The Broader Neolithic Revolution

Göbekli Tepe sits at the beginning of one of the most transformative periods in human history: the Neolithic Revolution, the suite of changes that converted the human species from a primarily foraging animal to an agricultural one across much of the Old World.

The term “revolution” in this context is somewhat misleading, because the process was neither sudden nor uniform.

The transition from foraging to agriculture took thousands of years, proceeded at very different rates in different regions, and involved complex and variable relationships between existing foraging communities and the new agricultural practices that were developing around them.