The Spatialization of Ecological Literacy: Reconceptualizing Pre-Pottery Neolithic Megaliths as Seasonal Knowledge-Transfer Hubs

The traditional paradigm in Near Eastern archaeology routinely classifies architectural complexity and monumental scale in the Pre-Pottery Neolithic (PPN) as evidence of emergent, centralized religious hierarchies ("temples"). This paper challenges this view by proposing an alternative operational framework: megalithic complexes across the Taş Tepeler network functioned primarily as advanced, seasonal socio-ecological training hubs and dynamic knowledge-transfer installations. Driven by the severe, abrupt climate fluctuations of the Younger Dryas (c. 12,900–11,600 cal. BP), pre-agricultural societies required highly resilient, adaptive information-sharing networks to navigate localized ecological bottlenecks. Rather than static spaces for dogmatic worship, these circular stone enclosures, subterranean bedrock chambers, and iconographic pillars are modeled as spatial mnemonic hardware, behavioral simulators, and regional skill-sharing summits. This model traces a fundamental cognitive split between the fluid, verb-based "grammar of animacy" characterizing ecological engineering and the rigid, noun-based abstractions of later monoculture agrarian states. Furthermore, the deliberate backfilling of these structures is reframed as an intentional, off-season winterization technology designed to insulate physical assets from environmental weathering. This framework shifts the interpretive lens from anachronistic state-level religious structures to an organized, high-investment system of human capability, seasonal landscape optimization, and inter-communal ecological literacy.