The centuries and millennia following the major period of Göbekli Tepe’s monument-building saw the consolidation of the agricultural revolution in the Fertile Crescent and the emergence of what would eventually become the first recognizable civilizations.

In the Pottery Neolithic period, beginning roughly around 7,000 BCE, permanent village settlements became the dominant form of human community across much of the Fertile Crescent.

Ceramic pottery appeared and rapidly became ubiquitous, transforming food storage and preparation.

Domestic plants and animals were the primary source of food for most communities.

Social life was organized around the village as the central unit of residence and collective identity.

In the subsequent Chalcolithic period, social complexity increased further.