The New Scientist has a nice, short article concerning the role ancient monuments like Gobekli Tepe played in the rise of civilization. Before GT, it was believed civilization emerged after agriculture, with religion being a product of this development. However, now archaeologists are rethinking this theory, consolidating on the idea that the Temple (and thus the beginnings of religion) came first, and agriculture developed from the need to feed the people gathering at the important site. Civilization then followed.

One of the major themes in Azaria is the multitude of struggles that arise within a society when a major transition takes place – like the shift from a hunter/gatherer culture to an agrarian one. Much conflict is sewn not only within Azaria’s society (between those accepting of the new ways and those wedded to their traditions), but also between her people, the Natu, and the neighboring tribes, who find the Natu’s ways suspicious and unnatural, especially the way they cut and erect giant stones from the Earth’s belly.