In the Beginning: Religion at the Dawn of Civilization

Some call it Turkey’s Stonehenge. In fact, the circles of massive stones standing high on a hill are more than 5,000 years older than Britain’s famous megaliths. From Göbekli Tepe (“Potbelly Hill”) in southeastern Turkey, you can see 50 or more miles in all directions, including the sites where some of the earliest evidence of agricultural plant domestication has been discovered. Now, these stone circles may be turning the established theory about the origins of religion and civilization on its head. Since 1995, German archaeologist Klaus Schmidt and his archaeological team have 058 been excavating at Göbekli Tepe, 7 […]