@JorgeStolfi
2 weeks ago
Good for you that you kept a foot back on the "ritual" stuff.  But there are still some things you should note:
1) During the thousands of years that those sites have been occupied, every stone, pillar, "window", statue etc has probably been moved from its originally intended location, and reused and repurposed one or more times.  Interpretations that assume those sites were built as we see them now are fundamentally flawed.
2) The pillars were not sculpted in human shape.  They were sculpted in plain T-shape.  The human and other figures on some of the pillars were clearly added after the pillar was erected -- maybe days later, maybe 2000 years later... AFAIK there are only one or two decorations which may have been sculpted as the pillar was quarried, such as that full-relief leopard.  That is, if they are not lime plaster additions...
3) There are many obvious signs that those "round rooms" were originally water cisterns, not "temples" or "meeting rooms".  Such as the fact that they were built at the lowest spot in the settlement, rather than at its highest; that they were rebuild 2-3 times as smaller spaces (as the sources dried up?), rather than expanded; that the oldest ones have wells on their pavements; that the "passages" between them are ok for water but impracticable for people; and so on.
4) There ARE many residential spaces in the area surrounding those "round" rooms.  Check the most recent reports.  They are mostly square and small.  Some of these have one or two T-pillars, most have none.
5) There is no evidence that Neolithic people had anything we could call a "religion" or belief in "supernatural" entities (gods, spirits, etc.)  There are many examples that can be presumed to be "rituals", but only in the general sense of "an action that is performed for its symbolic meaning rather than for its  expected consequences".  Like we today bury the dead in coffins, put flowers in front of a memorial, cut the ribbon at an inauguration, shoot fireworks at 00:00 Jan 1, hoist a flag at half-mast, etc.  None of these derive from belief in supernatural entities.  There are also examples that were probably amulets; but, like today's rabbit foot and horseshoe over the door, they do not imply supernatural beliefs. The person's belief that the amulet will bring good luck is on the same category as his belief that rubbing two sticks will make fire.

@JorgeStolfi
2 weeks ago (edited)
​ @flipflopski2951  I consider that a prime example of archaeologists' hallucinations.
A much more likely explanation of that engraving (advanced by @CuriousBeing) is a common and characteristic pose of vultures: perched, with the wings spread out towards the Sun to warm up.



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Pinned by Adam Morgan Ibbotson
@markb1840
2 weeks ago
It's clearly a club house for an ancient golf course.

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@JorgeStolfi
2 weeks ago