Rituals and Feasting as Incentives for Cooperative Action at Early Neolithic Göbekli Tepe

Ritualized feasting, including the consumption of beer-like beverages, played a crucial role in fostering social cohesion and cooperation among early Neolithic communities at Göbekli Tepe. This 10th to 9th millennium BC site in southeastern Anatolia features monumental circular buildings with richly decorated limestone pillars, constructed by small-scale groups. Archaeological evidence, such as animal motif imagery distributed across a 200 km radius, large quantities of bones, and cooking equipment, suggests that these rituals brought together people from distant regions to work collaboratively on the site's construction. The study proposes that altered states of consciousness during rituals further enhanced intragroup cohesion, providing insights into the mechanisms that enabled complex social organization in early human societies.

Dietrich, O., & Dietrich, L. (2019). Rituals and Feasting as Incentives for Cooperative Action at Early Neolithic Göbekli Tepe. Alcohol and Humans, 93–C7. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198842460.003.0007