Very ancient things . . .
http://www.andrewcollins.com/page/articles/magicians.htm
"Journey of the Soul"
"It is more likely that Pillar 43 depicts the death journey of the soul of the deceased, or indeed that of the shaman (see below). This would be the removal of a soul from its physical environment, represented by the headless figure with an erection at the base of the stone - via Scorpius, signified by the scorpion, to its final destination among the stars. This destination, arguably the entrance to the "upper world" or sky-world of Eurasian shamanic tradition, appears to have been located in the vicinity of Cygnus, represented on the pillar by the main vulture, where the soul of the individual is shown as the ball above its left wing."
"Ercan goes on to link the vulture imagery on Göbekli Tepe's Pillar 43 with the act of disposing of the dead through the practice of excarnation, along with its allied association with the transmigration of the soul: "There were no graves 12,000 years ago. The dead bodies were left outdoors and raptors [that is, vultures] ate them. In this way, people believed the soul goes to the sky." This, he said, was called "burial in the sky," i.e. sky burial, and is depicted in the carved art at Göbekli Tepe, and also at the 9,000-year-old Neolithic city of Çatalhöyük in southern-central Anatolia. Here, shown in one particular painted fresco, are two vultures at the top of a wooden excarnation tower in the act of feasting on a human corpse, which as at Göbekli Tepe is shown as a headless figure (see fig. 13). Yet next to this scene are two more vultures on another excarnation tower that appear to be taking under their wings a ball-like head, this time with a mouth and two eyes. What we are almost certainly seeing here are the birds accepting into their care the soul of the deceased person in preparation for its journey to the next world."
http://www.andrewcollins.com/page/articles/magicians.htm
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/signs-of-worlds-first-pictograph-found-in-gobeklitepe
http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/worlds-oldest-pictograph-discovered-gobekli-tepe
Galgal Rephaim is also thought to have been a location for "Sky Burials"
http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/morbid-theory-in-mystery-of-israel-s-answer-to-stonehenge
Although most here would likely find this appalling I think you might find it quite interesting that this ancient symbolism of the journey of the soul to the heavens upon death is actually found in the very earliest portions of Genesis. In fact it concerns the covenant with Abraham which appears to have been misread or pointed incorrectly in the Masorete Hebrew Text, (nashab-disperse for yashab-dwell-sit while nashab still does not even appear to be in the text despite the modern English renderings to the contrary), which is unfortunate because without this symbolism there are many prophetic statements and curious things said by both Moses and the Prophets which cannot be understood apart from this ancient symbolism. Even the idea that the descendants of Abraham would be as the stars of the heavens comes from this symbolism. In the LXX version of Genesis 15:11 we do not read that Abram chased away the fowls which came down upon the pieces but rather that he sat down among them revealing that the symbolism is of Abram himself, being slain, and giving himself willingly in sacrifice, (but of course it is only symbolism because, as Paul says, Elohim desires us to offer ourselves as
living sacrifices unto Him). It is again the same old time symbolism of the flesh being put to death, or mortified as Paul likes to say, even given to the fowls of the heavens and the beasts of the field, (which is found in much prophetic typology, allegory, and symbolism).
Genesis 15:11 LXX Brenton English Translation
11 And birds came down upon the bodies, even upon the divided parts of them, and Abram sat down by them.
Yet even Brenton does not go far enough in his rendering, imo, because the word used for
sat down by is rather sat down together with them, (the pieces, which represent his own self in sacrifice, while the fowls devoured the flesh from off the pieces).
Genesis 15:11 OG LXX
15:11 κατεβη δε ορνεα επι τα σωματα τα διχοτομηματα αυτων και συνεκαθισεν αυτοις αβραμ
http://bibledatabase.net/html/septuagint/01_015.htm
G4776 συγκαθίζω sugkathizo (sïng-ka-thiy'-zō) v.
to give (or take) a seat in company with.
[from G4862 and G2523]
KJV: (make) sit (down) together
Other key symbols are also in the Hebrew such as tannur "fire pot", (little "lake of fire"?).
Genesis 15:9-18
9 And He said to him, Take for Me the treble of an heifer, and the treble of a she-goat, and the treble of a ram, and a turtledove; even a young nestling.
10 And he took unto Him all these, and parted them in the midst, and laid each piece one against his fellow: but the tsippor divided he not.
11 Moreover the fowls descended upon their divided carcasses and Abram sat together with them.
12 And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and behold, an horror of great darkness fell upon him.
13 And He said to Abram, Know of a surety that your seed shall be a stranger in a land which is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years:
14 And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance.
15 And you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be interred in a good old age.
16 But in the fourth generation they shall come here again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full.
17 And it came to pass that when the sun went down, and it was twilight, behold a smoking tannur-fire-pot, and burning lamps of fire, which passed amidst those pieces.
18 In this day cut YHWH with Abram a covenant, saying, Unto your seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates:
Ezekiel 39:17-20 The Scriptures (TS2009)
17 “And you, son of man, thus said the Master יהוה, ‘Speak to every sort of bird and to every beast of the field, “Assemble yourselves and come, gather from all around to My slaughtering which I am slaughtering for you, a great slaughtering on the mountains of Yisra’ĕl, and you shall eat flesh and drink blood.
18 “Eat the flesh of the mighty, drink the blood of the princes of the earth, of rams and lambs, of goats and bulls, all of them fatlings of Bashan.
19 “And you shall eat fat till you are filled, and drink blood till you are drunk, at My slaughtering which I am slaughtering for you.
20 “And you shall be satisfied at My table with horses and riders, with mighty men and with all the men of battle,” declares the Master יהוה.
Revelation 19:17-20 The Scriptures (TS2009)
17 And I saw one messenger standing in the sun, and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the birds that fly in mid-heaven, “Come and gather together for the supper of the great Elohim,
18 to eat the flesh of sovereigns, and the flesh of commanders, and the flesh of strong ones, and the flesh of horses and of those who sit on them, and the flesh of all people, free and slave, both small and great.”
19 And I saw the beast, and the sovereigns of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to fight Him who sat on the horse and His army.
20 And the beast was seized, and with him the false prophet who worked signs in his presence, by which he led astray those who received the mark of the beast and those who worshipped his image. The two were thrown alive into the lake of fire burning with sulphur.
Deut 28:26, 1Sam 17:46, Isa 18:5-7, Jer 7:32-34, Jer 15:1-3, Jer 16:1-4, Jer 19:3-7, Jer 34:19-20.
Ah, but who is willing to make such a self-sacrificing covenant with the Most High? Your eyes of the flesh seeing all things according to the eyes and mind of the flesh will dissolve while you stand upon your feet; your tongue of the flesh speaking carnal things of the carnal flesh man will dissolve in your mouth, (Zechariah 14:12-16), and no doubt the like symbolism is found in many other prophetic passages which not only the Testimony of Yeshua in the Gospel accounts but even the writings of Paul likewise explain in the doctrine of "cutting off the flesh", the deeds of the flesh, and the old man carnal nature.
. . . So Moshe like a Cherub took up the bones of Yoseph out of Egypt, when bnei Yisrael went forth out of Egypt, (O Egypt, great of flesh!), for Yoseph had straightly sworn bnei Yisrael, saying, Elohim will surely visit you; and you shall carry up my bones out of here with you, (for when they had spiced-embalmed the body of Yoseph, they placed his carcass in an Ark in Egypt, (and the stone coffer was of the same cubic internal volume as the Ark-box of the Covenant with the Krubim on the atonement cover)). . . 
