A specific feature subset; the same pillar also appears in the bird comparisons.
object · Göbekli Tepe
Pillar 43
One carved surface contains several animals and signs. The disc’s meaning and the upper arched forms remain disputed.
Dates, sources & image record
10th–9th millennia BCEsite context · Broad published site context. No direct measurement dates this individual motif. Date source
photograph · DAI / K. Schmidt. Copyright; reproduced for critical comparison. Image record Existing source image; displayed uncropped. No generated reconstruction.
Another view of this examplePillar 43 in a second photograph; the same carved face DAI / Göbekli Tepe Project; original study attribution · Copyright DAI; retained for criticism and commentary, not freely licensed · Image record None: copied or downloaded bytes unchanged
Assyrian imagery
Nimrud protective figures
A documented example from a larger Assyrian relief tradition.
Why these examples belong together
This first edition includes one museum-identified panel. Additional panels must be registered before claims about frequency.
object · Nimrud
Nimrud protective figure
Met 32.143.7. This is a specific Assyrian relief, distinct from the Pergamon panel shown in the earlier atlas.
Dates, sources & image record
c. 883–859 BCEproduction · Museum attribution to the palace of Ashurnasirpal II. Date source
photograph · The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Public domain / Open Access. Image record Museum web-large photograph downloaded unchanged (DP375422).
The same compact outline is pointed out across ancient Anatolia, Assyria and Mesoamerica. The time gaps and distant contexts motivate the proposed anomaly.
Seven explicitly develops the Göbekli Tepe / West Asian handled-form proposal. The project archive preserves the extension to La Venta; the earliest proposer of that three-way version is untraced. Secret of the Gods: stone handbags
Look closely
What appears to correspond
An arch or handle rises over a roughly enclosed lower form in the selected images.
Keep in the frame
What differs or remains uncertain
Pillar 43’s forms are arranged overhead and are not visibly carried.
The Nimrud bucket belongs to a cone-and-bucket ritual ensemble.
La Venta’s small carried object has its own local interpretation; shared shape does not establish shared function.
Transmission check
No route established in this review
No transmission sequence for this specific comparison has been established in the sources reviewed. That is not proof that contact was impossible.
What would move this forward
Collect handled forms and plausible non-container alternatives without selecting only good matches.
Trace each interpretation to an object-specific source.
Follow the evidence
Sources & scope
Provisional editorial record; no independent specialist sign-off. Status describes review depth, not the probability of a historical connection.
