Editing Göbekli Tepe (section)

===Pillars===
[[File:Şanlıurfa Müzesi Göbeklitepe D Tapınağı.jpg|thumb|upright|Reproduction of the central pillars of Enclosure&nbsp;D in the Şanlıurfa museum: engraved arms are visible on the shaft.]]

The stone pillars in the enclosures at Göbekli Tepe are T-shaped, similar to other Pre-Pottery Neolithic sites in the region.{{sfn|Schmidt|2015|pp=285–292}} Unlike at these other sites, however, many of the pillars are carved – typically in low [[relief]], though sometimes in high relief. Most carvings depict animals, mostly serpents, foxes, and boars, but also gazelle, [[mouflon]] (wild sheep), [[onager]], ducks, and vultures. Insofar as they can be identified, the animals are male, and often depicted with an aggressive posture.{{sfn|Schmidt|2012|p=152}}{{sfn|Peters|Schmidt|2004|pp=183–185, 206}}

Abstract shapes are also depicted, mostly an upright or horizontal H-shaped symbol, but also crescents and disks. Depictions of humans are rare; pillar&nbsp;43 in enclosure&nbsp;D includes a headless man with an [[ithyphallic|erect phallus]]. However, the 'T'-shape of the pillars themselves is [[anthropomorphic]]: the shaft is the body, and the top is the head. This is confirmed by the fact that some pillars include – in addition to animal reliefs – carvings of arms, hands, and [[loincloth]]s.{{sfn|Schmidt|2012|p=153–155}}

The two central pillars occupied a special place in the symbolic architecture of the enclosures. Those in Enclosure&nbsp;D represent humans, with arms, a belt, and a piece of cloth that hides the genitals. The sex of the individuals depicted cannot be clearly identified, though Schmidt suggested that they are two men because the belts they wear are a male attribute in the period. There is only one certain representation of a woman, depicted naked on a slab.{{sfn|Schmidt|2012|p=153–155}}

Schmidt and zooarchaeologist [[Joris Peters]] have argued that the variety of fauna depicted on the pillars means they likely do not express a single iconography. They suggest that, since many of the animals pictured are predators, the stones may have been intended to [[Apotropaic magic|stave off evils]] through some form of magic representation, or served as [[totem]]s.{{sfn|Peters|Schmidt|2004|pp=209–12}}

<gallery mode="packed" heights="180">
File:Göbekli Tepe Pillar.JPG|Pillar&nbsp;10, Enclosure&nbsp;B: fox
File:Göbeklitepe Building C 5372 (cropped).jpg|Pillar&nbsp;12, Enclosure&nbsp;C: ducks and boar
File:Göbeklitepe Building C sept 2019 5373crop.jpg|Pillar&nbsp;27, Enclosure&nbsp;C: predator (perhaps a [[felid]]) hunting a boar
File:Göbekli2012-11.jpg|Pillar&nbsp;37 (central), Enclosure&nbsp;C: fox
File:Vulture Stone, Gobekli Tepe, Sanliurfa, South-east Anatolia, Turkey (cropped).jpg|Pillar&nbsp;43, Enclosure&nbsp;D: the "Vulture Stone"
</gallery>