History › First civilizations › Agricultural (Neolithic) Revolution
Göbekli Tepe
c. 9500–8000 BC· Book, artwork, monument or document· Middle East & Africa
Well documentedSolid records, physical evidence or scientific consensus.
Göbekli Tepe is a hilltop site in southeastern Turkey where people built huge carved stone circles around 9500 BC, before farming took hold.
See it on the History map →What happened
German archaeologist Klaus Schmidt began excavating it in 1995 near the city of Şanlıurfa. Builders raised T-shaped limestone pillars up to about 5.5 m (18 feet) tall and weighing up to roughly 10 tons, set in round enclosures and carved with foxes, boars, snakes, vultures and scorpions. Some pillars have carved arms and belts, suggesting stylized human figures. The builders still mostly hunted wild animals and gathered wild plants.
Why it matters
It suggests organized monument building, and perhaps shared ritual, came before or alongside farming, upending the old idea that only farmers could build big.
How we know
Excavations and radiocarbon dates since 1995, by Schmidt and then the German Archaeological Institute with Turkish partners. The animal bones are of wild species. A UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2018.
Still debated
Schmidt called it the world's first temple, but newer digs found houses, water cisterns and grinding tools, so whether it was a sanctuary, a village or both is debated.
Connections (2)
▸Göbekli Tepe may have helped spark Agricultural (Neolithic) RevolutionDebated
The connection
Klaus Schmidt argued that the need to feed crowds of builders and worshippers at Göbekli Tepe pushed people to cultivate wild cereals nearby. Genetic studies trace domesticated einkorn wheat to the Karacadağ hills only about 30 km (20 miles) away. In this view, feasting and ritual came first; farming followed.
When and how
Şanlıurfa region of southeastern Turkey, about 9500–8000 BC, in the heart of the zone where wheat, barley, sheep and goats were domesticated.
How sure are we?
Circumstantial: closeness in time and place to early domestication, and traces of large feasts. The animal bones are mostly wild, and the cereals mostly wild types.
Debates and open questions
Whether ritual drove farming or settling down drove ritual is a chicken-and-egg question; newer finds of houses there complicate Schmidt's temple-first idea.
▸Göbekli Tepe is about 6,500 years older than StonehengeWell documented
The connection
Both are rings of massive standing stones, but they are unrelated: Göbekli Tepe was built by hunter-gatherers about 9500 BC, Stonehenge by farmers about 3000–2500 BC. The comparison shows how much older monumental building is than once thought, and that it did not require farming.
When and how
Göbekli Tepe in southeastern Turkey, about 9500–8000 BC; Stonehenge in southern England, about 3000–1500 BC.
How we know
Radiocarbon dates from both sites give the gap; no cultural link between them is known or claimed by archaeologists.
Debates and open questions
Why separate peoples so often built stone circles, perhaps for gathering, ritual or tracking the sky, is an open question.