4,700 YEAR OLD TAVERN in Iraq is gateway to Life, Trade, War & Empire in ancient Sumer.

[@g3heathen209]

"Gilgamesh was here" carved on the bar.

[@larkljc]

You win the Interwebs today , Sir!!!

[@bruninhamrso]

🤣👍

[@LMO-f8p]

Was Enkidu with him?!! 🤍🩵

[@roxiepoe9586]

I studied art history and earned my degree in geography - which led to my fascination with all things old, quite old, very old, and profoundly old. I love your work as it is an easy entry to even more rabbit holes to fall down!

[@ThePrehistoryGuys]

Thank you!

[@stevorobo8411]

I also served in Iraq in '03 🇮🇶🇬🇧 and have always wished to return and explore it's history. It is a beautiful Country ❤️

[@helenhershtjader5759]

Exploring efficiency in the human experiment. Someone’s got a great kabob - they lead a team making them all day long. Someone’s a textile maker - ditto. With great archeology, it feels like we are dropping into their scene. Any indications of the calamity causing the dishes to spill? Earthquake? Invasion?Well done. Love the time travel!

[@Will-SFC06]

Keep up the insightful discussions.

[@johnnyjet3.1412]

During my tour in Iraq in '03 as a Nat'l Guard HET driver I took the tour in the City of Ur, the oldest arched doorway in the world is a little short for me (I'm only 6'3") and standing in the foundation of Abraham's house (26 rooms, most the size of closets, or similar) It occurred to me, what if Abraham is not a name but a title, and however many generations of men with that title would match the lifespan listed in THAT Book? - We can do that in the modern era France was ruled by Louis for how long?

[@stevorobo8411]

I was there in '03 also. in Basra 🇮🇶🇬🇧 I found it to be a beautiful country and have always wished to rtn.

[@jacobvardy]

The word "Abraham" probably means "father of (something)". A popular interpretation is Father of Nations but there is little evidence. It was certainly a title of some sort.

[@Ken_Scaletta]

Abraham is mythological character not a historical one.

[@julesbc9031]

That’s a good idea - thank you for sharing.

[@beefycheesecake]

Interesting idea 👍

[@maggiemaloney8599]

This is wonderfully interesting. We focus our study of history on empire, forgetting that no empire could exist without the ordinary people who make it up. It gives us a grandiose concept of history and divorces us from the understanding that humans are and always have been far more alike than we are different. Any one of us could sit down in that ancient "pub" with great familiarity.

[@JHaven-lg7lj]

It’s extraordinary, isn’t it? And I’d love to read the report itself, if I could make myself a flow chart to track all the layers. What a wonderful site

[@george46light]

The history of the (daily) life of normal folks is so intriguing. Thanks for "digging" into this!

[@michaellewis7959]

I had just read an article on this very discovery and this just was a wonderful episode

[@ThePrehistoryGuys]

Thank you Michael!

[@basilbrushbooshieboosh5302]

First time on your channel. Great stuff guys. There's such a dearth of entertaining and information packed shows on KZbin about archaeology and pre-history. I'm heartily pleased to subscribe and have your shows come streaming in. Cheers.

[@ThePrehistoryGuys]

Welcome to you! Thanks for your kind words M😊

[@TheWonderwy]

👍💕❤😊 Was just reading about this find earlier today! Love watching you two and enjoy your spin. Thank you.

[@ThePrehistoryGuys]

Awesome! Thank you!

[@lindasue8719]

17:53 I thought this was more Star wars humour 😆 "We're going to all be one"/"we're going to Obi Wan"

[@nodarkthings]

When I hear tavern I immediately imagine a crowded dark room filled with characters from different places with tales to tell. My imagination races!

[@rosemarycrane5137]

Mine as well!!

[@RogerWKnight]

My experience with taverns is that while I have met interesting people with interesting stories, most of the time I just meet folks who get too drunk or obnoxious. The ones who aren't usually want to be left alone to eat and drink in peace.

[@arkaig1]

I first thought of that story [oldest joke?] about the dog in the Sumerian tavern and said Oh no not again. Isn't that what the dog said in the story? :)

[@elizabethmcglothlin5406]

The story of travelers in history. How wonderful!

[@chrisdooley1184]

This is utterly fascinating guys. Thx for sharing your thoughts and showing us the photos from the site. I absolutely love prehistory and find the city states from this time period utterly amazing. The photo of those beaten metal plates for food, having sat there for thousands of years was really a treat Edit: my terrible spelling

[@janetmackinnon3411]

Oh, I had forgotten that today was a Thursday! Joy unbridled!

[@jenniferharrison4319]

Fascinating. Makes you wonder what happened to cause the bowls to be left with food in them especially if it is thought they fell of a shelf 🤔

[@MichaelMikeTheRussianBot]

That is what I've been wondering since I first read of this. Earthquake? War? Sudden death of the proprietor? Foreclosure?

[@lenabreijer1311]

At the bottom of nine levels. Which means 9 times the area was destroyed and built over.

[@jenniferharrison4319]

Yes, the area is earthquake prone. Obviously nobody returned to the building to clear up the damage so maybe it collapsed. Recent tragic events have shown what earthquakes can do to buildings. People would just level the area and rebuild

[@abisu5273]

My money's on an earthquake which covered the room in sand or similar , so the food was not taken by scavengers and bacteria

[@RogerWKnight]

@@MichaelMikeTheRussianBot Closed down for lack of business? The business cycle went into recession mode?

[@stevorobo8411]

That intro was spectacular Michael 👌

[@ThePrehistoryGuys]

Thank you kindly!

[@jillosullivan400]

Excellent indeed and quite fascinating. Thanks guys

[@dougniergarth236]

As a fan of drinking establishments, I find it wonderful that you could have walked in, lay down a turnip or bag of grain in exchange for a pint or two of fine beverage.

[@RogerWKnight]

We don't accept American Express.

[@christmasmoore6880]

Must read more about this. Sounds like an exciting site -- so many layers. It's so satisfying to hear how the regular folks lived. I can just picture archaeologists in another 5000 years finding the ubiquitous Dunkin' Donuts all around the northeastern US, and getting just as excited.

[@Sonata675]

In 5000 years the coffee cups will have such uniformity that archeologists will wonder if they are religious offerings for cultic worship. They will be half right, lol.

[@weethree2070]

@@Sonata675 I always think of the television screens still dominating everyone's living room as the contemporary form of a home altar… where we sit each night, receiving with passive awe the oracles and the "wisdom" of those up above us.

[@Mrch33ky]

Very interesting. I wasn't going to support the channel but your consistently excellent content has changed my mind. Coffees incoming. Cheers.😉

[@radstar2185]

I've been hoping you would start covering this stuff. It's really the origins of everything, from maths to cuneiform and more. 👍

[@patricksaucier1203]

Thanks!

[@ThePrehistoryGuys]

Thank you very much Patrick!!

[@madderhat5852]

Just back from Orkney . Amazing stuff. Remember Star Wars Tatooine was filmed in Tataouine in Tunisia. Home of Carthage and the Phoenician empire. An amazing place.Even in it's own time , Lagash was a very famous city/state

[@nilcarborundum7001]

great Intro, Michael!

[@ThePrehistoryGuys]

Thank you Sibylle! M😊

[@badgerpa9]

Very informative, nice video./ Thank you Gents.

[@ThePrehistoryGuys]

Our pleasure!

[@autumnjoy5941]

Hospitality for passengers along the silk road

[@SandraNelson063]

I wish I could talk to the bar staff. If they were worth their hire, they could put a tasty meal in front of their regulars , along with the RIGHT brew. Keeping your regulars happy is KEY to a full cash box. They would have an eye out for occasionals needing or offering information. They would know who was selling what for how much. Or who was in hot pursuit of other cargo for whatever they could get it for. A tavern is a whirlwind of commerce.

[@wiretamer5710]

Beautifully written and produced narrative. The fertile cresent is a honey pot for archeologists because we have this parrallel data set from the written history, that trumps Roman Britain in its resolution. Its an ideal situation for calibrating the contextual value of modern archeological techniques. The most encouraging thing is the archeology is so vast, that two centuries of industrial scale plundering have not destroyed everything.

[@ThePrehistoryGuys]

That's a useful insight. Thank you! M😊

[@nilcarborundum7001]

Pretty much like real life… which is wonderful. Who needs Star Wars when you've got a decent pub on the corner? Massive brick oven & clay shard fridge both sound very promising. Who'd have thought how much you can do with the plain earth right beneath our feet? (Well, contemorary ceramicists would). Are you going to visit this place on your travels? If you do, order a "geo.fizz" just for me, if you're into cocktails. I'll see you right for a pint or three when we get the chance.

[@forestdwellerresearch6593]

That's exactly what we need here and now. A decent Sumerian pub where we can just relax, drink mead and eat goat's testicles.

[@helenamcginty4920]

Oh dear. No proper british food like lamb fries and mead?

[@nilcarborundum7001]

@@helenamcginty4920 no tofu & kale with decaf green tea, neither… or so it seems.

[@forestdwellerresearch6593]

No, the poor lower income Sumerians had to make do with pickled goat testicles or deep fried hyena tail.

[@fredwood1490]

Actually, it sounds a lot like Ank-Morpork!

[@Phoenix5365]

Meet in the pub, get food and drinks, gather your party for the next adventure...

[@fredwood1490]

Don't ya love it when old Nerds really get into it?!

[@eyemallears2647]

Not old…… mature!

[@nilcarborundum7001]

"old" is a matter of mind-set, and these two ain't it.

[@fredwood1490]

@@nilcarborundum7001 I suspect they, like most of us Boomers, really enjoy being old, considering how many of our fellows lost that option. Field work can be extremely dangerous. Also hard on the knees and back.

[@holeshothunter5544]

Without powered transport there is little bustle. Everybody walked. BTW there is a city, a real one, about 15 km from Gobekli Tepe. It is called Sanilurfa or just Urfa, or 'the City of Abraham' Extremely ancient dwellings and a granary were found under the town center during diggings for mass transit. I was at GT in '99.

[@sonjicarajkovic5508]

Love this channel but this was a difficult episode to watch, there was a a high pitch tone that would kick in when when Michael stopped talking. 🙉

[@kernowmaid5970]

So amazing,

[@gruboniell4189]

Imagine what they were doing with water flows and locks and water gates…. 👀 masters of water movement

[@nilcarborundum7001]

aye, a very relevant comment on the movement of small waters, I think - as someone (from Vermont, as it happens) once said to me, in the pub: you don't ever buy beer, you just rent it.

[@RhysOlwyn]

That talk of seal impressions about 15mins in gave me a vision of Sumerians clapping their flippers & jumping for fish!

[@bardmadsen6956]

They were very advanced, such as a law that held tavern owners responsible for over serving alcohol to patrons. Also women's rights, slaves to be free after seven years, postal system, legal system, etc. Guess the new cylinder seals will be kept behind the firewalls of Archaeologists' openness.

[@laurap6534]

Excellent use of star wars imagery

[@deormanrobey892]

Is there a dart board?

[@ThePrehistoryGuys]

I'd lay bets on what we call the Royal Game of Ur though!

[@deormanrobey892]

@@ThePrehistoryGuys 😁

[@themaninthecape1887]

With the discovery of a tavern that would suggest they used currency, what currency would that be & has any been found ?

[@chimknee]

Thanks.

[@jasperowens]

Are you guys getting younger?..... I'm watching you.

[@pencilpauli9442]

I like how you mentioned Star Wars, and then commented that Sargon of Akkad said, "Let's all be Wan Kenobi". Which sounds like a single themed Bronze Age cosplay convention. I may or may not have misheard.

[@williammeyer214]

And another live music venue no doubt

[@ThePrehistoryGuys]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/opmWlmyDlNtljqM You're welcome! 😊

[@nonFireresist]

If you really want to open that Pandora's box, ask the one Irving Finkel to appear in the show... :-D

[@JustSpectre]

He will appear at Megalithomania conference where Prehistory Guys appeared previous year, although only on-line. Irving Finkel is a legend and he succeeded where most of his colleagues failed - making ancient history fascinating.

[@gaufrid1956]

I wonder what a pub meal and a beer or two or three in that tavern was like? People have always enjoyed things like this.

[@demetos5432]

Why do academics and archaeologist always dismiss the kings list ?? There is NO way of disproving this list and there are always grains of truth woven into old stories and events to make them easier to remember.

[@Watcher1852]

DO U USE PAYPAL AT ALL I DO NOT USE A CREDIT CARD, I HAVE EMAILED U ABOUT THIS

[@gortnz]

Ancient canal boat tavern crawl!

[@gruboniell4189]

I love u guys and I love Randall Carlson. I love Graham Hancocks work on the Americas too as it’s america and they just so cocky that a British writer ruffled their feathers so much 😂

[@jenniferharrison4319]

Yes, the Guys and Randall are the best 👍

[@waltonsmith7210]

He didnt really ruffle their feathers so much as annoy them by consistently saying wrong and dumb things.

[@gruboniell4189]

@@waltonsmith7210 so was the fake skull in the Smithsonian. There’s lots of ridiculous mainstream ideas. For instance the way primates floated over a raft with fruit on it to South America.. but not humans …

[@waltonsmith7210]

Points to you for remembering the Iran Iraq War happened.

[@romullen3971]

👍

[@abisu5273]

If history is defined by the presence of a written record, who's to say they didn't exist before the known record and were destroyed or decayed. Most wood wasn't preserved in the British prehistoric climate, so why would paper? There's so much talk now about the travels of peoples in those times. I find it hard to believe that they didn't keep journals and draw maps and suchlike.

[@rossr6616]

early "multi-level" marketing began there I suppose....

[@lazzymclandrover4447]

Obi Wan Bottobi... lol

[@nukhetyavuz]

were the brick ovens used like "tandir"? then,the sites must have been turkish...with "tandir" brick ovens for bread,the whole turkish world culture bakes their tandir bread all over the world...the inhabitants must have been prototurks...

[@cork..]

Did someone say the bottom end? HELLO BOYS IVE MISSED YOU! I hope you still think of me when you talk about quoits.

[@ThePrehistoryGuys]

YAY! Great to see you! How ya doing? 😊

[@cork..]

@The Prehistory Guys I've been very very not good but I'm finally recovering and happy to still be alive. Hopefully I can make your next live stream

[@fonce9965]

The misnamed (last ice age) was a nuclear winter & please tell me where the descendants of the Psychopaths who blew their children's future to smithereens would meet to discuss what the HELL their parents were THINKING? THAT'S RIGHT, A TAVERN!

[@fonce9965]

Long-term desertification is an aftereffect of a nuclear blast. Shoch & West are right, Egypt was a lush jungle paradise when the Sphinx was built. The Pyramids are self-powered "Brown's Gas" generating stations built to decontaminate the surface of Earth from nuclear fallout. There is not even background radiation within 1,200 meters of them.

[@fonce9965]

It is all written in the "Emerald Tablets of Thoth" the Atlantean Giant who built the Great Pyramid at GIZA. The tablets are being held (HOSTAGE) by the Pope (antichrist) within the Vatican Archives!

[@fonce9965]

I cast the curse of Sedna upon the Pope, all of his predecessors, & everyone who succeeds them without returning the Emerald Tablets to the future generations who are ABOUT to REPEAT their ancestor's WORST crimes & transgressions!!!!!!!

[@cargilekm]

Maybe armies instead of police force. Cheers

[@aposyl7110]

It always fascinates me that no matter how dramatic, terrible, or surprising- the English ALWAYS speak in an even kilter tone.... When World War 3 breaks out, or when the World Economic Forum force us to get Brain microchips for "Brain Transparency " (this IS real and is planned on) I want these to English Gentlemen to narrate the Apocalypse!!! In an English accent: You have 45 minutes left until impact, well- that was a good run..... pray if you want ... not much good it'll do now- but if it makes you feel better you'll disappear in a blink of an eye..... near painless . Or- (same English accent) Please keep your hands to your sides while waiting for Your brain chip...... just imagine Google advertising in your dreams, Kings and rulers- cops and tyrants now can know everything you do anytime...... this is for highest good, this is how you show your a good citizen! Submit, surrender, stay calm.....good servant! Hahahahaha. Love your channel guys

[@MarceloVolcato]

Sumer's McDonald's.

[@dermotmccorkell663]

Always looking for funding. Poor