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For much of the twentieth century , prehistoric archaeology operated under the fundamental assumption that monumental stone architecture was impossible without an agricultural surplus . Traditional models asserted that hunter - gatherer bands lacked the demographic scale and social organization required to quarry , transport , and erect megalithic sanctuaries . Before field researchers could re - evaluate the origins of civilization , they had to confront this profound archaeological contradiction : that massive stone enclosures in southeastern Anatolia had been built centuries before the domestication of plants or animals . When German archaeologist Klaus Schmidt initiated excavations at Göbekli Tepe in 1995 , the recovered stratigraphy dismantled that long - standing consensus . The oldest occupational layer at the site revealed circular megalithic enclosures containing monolithic T - shaped limestone pillars reaching heights of five metres . Scribes and masons had carved these monoliths with intricate high reliefs of venomous snakes , charging wild boars , foxes , and vultures . The quarrying of twenty - ton stone blocks demanded coordinated labour from hundreds of mobile foragers who converged seasonally on the limestone plateau . While conventional models expected domestic houses and permanent hearths , excavators discovered none of those residential features . Instead , zooarchaeological analysis of tens of thousands of butchered animal bones demonstrated that mobile bands consumed wild gazelles and aurochs during immense communal feasts . This evidence forced a profound reversal in sociological and economic theories regarding the Neolithic transition . Under the former paradigm , farming generated the surplus that allowed societies to build complex religious monuments ; under the latter interpretation , communal rituals and monumental gatherings created the logistical necessity for settled farming . Genetic studies subsequently identified the nearby slopes of the Karacadağ mountains as the cradle of domesticated einkorn wheat , corroborating the hypothesis that ritual congregation accelerated agrarian domestication . Where earlier circular sanctuaries had required colossal communal labour , later rectangular enclosures reflected a gradual decline in megalithic scale as sedentary village life expanded . The architecture of Göbekli Tepe demonstrates that symbolic culture and ritual cohesion preceded economic sedentism . These megalithic circles suggest that shared religious cosmologies provided the organizational framework necessary for large - scale collective action long before urban states formed . By showing that hunter - gatherers erected monumental architecture without social stratification or writing , the site challenges simplistic linear definitions of human achievement . If ceremonial assembly catalyzed the development of agriculture rather than emerging as its byproduct , how do you reconsider the primary drivers of human social evolution ? In what ways does recognizing that complex cooperation existed among hunter - gatherers influence your evaluation of prehistoric societies ?
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