The role of cult and feasting in the emergence of Neolithic communities. New evidence from Göbekli Tepe, south-eastern Turkey

2012/08/22 by Oliver Dietrich, Manfred Heun, Jens Notroff +2 · 9 citations
Earth and Planetary Sciences · Arts and Humanities · #Archaeology and ancient environmental studies #Ancient Near East History #Ancient Mediterranean Archaeology and History

paper · pdf · doi:10.1017/s0003598x00047840

openalex publication_date 2012/08/22 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/03

Abstract

Göbekli Tepe is one of the most important archaeological discoveries of modern times, pushing back the origins of monumentality beyond the emergence of agriculture. We are pleased to present a summary of work in progress by the excavators of this remarkable site and their latest thoughts about its role and meaning. At the dawn of the Neolithic, hunter-gatherers congregating at Göbekli Tepe created social and ideological cohesion through the carving of decorated pillars, dancing, feasting—and, almost certainly, the drinking of beer made from fermented wild crops.

Citations

• The structure of wild and domesticated emmer wheat populations, gene flow between them, and the site of emmer domestication
• Early evidence ( ca. 12,000 B.P.) for feasting at a burial cave in Israel
• Supra-Regional Networks in the Neolithic of Southwest Asia
• Nimrods, piscators, pluckers, and planters: The emergence of food production

Cited by

• Feasting, Social Complexity, and the Emergence of the Early Neolithic of Upper Mesopotamia: A View from Göbekli Tepe
• The origins of music
• Cereal processing at Early Neolithic Göbekli Tepe, southeastern Turkey
• Gazelle behaviour and human presence at early Neolithic Göbekli Tepe, south-east Anatolia
• Geometry and Architectural Planning at Göbekli Tepe, Turkey
• Modified human crania from Göbekli Tepe provide evidence for a new form of Neolithic skull cult
• From Pleistocene to Holocene: the prehistory of southwest Asia in evolutionary context
• Beer [wikipedia]
• Megalith [wikipedia]