday.
20:25 ..at the topographical when you added the floor in:
That appears as if it’s a descending water channel coming in from the right.
Then the opening on the left appears to be lower than the floor height with a rim. If this area were to be filled with water, this opening would pool up and allow for easy water access.
The pit on the bottom left would be an overflow IF the height is correct and there is a channel running from the access pool down to the pit.
The added floor would keep sunlight out, so no roof would be needed & the water would stay clean of algae etc.
Look into in ground water & food storage. It is a natural & elementary refrigerator method still used today in permaculture style life.
You need water to get through dry desert months, always. If this isn’t water the storage, then this sight would have to have it somewhere. Storage as storage, not for regular use. There will also be storage for regular use as well as the storage for dry season. The sight would have [need] both.
Yes the heated floor method is pretty darn sound. But heated floor is luxury, whereas water storage is fundamental. Besides if that inlet is a water gutter and rain filled into it, then this area would literally work as a water storage.
Rituals based on phallus shaped pillars is primitive Hollywood logic.
True logic would dictate that one must find at every sight, the fundamental elements of survival, based on specific local climate needs-before plugging in ritual or luxury hypothesis into explanations of function.
These are just my initial observations & guesses though. As you said, stages of use over the ages could have changed from water storage to heated floor to landfill whatever. Or we could both be wrong. 🤷🏼♂️👍🏼
I like your theory that AB could function like a Hypocaust. It certainly looks similar. It's a very intriguing design.
Love these videos. What strikes me is how many years it took to come up with the design. Definitely not the first attempt.
These aren't even close to the first buildings in human history.
Very good work. Supporting a trend in amateur observers looking at scientific finds "in real-time".
I have to agree and my intrest in "mother cultures" being militarized by a revolutionary warrior class, has had me thinking about the immensely complex hydro-engineering projects in the Indus Harappan civilization, a great trading federation very much like that of Crete. Also the cities around Saba in Yemen also has great hydro- engeneering projects, made rich by the lucrative frankincense trade this city is remembered by the "Queen of Sheba" in the biblical Solomon story.
Your conjecture confirms that the "Goddess Figurines" found in these sights show the ritual life of these nature worshiping trading people including worhipping water through heated water womb like bathing rituals.
That certainly helps my argument. Do carry on, the work you put into this project is truly heroic. Thx.
Well thought out. I visualize your concept easily.
Love the idea, makes so much sense!
About the face. Not sure if anyone mentioned it before, but the lips kinda look like that they are blowing air. When you start a fire, you need to gently blow it to supply it with extra air making the fire burn hotter before it gets strong enough to sustain itself.
Obviously if that was the symbolic meaning of the face (blowing extra air into the fire to make it hotter and stronger) then it is in the wrong place pointing at the wrong direction (you don't want to blow the smoke back to AD), but it might spark some interesting connections in your mind.