The discovery of the site known as Gobekli Tepe in Eastern Turkey (not far from the Syrian border) during the 1990s and its subsequent excavation and the identification of hundreds of related sites nearby, has opened a new era in our understanding of the origins of civilization, an understanding still hidden by many shadows, but one that overturns previous assumptions.
Our understanding of human prehistory had been that the development of agriculture preceded the development of cities and large, complex human societies and that this began perhaps 9,000 years ago.
Gobekli Tepe and its associated sites however, date back 13,000 years and before the development of agriculture. What this civilization represented, why it started and how it operated remain mysteries but it points to a different origin story.
This story in The Spectator is a good starting point, but if you are interested in the origins of human civilization take some time to do additional research.
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