What Did the Tower of Babel Look Like?
When Ron found the anchor stones in the village in the area of the ark, there was one that has especially intrigued him. Below one of the large crosses is carved a crude picture of a structure which clearly is meant to represent a tower- see photo at left. The crudeness of the drawing indicates that it was not carved at the time the crosses were placed on the stone and he theorized that it was perhaps a representation of the tower of Babel. No ziggurat has ever been found in Turkey, so it was rather a surprise to find this.
Although based on theory, Ron concluded that perhaps the Babel tower had been built with this design- instead of steps ascending upward, it had a ramp which spiraled around the structure upward. This would have allowed for much easier transporting of materials as the height increased. It also would have allowed the structure to ascend to a greater height- if steps had been used, the angle of the sides would have had to have inclined at a greater angle to accommodate the width of each step from front to back. This can be better understood by looking at the shape of a pyramid as opposed to the much steeper sides of the design seen in the photo at right. A pyramid with a base the size of this one could be no more than half as tall. This is a point to consider because we know that many ancient cities had ziggurats and pyramids.
As far as we know, this is the only evidence in
Turkey which is even suggestive of an ancient tower
or ziggurat. Who drew it,
we can't know. When, we
also don't know. But it is the only design capable of
reaching the great heights indicated in the Biblical
account, and it is interesting that it is found on one of
the ancient stones in the village of Kazan (the place of
eight). In fact, the stone it is on appears to have been
one of the anchor stones- the top portion containing
the hole is broken away but the presence of a smooth,
rounded section at the top center appears to be the remnant of the hole for the rope.
