Göbekli Tepe Object Profile

Pillar 56: Dense Animal Reliefs and Snake-Framed Bucranium

Pillar 56 is one of Göbekli Tepe's clearest image anchors: the published report describes 55 animal depictions on one broad side, while the narrow front shows a bucranium framed by two snakes.

Pillar 56: Dense Animal Reliefs and Snake-Framed Bucranium visual reference
Visual reference for orientation. Use source images only when rights are clear.

Quick Facts

Site
Göbekli Tepe
Structure
Enclosure H
Type
pillar

What We Know

Pillar 56 is one of the clearest objects inside Enclosure H: one side carries 55 animal images, and the narrow front shows a bull head framed by two snakes.

Main Details

  • Pillar 56 is one of the clearest objects inside Enclosure H: one side carries 55 animal images, and the narrow front shows a bull head framed by two snakes.
  • Pillar 56 is one of the clearest objects inside Enclosure H. One side carries 55 animal images. Its narrow front shows a bull head framed by two snakes. The research layer keeps the exact grid position, measurements, motif zones, and source limits.
  • Pillar 56 belongs to Enclosure H / Building H at Göbekli Tepe.
  • Pillar 56 in K10-34 in the eastern enclosure wall of Enclosure H.
  • Pillar 56's excavated height as 2.15 m, shaft width as 0.94 m, head width as 1.55 m, and maximum thickness as 0.37 m.
  • Pillar 56 is described as particularly noteworthy because of its extensively decorated southwestern broad side.
  • the southwestern broad side has 55 animal depictions; the later project post describes the surface as more than 55 animals.
  • The animals are described as closely packed, with one outline merging with the next image's contour.
  • motif groups including ducks, snakes, several felids, a bird of prey holding a snake, cranes, duck-like birds, a horned quadruped, and lower-area snakes.
  • The narrow front side shows a bucranium framed by two snakes.
  • The front of the head shows a downward-facing snake.
  • The northeastern broad side has weak-line depictions, possibly ducks, but future excavation clarification is needed.

Parent Context

  • Pillar 56 belongs to Enclosure H / Building H at Göbekli Tepe.
  • Pillar 56 is the strongest imagery anchor inside Enclosure H.
  • It is formally located in K10-34 in the eastern enclosure wall.

Public Reading Path

  • Pillar 56 is one of the clearest objects inside Enclosure H: one side carries 55 animal images, and the narrow front shows a bull head framed by two snakes.
  • Pillar 56 is one of the clearest objects inside Enclosure H. One side carries 55 animal images. Its narrow front shows a bull head framed by two snakes. The research layer keeps the exact grid position, measurements, motif zones, and source limits.
  • Pillar 56 belongs to Enclosure H / Building H at Göbekli Tepe.
  • Pillar 56 in K10-34 in the eastern enclosure wall of Enclosure H.
  • Pillar 56's excavated height as 2.15 m, shaft width as 0.94 m, head width as 1.55 m, and maximum thickness as 0.37 m.
  • Pillar 56 is described as particularly noteworthy because of its extensively decorated southwestern broad side.

Physical Evidence

  • Pillar 56 belongs to Enclosure H / Building H at Göbekli Tepe.
  • Pillar 56 in K10-34 in the eastern enclosure wall of Enclosure H.
  • Pillar 56's excavated height as 2.15 m, shaft width as 0.94 m, head width as 1.55 m, and maximum thickness as 0.37 m.
  • Pillar 56 is described as particularly noteworthy because of its extensively decorated southwestern broad side.
  • the southwestern broad side has 55 animal depictions; the later project post describes the surface as more than 55 animals.
  • The animals are described as closely packed, with one outline merging with the next image's contour.
  • motif groups including ducks, snakes, several felids, a bird of prey holding a snake, cranes, duck-like birds, a horned quadruped, and lower-area snakes.
  • The narrow front side shows a bucranium framed by two snakes.
  • The front of the head shows a downward-facing snake.
  • The northeastern broad side has weak-line depictions, possibly ducks, but future excavation clarification is needed.

Motifs And Feature Groups

  • southwestern broad side
  • narrow front / shaft front
  • head front
  • northeastern broad side open-question surface
  • Use 55 for the 2016 published report; use more than 55 only when explicitly citing the 2017 project post.
  • Four face records and eleven motif-zone records structure Abb. 10 into public-safe evidence groups.
  • 1.55 m head width
  • 55 animal depictions in the published report
  • closely packed animal outlines
  • ducks, snakes, felids, bird of prey holding a snake, cranes, duck-like birds, horned quadruped

What To Be Careful About

  • Use reported wording where exact locus, phase, function, species, image rights, or restoration details remain open.
  • Keep object description, placement, motif identification, and interpretation separate unless the source explicitly joins them.
  • Count policy: more than 55 animals, not a final species list.
  • The possible northeastern reliefs must remain an open question.
  • Source images require rights review before public display.
  • This object does not assign a ritual meaning to the animal crowding, bucranium, or snake framing.
  • The bucranium and snakes are physical depiction terms; their meaning remains interpretation.
  • Do not blur the count policy: cite 55 for the formal 2016 report and more than 55 only for the 2017 project-post wording.
  • Do not name all species on Pillar 56 without formal figure/table verification.
  • Do not treat the possible northeastern broad-side reliefs as confirmed.

Source Trail

  • GT-P56-SRC-001
  • GT-P56-SRC-002
  • GT-P56-SRC-003
  • GT-P56-CANON-ATOM-001
  • GT-P56-CANON-ATOM-002
  • GT-P56-CANON-ATOM-003
  • GT-P56-CANON-ATOM-004
  • GT-P56-CANON-ATOM-005
  • GT-P56-CANON-ATOM-006
  • GT-P56-CANON-ATOM-007
  • GT-P56-CANON-ATOM-008
  • GT-P56-CANON-ATOM-009

Open Questions

  • Individual animal table needed: The face-level motif table now structures Abb. 10 into faces and zones. A future pass should create a numbered animal-by-animal inventory only where the figure and wording support it.
  • Species-level individual inventory missing: The published report supports 55 animals and names motif groups, but this object does not yet contain a complete public animal-by-animal species inventory.
  • Source-image/caption rights review needed: A rights-safe derived schematic is available for public use. Tepe Telegrams Fig. 5 and DAI/N. Becker report imagery still require rights review before public display.
  • Possible northeastern reliefs must remain uncertain: The low lines on the northeastern broad side may indicate further reliefs, but the source explicitly leaves this for future clarification.
  • Meaning claims require interpretation layer: Do not promote ritual, narrative, fertility, death, or cosmological readings from the bucranium/snakes or animal density without separate attributed interpretation records.
  • Do not blur the count policy: cite 55 for the formal 2016 report and more than 55 only for the 2017 project-post wording.
  • Do not name all species on Pillar 56 without formal figure/table verification.
  • Do not treat the possible northeastern broad-side reliefs as confirmed.

Evidence Review

  • source refs
  • atom observation refs
  • relationship refs
  • published report extraction record
  • face-level motif table
  • species-level individual animal table gap
  • rights-safe public schematic
  • image rights review

Object Evidence

What Is Secure

  • Pillar 56 is one of the clearest objects inside Enclosure H: one side carries 55 animal images, and the narrow front shows a bull head framed by two snakes.
  • Pillar 56 is one of Göbekli Tepe's clearest image anchors: the published report describes 55 animal depictions on one broad side, while the narrow front shows a bucranium framed by two snakes.
  • Pillar 56 is one of the clearest objects inside Enclosure H. One side carries 55 animal images. Its narrow front shows a bull head framed by two snakes. The research layer keeps the exact grid position, measurements, motif zones, and source limits.
  • Pillar 56 belongs to Enclosure H / Building H at Göbekli Tepe.

Source Trail

  • GT-P56-SRC-001
  • GT-P56-SRC-002
  • GT-P56-SRC-003
  • GT-P56-CANON-ATOM-001
  • GT-P56-CANON-ATOM-002

Boundaries

  • Use reported wording where exact locus, phase, function, species, image rights, or restoration details remain open.
  • Keep object description, placement, motif identification, and interpretation separate unless the source explicitly joins them.
  • Count policy: more than 55 animals, not a final species list.
  • The possible northeastern reliefs must remain an open question.

Next Evidence Needed

  • Individual animal table needed: The face-level motif table now structures Abb. 10 into faces and zones. A future pass should create a numbered animal-by-animal inventory only where the figure and wording support it.
  • Species-level individual inventory missing: The published report supports 55 animals and names motif groups, but this object does not yet contain a complete public animal-by-animal species inventory.
  • Source-image/caption rights review needed: A rights-safe derived schematic is available for public use. Tepe Telegrams Fig. 5 and DAI/N. Becker report imagery still require rights review before public display.
  • Possible northeastern reliefs must remain uncertain: The low lines on the northeastern broad side may indicate further reliefs, but the source explicitly leaves this for future clarification.

Open the parent structure

Sources

  • GT-P56-SRC-001
  • GT-P56-SRC-002
  • GT-P56-SRC-003
  • GT-P56-CANON-ATOM-001
  • GT-P56-CANON-ATOM-002
  • GT-P56-CANON-ATOM-003
  • GT-P56-CANON-ATOM-004
  • GT-P56-CANON-ATOM-005
  • GT-P56-CANON-ATOM-006
  • GT-P56-CANON-ATOM-007
  • GT-P56-CANON-ATOM-008
  • GT-P56-CANON-ATOM-009

Back to Enclosure H