Thus cognitively equipped, modern Homo sapiens was ready to domesticate plants and animals and to create states and civilizations. It would be an extraordinary series of developments. Accompanying these developments, however, would always be the eternal questions lingering in the shadows. “Where did I come from?” “Why am I here?” “What will happen to me after I die?” Modern Homo sapiens would find answers to such questions in our gods and religions.
2
THE EMERGENCE OF THE GODS
6
ANCESTORS AND AGRICULTURE
A Spiritual Self
Perhaps the whole root of our trouble, the human trouble, is that we will sacrifice all the beauty of our lives, will imprison ourselves in totems, taboos, crosses, blood sacrifices, steeples, mosques, races, armies, flags, nations, in order to deny the fact of death, which is the only fact we have.
—James Baldwin, Letter from a Region of My Mind, 1962
The millennium from 12,000 to 11,000 years ago is generally regarded as a fault line in human history. It is the traditional dividing line between what is called the Paleolithic period and the emerging Neolithic or agricultural revolution, during which Homo sapiens began the transition from being hunters and gatherers to being settled farmers. During this period, the domestication of plants and animals began, an event said to be “the single most important feature of the human domination of our planet.”1
A changing climate played an important role in this transition. The last ice age began about 25,000 years ago, peaked about 18,000 years ago, and then slowly began to warm.
Glaciers, which had covered much of the northern hemisphere, retreated, producing a rise in sea levels. The tundra that had covered much of Europe and Asia was gradually replaced by forests and grasslands, bringing new plants and animals. Between 17,000 and 14,000 years ago, there were episodic warm periods followed by a final prolonged cold interval between 13,000 and 11,500 years ago. Then the climate stabilized, with warmer, wetter weather that was more suitable for agriculture.2
As noted in the last chapter, as the earth warmed, people began coming together in larger groups than had previously been the case. For hundreds of thousands of years, hominins had mostly lived in small bands of hunter-gatherers. Beginning about 18,000 years ago, however, there are suggestions that bands of hunter-gatherers joined together at certain times of the year to hunt cooperatively. In France and Spain, such aggregation sites have been identified with what appear to be permanent shelters. The bands presumably hunted separately during some seasons but came together and hunted cooperatively during other seasons. This was probably the first time in history in which large numbers of hominins gathered together on a regular basis, and it would have remarkable consequences. One of these was Göbekli Tepe.
“THE FIRST HUMAN-BUILT HOLY PLACE”
Discovered in 1995, Göbekli Tepe sits on a hilltop near Urfa, in southeastern Turkey. Its construction began 11,500 years ago, at about the same time the last caves were being painted in southern Europe. It is therefore 7,000 years older than Stonehenge.
Spread over 22 acres, Göbekli Tepe consists of 20 enclosures, some with terrazzo or stone floors, limestone pillars, and stone benches. The enclosures may originally have been covered with roofing. The pillars, of which there are approximately 200, are up to 18 feet in height and weigh up to 15 tons each. They are of great interest to archeologists because they are T-shaped; some have carved arms and hands on their sides, a belt with a buckle at the midsection, a loincloth below the belt, and even a necklace near the top of one pillar. Thus, it seems clear that the pillars represented anthropomorphic beings of some kind, with the top of the T representing the head. Many of the pillars are decorated with carved animals, especially dangerous animals such as snakes, foxes, vultures, scorpions, spiders, lions, and wild boars. Carved human figures are relatively rare, similar to the situation in the European cave paintings.3
Although only a fraction of Göbekli Tepe has yet been excavated, there are already many findings of note in addition to the stone pillars. Among them are several life-size, crudely carved stone human heads. There are also what appear to be carved stone totem poles; one such pole, discovered in 2009 and now on display at the museum in Urfa, is about six feet tall and shows what appears to be a bear holding a human, who is holding another human, who is holding an unidentified animal or possibly giving birth. Large snakes decorate both sides of the totem. The pole is strongly reminiscent of the wooden totem poles carved by the Northwest Coast Indians more than 11,000 years later.
What was the purpose of Göbekli Tepe? So far, no houses, cooking hearths, trash pits, or other evidence of permanent habitation has been found in association with it. On the other hand, thousands of deer, gazelle, and pig bones, as well as stone bowls and goblets, have been found, suggesting that feasting took place there. This idea received support from an analysis of residue contained in drinking vessels excavated from Körtik, a nearby archeological site thought to be approximately contemporaneous with Göbekli Tepe. The preliminary analysis of the residue suggested that the vessels had contained wine.4
Although only a few human bones have yet been found at Göbekli Tepe, Klaus Schmidt, the German archeologist who excavated there for almost two decades before his death in 2014, suggested that Göbekli Tepe was “a burial ground or the center of a death cult … the first human-built holy place … the world’s oldest temple.” Was the function of the carved dangerous animals to protect the dead? Schmidt also believed that Göbekli Tepe functioned as a pilgrimage site and ceremonial center “for settlements at least 50 kilometers away.… This is the cathedral on the hill.”5
Although it is the largest such center discovered to date, Göbekli Tepe was not the only ceremonial center in southeastern Turkey dating to this period. Hallan Çemi, dated to approximately 12,000 years ago, is another. According to Michael Rosenberg, the archeologist who carried out the excavations, “There is strong evidence for the existence of structures that are not strictly domestic in nature and instead served some kind of public function.” Numerous stone bowls, many of them decorated, and sculpted stone pestles are thought to have been associated with public feasting. In addition, one of the public structures “contained a complete aurochs skull that appears to have once hung on its north wall.”6
Nevali Çori, settled about 10,500 years ago, is only 20 miles from Göbekli Tepe and also had a building with a terrazzo floor, stone benches, and T-shaped pillars. On one of the central pillars, “two bent arms with clasped hands had been carved.” Found in the building were “several fragments of huge limestone sculptures,” “fragments of the head and body of a strange being with a human head and a bird-like body,” several miniature limestone masks, and a totem pole with a bird seeming to grasp two human heads gazing in opposite directions. The best-known finding from Nevali Çori is fragments of a limestone bowl with a carved relief on its outer surface depicting two humans dancing with a large tortoise.7
Çayönü, close to Göbekli Tepe and Nevali Çori, was also originally settled about 10,500 years ago, but its most interesting finding is a building constructed later. The building has a terrazzo floor with “parallel, colored stripes of white lime” embedded in the mortar. In this building were found the remains of approximately 450 people. Most of the remains were disarticulated, with piles of long bones and skulls “arranged in north-south lines, facing either east or west.” The skulls of aurochs were also included with the human skulls. The building has been called by contemporary writers a “skull house” or “house of the dead.”8
The “skull house” at Çayönü was in active use for approximately 1,000 years and is thought to have had some ceremonial function. One end of the building contained a “highly polished stone slab” on which was found a four-inch black flint blade. Hemoglobin crystals on the blade were ascertained to have come from aurochs, sheep, and humans, thus making it probable that animals and humans were at least cut up, and possibly sacrificed, in the skull house. Man
chester University archeologist Karina Croucher thus concluded that “at Çayönü, the Skull Building was used in a performative way, with events apparently focused on the stone slab.”9
What are we to make of such findings? At a minimum, we can say that large numbers of people joined together to construct what appear to be ceremonial buildings. It has been estimated, for example, that approximately 500 people would have been needed to transport the largest stone pillars from the stone quarry to Göbekli Tepe. The most remarkable aspect of this, however, is that all this was done before the domestication of plants and animals and the establishment of large settlements were well underway. There is no evidence of the cultivation of grains at Hallan Çemi or Göbekli Tepe, although there are suggestions that pigs were being domesticated at the former.
This raises a question, as Klaus Schmidt noted, “if maybe the ‘invention’ of agriculture was an epiphenomena of these huge gatherings of hunters and the accompanying work.” Thus, the “mass gathering of people over a considerable period of time … may have been a catalyst for the domestication of plants.” As one journalist summarized Schmidt’s thesis: “The construction of a massive temple by a group of foragers is evidence that organized religion could have come before the rise of agriculture and other aspects of civilization.” Some support for this thesis has come from DNA studies showing that “the closest known wild ancestors of modern einkorn wheat are found … just 60 miles northeast of Göbekli Tepe.”10
ANCESTOR WORSHIP
What are we to make of Göbekli Tepe, Hallan Çemi, Nevali Çori, and Çayönü? It seems likely that some kind of spiritual activity or ceremony was taking place in those buildings. Are there any clues regarding what spirits might have been honored? The abundant carvings of animals, what appear to be totem poles, and sculpture of a human head with a bird-like body found at Nevali Çori suggest that, like the painted caves, animal spirits were a central focus. But what are we to make of the enormous pillars, some of which have arms and hands, belts, loincloths, and even a necklace? These appear to be some kind of anthropomorphic being. The finding of life-size stone human heads at Göbekli Tepe suggests that human spirits may also have been present. British archeologist Karina Croucher pointed out that the creators of the pillars clearly had an ability to sculpt realistic humans if they had wished to do so, “yet a choice was made to keep these ‘beings’ ambiguous, with the merging of human form and stone.” She concluded that the pillars may “represent a more amorphous category of ‘ancestors.’ ”11
If the activities at these ceremonial centers did include the honoring of ancestors, it would not be surprising. Edward Tylor, in Primitive Culture, his book about the evolutionary origin of religious thought, claimed that a belief in the existence of spirits of the dead “leads naturally, and it might almost be said inevitably, sooner or later to active reverence and propitiation.” James Cox, a professor of religious studies at the University of Edinburgh, said that “indigenous religious beliefs, rituals and social practices focus on ancestors, and hence have an overwhelming emphasis on kinship relations.” The emergence of ancestor worship at this time would also be consistent with a recent study of 28 hunter-gatherer societies. It reported that in such societies “belief in an afterlife evolves prior to ancestor worship, and its presence stimulates the subsequent evolution of ancestor worship.” By contrast, in such societies, the concept of high gods appears much later.12
What are the reasons for honoring one’s ancestors? A review of hunter-gatherer cultures suggests that one reason is a belief that deceased ancestors may be of assistance to the living. For example, according to early accounts of the Veddahs of Ceylon, “every near relative becomes a spirit after death, who watches over the welfare of those who are left behind.” Such spirits “will appear to them in dreams and tell them where to hunt.” The Veddah religion was thus characterized as “essentially a cult of the dead” in which “the propitiation of the spirits of dead relatives … is at once its most obvious and important feature.” Similarly, among the Siriono nomads of Bolivia, “when a man has had a long streak of ill luck in hunting he may repair to the spot where the bones of an ancestor—one who has been a great hunter—are buried and ask him to change his luck and to tell him where to go in quest of game.” A belief that the dead can communicate with and help the living is not unusual even today. A survey conducted in 2009 in the United States, for example, reported that 30 percent of Americans said that they had “been in touch with someone who has already died.” It is not uncommon to hear stories such as that of the survivor of an automobile accident, who had put on his seat belt just minutes before a crash, being convinced that his recently deceased grandmother, with whom he had had a close relationship, had warned him to do so.13
Hunter-gatherer societies often use formal ceremonies to honor their ancestors, and it may be that similar ceremonies were taking place 11,000 years ago at Göbekli Tepe and surrounding sites. For example, the Ojibwa Indians in Canada held a “Feast of the Dead” every two or three years, at which time “the bones of those who had died during the interim were interred and accompanied by a lavish distribution of foods and other commodities.” In some Ojibwa communities, “the dead were represented by wooden figures attached to a string … [and] when the drumming began these figures would dance.” The Blackfoot Indians also held a “dance for the dead to which their spirits were invited.” The Chugach Eskimos held “Feasts of the Dead” each August; relatives “would put gifts into the fire … [and] the burnt objects were supposed to go to the deceased.” Similarly, the well-known potlatch ceremonies, previously held by the Northwest Coast Indians, were “not an isolated ceremony” but “rather a single episode in a series devoted to the memory of the dead.” At these events, “the food served to the guests always included the items that had been most enjoyed by the dead person for whom the potlatch was given.”14
How common is the honoring of ancestors among hunter-gatherers? It has been described in the great majority of such societies but not in all. According to Geoffrey Parrinder, a professor of comparative religion at Kings College, London, “there is no doubt that ancestral spirits play a very large part in African thought.… Many African tribes have no true worship of gods; their place is taken by the ancestors.” For example, in Sierra Leone “two distinct groups of ancestors are worshipped … those ancestors whose names and feats are known … and those who died in the far distant past.” On the other hand, the !Kung Bushman of southern Africa have been said to “believe strongly and vividly in the existence of spirits of the dead,” but there is no evidence that the !Kung “worship their ancestors or perform any rites of reverence for them.” The absence of such evidence, however, should always be treated with caution; as Edward Tylor noted, “it is not always easy to elicit from savages the details of their theology.” Thus, given how common it is, ancestor worship would seem to be a likely explanation for the apparent ceremonies that took place at Göbleki Tepe 11,000 years ago.15
THE DOMESTICATION OF PLANTS AND ANIMALS
Göbekli Tepe is located at the most northern point of an arc widely referred to as the Fertile Crescent. It stretches for almost 1,000 miles from what is now Israel and Palestine through Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, and southeastern Turkey into Iraq and Iran. Because of the climate and favorable growing conditions, this area had an unusual concentration of wild wheat (both emmer and einkorn varieties), rye, barley, peas, lentils, beans, and chickpeas, as well as wild sheep, goats, cattle (aurochs), and pigs (boars); it was thus ideally suited for the advent of agriculture. The Fertile Crescent is believed to be where the agricultural revolution began.16
The first gleanings of what would develop into an agricultural revolution have been found in the Fertile Crescent starting around 20,000 years ago. Although most people continued to live seminomadically in small groups, moving with the seasons and herds of game animals, as noted earlier a few people began spending longer periods in specific settlements. At an unusually well-preserved settleme
nt site in Israel, there is evidence dating to 19,000 years ago that people “were exploiting cereals such as wild barley and wild emmer wheat,” as well as collecting wild olives, almonds, pistachios, and grapes. This does not mean they were cultivating the cereals, but merely cutting and using them where they were already growing wild. At a settlement in Jordan “occupied by hunter-gatherers between 20,000 and 10,000 years ago, no fewer than 150 species of edible plants have been identified.” Such archeological finds, although unusual, suggest that “Levantine hunter-gatherer groups used wild cereals as food thousands of years before the advent of agriculture.” As anthropologist Douglas Kennett succinctly noted: “Agriculture was not a revolution. People were messing about with plants for a very long time.”17
Given the intelligence of modern Homo sapiens, it was inevitable that some people would have noticed that new plants appeared where last year’s seeds had been cast aside. This would logically have led to an intentional planting of seeds and then to a selection of seeds from the best plants for future planting. In this way, the intentional cultivation of plants took hold, and agriculture was born. There is evidence that the intentional cultivation of plants began at multiple sites in the Fertile Crescent between 11,500 and 11,000 years ago, at approximately the same time that Göbekli Tepe was being built. These include sites in Israel, northern Syria, southeastern Turkey, and northern Iraq and in the Zagros Mountains in Iran. Since there is abundant evidence of the trade of obsidian, marine shells, bitumen, ochre, and other items among these centers, it is likely that information regarding the cultivation of plants was also being exchanged. At these sites, sickle blades have been found “that show a pattern of wear characteristic of harvesting cereals, rushes, and reeds.” Other tools associated with food preparation have also been uncovered, such as milling stones, mortars, and pestles.18
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