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Rethink Society

Architecture · 50+2 series · Origins & Monumentality

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c. 9600–8200 BCE

The Architecture That Came Before the City

Göbekli Tepe

Excavated circular enclosure of T-shaped pillars at Göbekli Tepe.
Monumental Neolithic enclosures at Göbekli Tepe, southeastern Türkiye.Zhengan · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons · Source record

The Moment

Humans created monumental communal architecture before conventional cities had emerged.

The Rethink

Architecture may have helped create social cooperation rather than simply appearing after settled civilization.