Inspired individuals and charismatic leaders: Hunter-gatherer crisis and the rise and fall of invisible decision-makers at Göbeklitepe

Lee Clare

doi:10.4312/dp.51.16

Authors

Lee Clare German Archaeological Institute, Istanbul Department, Turkey

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.4312/dp.51.16

Keywords:

Göbeklitepe, Pre-Pottery Neolithic (PPN), social hierarchisation, adaptive cycles, hunter-gatherer crisis

Abstract

Recent fieldwork at Pre-Pottery Neolithic (PPN) Göbeklitepe has revealed a life-size limestone statue of a wild boar in Special Building D, which, alongside discoveries from nearby contemporaneous sites, broadens our understanding of late hunter-forager communities, including the presence of (archaeologically speaking) invisible decision-makers. Evidence points to three groups from which these charismatic leaders could have emerged: storytellers, hunters and ritual experts. An important function of these leaders was to uphold traditional values in the face of changing lifeways in the Early Holocene, a period referred to here as the ‘hunter-gatherer crisis’. This paper also includes a summary of recent excavation results from Göbeklitepe.

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