Mankind and the Invention of the Corner – Prof. Necmi Karul
In light of the findings from the excavations at Göbeklitepe, Karahantepe, and the broader Taş Tepeler project, the concept of the "Invention of the Corner," as articulated by Prof. Dr. Necmi Karul, is not merely an architectural development in human history, but a profound sociological and psychological revolution.
The Limits of Circular Structures (Communal Focus)
Early-stage structures in the Taş Tepeler region feature a circular plan. A circular space is singular, difficult to divide, and easier to construct in nature. Common examples include tents, caves, and bird nests. It is inherently challenging to establish a hierarchy or partition the area within a circular space; people naturally gather in a ring, centering around a fire or a focal point (such as the central pillars). This type of architecture reflects the community and communal living rather than the individual.
The Invention of the Corner and Space Division (Modularity)
As humans permanently transitioned to a sedentary lifestyle and their populations grew, circular structures began to fall short of their needs. When you place two circular buildings side by side, dead spaces remain between them, making it difficult to expand the overall structure. However, the corner makes a structure modular.
When you build a rectangular structure, you can easily divide the interior into distinct rooms thanks to straight walls. For the first time in history, this granted humanity the freedom to create a space within a space. The pantry, the sleeping quarters, and the daily living area where the fire burned began to separate from one another.
The invention of the corner allowed buildings to be constructed directly adjacent to one another. By sharing common walls, buildings merged to form neighborhoods, while the flat, linear spaces left between the houses formed history's very first streets.
Dividing the space into rooms and separating households gave birth to an entirely new concept in human psychology: Privacy.
There was a monumental transition from the circular, public space—where the entire tribe looked at the same fire and everything was out in the open—to the four-walled (rectangular) house model with doors and divided sections, where the private life of the nuclear family could unfold.
While the invention of the corner provided space efficiency and the transition to a room-based system in architecture, it laid the physical groundwork in social life for the transition from communal living to a life of defined households and privacy (and ultimately, the concept of property). The secret of permanent settlement and modern architecture is hidden right in that corner.
Witness the Architectural Evolution
If you wish to examine these mind-opening details on-site and reflect upon this monumental transformation in human history, you can visit archaeological sites like Göbeklitepe and Karahantepe within the scope of the Şanlıurfa Taş Tepeler project. Afterward, you can explore later-period Neolithic excavation sites such as Çatalhöyük and Aşıklı Höyük to witness this architectural and social evolution with your own eyes.
