Gobekli Tepe Changed our Understanding of the Agricultural Revolution
Which came first, organized religion or agriculture? Archaeologists aren’t so sure anymore.
South Africa is considered the cradle of humankind, thanks in no small part to ancient hominin remains that date back to over 3 million years ago. From there, at least 70,000 years ago, our ancestors migrated out of Africa to populate the rest of the globe. Over the 60,000 years that followed, humans developed the capacity for language and began constructing makeshift settlements while maintaining a largely nomadic lifestyle. We know that ancient humans started farming on a larger scale around 10,000 years ago and the conventional understanding is that organized society and religion developed soon after as a result of our new agricultural lifestyle. But in 1994, a groundbreaking discovery in Turkey made by German archaeologist Klaus Schmidt threw a wrench into this long-standing theory.
Gobekli Tepe
Pre-dating Stonehenge by at least 6,000 years, Gobekli Tepe is characterized by an array of T-shaped stone monuments, some standing as tall as 16 feet and weighing at least 7 tons. It is considered to be the world’s oldest temple, with groups of pillars forming several large circles throughout the vicinity. Many of the monuments are detailed with carvings of various animals, including foxes, snakes, and scorpions. Given that it was constructed between 11,000 and 12,000 years ago, hundreds of years before the agricultural revolution began, the logical conclusion is that Gobekli Tepe was constructed as a gathering place by Neolithic hunter-gatherers. But why is this important in understanding why humans started farming?
An Ancient Gathering Place
Although brown and desolate today, Gobekli Tepe would have been nestled in a lush landscape in Upper Mesopotamia filled with a variety of plants and animals at the time of its construction. It’s even believed by many to have been the location of the biblical Garden of Eden. This corner of the world would eventually become the birthplace of agriculture.
The projectile nature of stone tools found at the site and the bones of wild, undomesticated animals corroborate the theory that agriculture didn’t become a widespread practice until hundreds of years after the construction of Gobekli Tepe. Rather, the wrench in this theory comes in the form of archaeological evidence which suggests that hunter-gatherers were congregating here in more organized groups than anthropologists ever would have expected at this point in human history. This indicates some level of shared ideologies — a huge step toward organized society and religion. This presents a challenge to the notion that agriculture came first, and religion and organized societies came second.
Studying the engravings and carvings found on the stone pillars at Gobekli Tepe provides us with further evidence of societal organization and the sparks of cultic religion. The construction of such a massive Neolithic sanctuary would have required several hunter-gatherer groups from the surrounding areas to congregate and work cooperatively for an extended period of time. Shared ideologies and symbolism would have been essential for keeping the peace among the different groups and the stone carvings give us a glimpse into what the symbolism was that held these groups together.
Did Beer Spark the Agricultural Revolution?
It has long been believed that beer and wine production was a byproduct of the rise of agriculture in Egyptian and Mesopotamian civilizations. As far as most archaeologists were concerned until the last few decades, religion and alcohol were a result of the agricultural revolution, not a precedent of it. Recent archaeological discoveries of Neolithic wine production in Iran and Turkey are challenging this assumption. Now, chemical analysis on stone basins found at Gobekli Tepe has indicated the possibility of ancient beer production at the site. According to an article published by Cambridge University Press, “the discovery of fermentation and the use of beer in social and religious life could thus have led to the domestication of cereals.” While we don’t know for sure that alcoholic beverages were created and consumed based on the scarcity of chemical evidence, many of the factors taken into consideration together do support the idea that our Neolithic ancestors were aware of alcoholic intoxicants. This presents a novel theory that alcohol production fueled the agricultural revolution, while cultic religions made the societal organization for it possible.
Using geomagnetic surveys and ground-penetrating radar, it has been determined that there are at least 16 more megalith rings spanning the surrounding 22 acres underground, meaning we’ve only unearthed about 5% of the site. Until more of this site is uncovered and analyzed, we can only imagine what other secrets it may hold about the evolution of agriculture, religion, organized societies…and beer.
