The Ascent of Civilisation
When humans built the first temples and towns, they filled them with art that expressed their values and intangible ideals…
People of Göbekli Tepe and their Many Stone Circles (c.10,000 BCE)
Göbekli Tepe, near the Euphrates in South Eastern Turkey, is an extensive complex of megalithic stone circles. These are possibly the first temples ever built. The culture responsible for their construction also initiated agriculture and the domestication of animals, apparently to feed the workforce engaged in building these temples and then the worshippers who came to use them.
This is the beginning of what we would call civilization, and once again, art appears to be the primary driving force. Just as with the earliest known art, it seems that the art of Göbekli Tepe is representing ideas and concepts that are otherwise intangible and related to belief in ‘something more’ — some historians think this is where the very first ‘organised religion’ began. The artistic representations of this culture’s valued ideals were revered enough to be shared and preserved as shrines to those concepts.
The site at Göbekli Tepe is still being excavated. Evidence of a settlement was noted as long ago as 1963, but the…
