For decades, the conventional wisdom among archaeologists was that the Neolithic Revolution—the transition from hunting and gathering to settled agriculture—was the necessary prerequisite for the development of complex religion and monumental architecture. The theory held that only after securing a stable food supply could humans afford the time and resources to build temples. ( 1 ) _______, the discovery of Göbekli Tepe in southeastern Turkey has turned this timeline on its head. Dating back to 9500 BC, this massive complex of stone pillars was built by hunter-gatherers, long before the advent of farming in the region.

The implications of this find are profound. It suggests that the impulse to worship and congregate was not a byproduct of settlement, but potentially the driver of it. The construction of such a site would have required hundreds of people to work together, necessitating a level of social organization previously thought to be impossible for nomadic bands. This organized labor force needed to be fed, creating a massive caloric demand.

Some scholars now hypothesize that the need to supply food for these builders may have actually ( 2 ) _______ the invention of agriculture. In this new narrative, the urge to build a sacred space came first, and farming was developed as a means to support that endeavor. Thus, religion may have been the ( 3 ) _______ for civilization, rather than the other way around.

For decades, the conventional wisdom among archaeologists was that the Neolithic Revolution—the transition from hunting and gathering to settled agriculture—was the necessary prerequisite for the development of complex religion and monumental architecture. The theory held that only after securing a stable food supply could humans afford the time and resources to build temples. ( 1 ) _______, the discovery of Göbekli Tepe in southeastern Turkey has turned this timeline on its head. Dating back to 9500 BC, this massive complex of stone pillars was built by hunter-gatherers, long before the advent of farming in the region.

The implications of this find are profound. It suggests that the impulse to worship and congregate was not a byproduct of settlement, but potentially the driver of it. The construction of such a site would have required hundreds of people to work together, necessitating a level of social organization previously thought to be impossible for nomadic bands. This organized labor force needed to be fed, creating a massive caloric demand.

Some scholars now hypothesize that the need to supply food for these builders may have actually ( 2 ) _______ the invention of agriculture. In this new narrative, the urge to build a sacred space came first, and farming was developed as a means to support that endeavor. Thus, religion may have been the ( 3 ) _______ for civilization, rather than the other way around.