Göbekli Tepe

[Shwa]

How long was a lifetime back then? And how much of their lifetime was spent just on survival? And what tools did they have? You have the computer to tap-tap-tap away on, and all that involves physically is sitting on your butt, as you have all the modern-day conveniences, including running to the store for all of your food and clothing needs - not to mention indoor plumbing and central heat. I can't believe you're comparing yourself, your lifetime - with all the medical and technological and creature comfort advances we've made even in the past 200 years - with people who lived 9,000-11,000 years ago.

Why do you necessarily presume that they wouldn't have the same amount of time to work in a day for a given period of time as a modern? Even IF it were a few hours a day pecking away at some chunk of stone, they could do an impressive amount of work over a 25 year period. Now imagine hundreds of them.

[Guest American Woman]

Why do you necessarily presume that they wouldn't have the same amount of time to work in a day for a given period of time as a modern?

Let's see .... .because they didn't have modern medicine, they didn't have automobiles, they didn't buy their groceries and clothing at the store, they didn't have sewing machines, they didn't have washers and dryers, they didn't have dish washers, they didn't have electricity, they didn't have central heat, they didn't have ovens/microwaves, they didn't have running water, they didn't have farm equipment, they didn't have modern tools, their life expectancy likely didn't come anywhere near our retirement age ..... need I go on?

[Shwa]

Let's see .... .because they didn't have modern medicine, they didn't have automobiles, they didn't buy their groceries and clothing at the store, they didn't have sewing machines, they didn't have washers and dryers, they didn't have dish washers, they didn't have electricity, they didn't have central heat, they didn't have ovens/microwaves, they didn't have running water, they didn't have farm equipment, they didn't have modern tools, their life expectancy likely didn't come anywhere near our retirement age ..... need I go on?

Need you go on? LOFL! All you have done is shown modern conveniences - and time consuming ones to boot! But you haven't come even a little bit close to explaining why they wouldn't have the same amount of time - leisure or 'free' time - to do such works. Never mind a structured society that had had a class of stone worker bees.

A 50 year lifespan could include 25 productive years of tap-tap-tap with a chisel or more, assuming that one apprentices at an early age. And with a society structured a certain way, "retirement" for them might have meant death.

I think there is a sort of interesting presentism that assumes that because we have all these modern conveniences, that somehow we have more leisure or 'free' time than ancient peoples. This isn't a necessary concept:

Original Affluent Society

By foraging only for their immediate needs among plentiful resources, hunter-gatherers are able to increase the amount of leisure time available to them. Thus, despite living in what western society deems to be material poverty, hunter-gatherer societies work less than people practicing other modes of subsistence while still providing for all their needs, and therefore increase their amount of leisure time. These are the reasons the original affluent society is that of the hunter-gatherer.

I don't think this was the status quo for all hunter-gatherer societies, of course not, but when we encounter breath-taking works such as this, it isn't a stretch to imagine that they hand time to spend. If the area of Gobekli Tepe was a rich, bountiful region, sustaining themselves might have been fairly easy and provided for lots of time for their society to create these works over a long period of time.