[SunkenCiv]

The upright stones could be easily tipped over, which suggests that they were carefully buried after each period of use. That wouldn’t explain how, when a large crowd was around doing their thing, no one bumped the over and the whole bunch went down like dominoes, killing everyone in their path. Seems more likely that they were held in place by something no longer extant, such as a wood roof or just some organic glue or mortar that hasn’t survived.

[imardmd1]

I dunno. When a big piece of stone comes to rest, it is not very easy to move it again. Think of the metastable state of a big lump of rock that involves the active energy hill it has to get over to lift it up even an inch to make it tumble over to attain a lower energy state. Not easy.

Not arguin'; just sayin'.

But thanks so much for this post. i've been quite interested about Anatolia and Lake Van and Ararat for a long time. (Gives me something to talk about with the owner of the Turk-run restaurant that I often go to!)