For over a century, scholars believed they understood how civilization developed. The story went like this: First, humans invented agriculture. Then they settled into villages. Then they developed complex social structures. Then they built temples. Religion was a product of civilization, not its cause.
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Crowns & Conquests·2/3·1′
The place
Göbekli Tepe
First the Temple, Then the City
The revolution in understanding human civilization
~9600-8000 BCGöbekli Tepe
Moral of the Story
“Religion may be the foundation of civilization, not its product. Göbekli Tepe suggests that the desire to worship together drove humans to settle down and develop agriculture.”
Characters
K
Klaus SchmidtT
The builders of Göbekli TepeE
Early farmers of KaracadağSource
Klaus Schmidt's "Göbekli Tepe: A Stone Age Sanctuary in South-Eastern Anatolia" (2012), comparative archaeological studies, einkorn domestication research