Göbekli Tepe, a site in southeastern Turkey, is hailed as the world’s first temple, constructed around 9600 B.C. by hunter-gatherers. The site, featuring massive stone pillars arranged in circles, challenges conventional wisdom that organised religion only arose after societies adopted agriculture.
Excavations reveal that the people who built Göbekli Tepe were indeed hunter-gatherers, not early farmers as once thought. They hunted wild game, gathered wild plants, and lived in small mobile groups. The question remains, how did these nomadic people manage to build such a monumental structure?
Recent studies suggest that the construction of Göbekli Tepe may have been a communal effort. The hunter-gatherers likely came together in large numbers, possibly for feasts and festivals, and worked on the site during these gatherings. This theory is supported by the large number of animal bones found at the site, indicating large-scale consumption of meat.
Göbekli Tepe is seen as an important step in humanity’s cultural evolution, marking a shift from a mobile to a more settled lifestyle. The construction of such a complex monument required planning, coordination, and a shared belief system, traits typically associated with more settled, agricultural societies. This suggests that organised religion may have been a driving force behind the transition to agriculture, not a result of it.
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