Farming and Göbekli Tepe
This page delivers no verdict; it presents claims and evidence with their sources. No theory in science is absolute. Method
For everyone
Sowing plants and domesticating animals made settled life and cities possible. The monumental structures of Göbekli Tepe near Şanlıurfa, Turkey, are dated to before or at the very start of farming and are attributed to hunter- gatherers. Whether they were temples or houses is debated.
For specialists
In the Fertile Crescent, the domestication of "founder crops" such as wheat, barley and lentil and of animals such as sheep, goat, cattle and pig is seen as a long process spanning the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A and B (roughly 9600–7000 BCE, calibrated). Göbekli Tepe's circular enclosures with T-shaped pillars date to this period. Klaus Schmidt interpreted them as cult centres for gathering and feasting, with no settlement. Banning argued they may have been dwellings rich in symbolic content.
Views on dating
No single date is given because the date is not documented with certainty; the views of different sources are listed.
| Archaeology (Fertile Crescent) | Domestication began roughly 11,500–10,000 years ago and unfolded over several thousand years.[1] |
|---|---|
| Archaeology (Göbekli Tepe) | The monumental enclosures are radiocarbon-dated to about 9600–8200 BCE.[2] |
| Judaism and Christianity (Genesis) | Of Adam's sons, Cain was a tiller of the ground and Abel a shepherd. Farming begins with the first human generation.[4] |
Claims
- Göbekli Tepe was a cult centre where hunter-gatherers gathered and feasted before farming.[2]
Evidence
Supporting
Large quantities of animal bone and grinding stones at the site were interpreted as evidence of feasts bringing large groups together.[2]
Challenging
It was argued that interpreting the structures as "temples" rests on weak evidence and that they may have been symbol-laden houses.[3]
Connections
Sources
- Article (2011). The origins of agriculture in the Near East. Current Anthropology 52(S4), S221–S235DOI 10.1086/659307archive
- Article (2012). The role of cult and feasting in the emergence of Neolithic communities. New evidence from Göbekli Tepe, south-eastern Turkey. Antiquity 86(333), 674–695DOI 10.1017/S0003598X00047840archive
- Article (2011). So fair a house: Göbekli Tepe and the identification of temples in the Pre-Pottery Neolithic of the Near East. Current Anthropology 52(5), 619–660DOI 10.1086/661207archive
- ScriptureTekvin / Genesis 4:2sefaria.orgarchive
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Cite this page
Athena contributors. (2026). Farming and Göbekli Tepe. Athena: The tree of human knowledge. Retrieved November 1, 2026, from https://latifkedi.github.io/athena/en/d/tarim/
@misc{athena_tarim,
title = {Farming and Göbekli Tepe},
author = {{Athena contributors}},
year = {2026},
howpublished = {\url{https://latifkedi.github.io/athena/en/d/tarim/}},
note = {Athena: The tree of human knowledge. Accessed: 2026-11-01}
}Added: September 27, 2026 · Last changed: September 27, 2026 · Page history