A Megalithic Elephant in the Room

Abstract - This monograph introduces a new transdisciplinary framework for understanding how the earliest monumental ritual spaces shaped—and in some cases, re-shaped—the human mind. Drawing on archaeoacoustics, population genetics, Anatolian and Maltese Neolithic archaeology, evolutionary anthropology and contemporary mental-health research, it proposes that the first sacred architecture not only altered ritual life but initiated long-term social and neurological patterns that persist into the modern age. A newly synthesized trail of evidence suggests that the roots of addictive vulnerability, spiritual dislocation, gender imbalance, and communal fragmentation may reach back to 12,000 years ago—to the creators of Göbekli Tepe, Karahan Tepe, and the wider Tas Tepeler horizon of northern Mesopotamia. Their descendants, the so-called “Anatolian Farmers,” carrying forward both the cultural and biological legacies that formed much of Europe and the Mediterranean world, as well as the better documented Levantine populations that are the foundation for written history.

Archaeology has long documented the mechanics of the Neolithic Revolution in lifestyle, but underexplores the psychological consequences. The monograph also introduces a new form of experiential scholarship. Guided listening pieces offer a novel route for public engagement, emotional insight, and embodied understanding of the Neolithic transition. They also nod to the traditions of a successful program of recovery that can be applied to a serious modern problem of skyrocketing mental illness and social disintegration that is gripping us. Understanding the revolution that began 12,000 years ago will help us recognize the one that is unfolding right now in front of us as recreational technology and artificial intelligence define the new normal. 

This material is exploratory and synthetic, leaning on published archaeological and other data while proposing interpretive bridges that have not yet been made in the mainstream literature. It is written to spark debate, invite correction, and encourage a rethink of deeply embedded assumptions.

 

Keywords: addiction, Anatolia, archaeoacoustics, gender studies, Göbekli Tepe, Hal-Saflieni Hypogeum, Karahan Tepe, Malta, meditation, megalithic, mental health, Mesopotamia, neolithic, neuroscience, population genetics, prehistory, psychology, ritual space, spirituality