Archaeologists Unearth 16,000-Year-Old Goddess Figurine in Turkey

Balkan Travellers ^ | Thursday, August 20, 2009 | unattributed

[SunkenCiv]

A 16,000-year-old clay figurine of a female was found by archaeologists during excavations in southern-eastern Turkey.

The mother goddess sculpture was discovered in the Direklu Cave in the Kahramanmarafl Province, which archaeologists have been excavating since July 15, Gazi University Archaeology Department lecturer Cevdet Merih Erek told national media.

The find suggests that women had a high social status in the region at the time the figurine was made, Erek explained.

In addition, it challenged archaeologists' previous knowledge by suggesting that the method of using fired clay to make figurines was much older than previously thought. Before this recent discovery, the oldest fired clay god or goddess figurines unearthed in Mesopotamia, Anatolia and other Near East regions were made in 5,000 BC.

[SunkenCiv]

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[John123]

A 16,000-year-old clay figurine of a female was found by archaeologists

I bet this figurine still looks better than Michelle in short shorts.

[SunkenCiv]

s/b "Direklu Cave in the Kahramanmaraç Province"

[Bodleian_Girl]

I’m not trying to be tacky, but honestly, if I had as much cellulite on the back of my legs as Mrs. Obama does, I would not advertise the fact.

[SkyDancer]

Why is it that every figurine of a woman has to be some sort of goddess of fertility thing or whatever .....why not just a figurine???? Why is it always some sort of sexual thing?

[taillightchaser]

Has bubba seen it yet? I’ll bet he’ll hit on it!

[wastedyears]

Why is it that every figurine of a woman has to be some sort of goddess of fertility thing or whatever .....why not just a figurine???? Why is it always some sort of sexual thing?

Maybe the particular culture at that particular time period worshiped some women.

[OnTheDress]

Because, even 28,000
years ago men thought
about sex about every
ten minutes.

[Eagles6]

Stone Age porn perhaps?

Glad I missed michelle's thighs.

[Fred Nerks]

The find suggests that women had a high social status in the region at the time the figurine was made, Erek explained...

Unlike under islam, you moron Erek!

[fieldmarshaldj]

Guilty.

[Tax-chick]

They don’t know. It’s a just a shortcut, to assume that all artifacts that aren’t of obvious practical utility are “religious.”

[brytlea]

Bill Clinton will date her.

[brytlea]

Drat you beat me!

[brytlea]

You know, American women are looking more and more like that.

[Tax-chick]

At least my fellow Wal-mart shoppers have clothes on!

[brytlea]

Yeah, but they can afford spandex.

[Tax-chick]

The shapeless linen sack ancient Mesopotamian women wore would have been more flattering.

[SkyDancer]

But it seems all objects are of some sexual thing they say ... why can’t it be just an artistic subject?

[brytlea]

I think we call them moo moos. And I’m starting to think I’d look good in one.

[SkyDancer]

Right - no TV or internet stuff ..

[2harddrive]

THAT is a sexy GODDESS????

[Tax-chick]

why can’t it be just an artistic subject

I think it's because, as someone observed above, any naked female figure, no matter how fat, has to be a "sexual thing," at least to a male observer. Whether it's also "artistic" depends on perception of the skill involved in making it, the general visual impression, and so on.

[Tax-chick]

Many of my fellow Wal-mart shoppers should wear muu-muus, but don’t. It’s too bad, because they come in such nice, bright, tropical patterns, and they’re much more comfortable than tight stretch-pants.

[Jabba the Nutt]

"The find suggests that women had a high social status in the region at the time the figurine was made, Erek explained."

Ah, just because a figurine of a woman was made does not mean that women had high status. They also made figurines of deer, gnu and wildebeest. They hunted and killed them.

[SkyDancer]

Yeah, well all those art thingies are always attributed to some sort of sex thing ... oh well .....

[Tax-chick]

“Art” is a complex concept.

[SunkenCiv]

:’D

[SunkenCiv]

Of course, it could easily have been stone-age porn.

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

They don’t know. It’s a just a shortcut, to assume that all artifacts that aren’t of obvious practical utility are “religious.”

Don't forget the other default, "It's a "toy"".

Obviously our ancestors spent most of their time praying and playing.

[SunkenCiv]

See, that’s what I get for not reading all the “my comments” page first. :’o

[SkyDancer]

Suppose so ... it’s just that whenever a statue of some sort is found it has to be a ‘sexual’ thing ... guys ......

[OnTheDress]

She is the Venus of Willendorf 28kyo

I think she may be the oldest found.

She was found in a cave.

My Ancient Art Prof said the
rock she is made of is not found
any where in Europe.

I saw her at an exhibit in Frisco
in '84 (she was on loan from a
German museum.

She is a babe

[Tucker39]

Don’t let Slick Willie see her.......he’ll be hittin’ on her! Remember the female mummified body they found in the Andes mountains and Slick remarked that he’d like to have met her!

[SunkenCiv]

And it could be the cave man was just a lousy artist. :’)

[SunkenCiv]

She graduated with Helen Thomas.

[count-your-change]

Mother Goddess worship was quite common so finding female fertility figurine is not surprising.

[grey_whiskers]

People have been speaking of Bill Clinton throughout this thread...

but we're forgetting Hillary.

Look at that figurine again.

Now THOSE are what I call CANKLES!

Cheers!

[Ptarmigan]

That finding would support the notion that a civilization existed before Sumeria.

[goat granny]

Glad I missed michelle's thighs.***

So is Obama

[goat granny]

ROFLOL

[goat granny]

Funny and witty observation.

[goat granny]

**And it could be the cave man was just a lousy artist. :’)

Or horny!

[Lucius Cornelius Sulla]

Mother Goddess worship was quite common so finding female fertility figurine is not surprising.

Absolutely true. The value was obviously placed on childbearing and nurturing. This belief was eventually formalized elsewhere in what is now Turkey, in figures like Artemis of Ephesus, 'Diana of the Ephesians', which were somewhat similar, except for the fact that after 13,000 years, the figure had been modified to have scores of pendulous breasts.

[count-your-change]

Sex and fertility worship in the form of goddess cults have been widespread at least from Ishtar worship in ancient Babylon.
Figurines were made either as offerings or amulets and so the connection is often made with such figurines as the Venus of Willendorf (I believe that is the one in the picture in this thread).

Recall in the Bible, Acts, chapter 19, that it was the silversmiths and craftsmen that made shrines to the goddess Artemis that so opposed the apostle Paul because they feared for their livelihoods.
There in Ephesus the temple to her was one of the Seven Wonders of the World.

Says the Encyclopedia Mythica:
“Artemis was worshiped in most Greek cities but only as a secondary deity. However, to the Greeks in Asia Minor (modern day Turkey) she was a prominent deity. In Ephesus, a principal city of Asia Minor, a great temple was built in her honor, which became one of the “Seven Wonders of the Ancient World”. But at Ephesus she was worshiped mainly as a fertility goddess, and was identified with Cybele the mother goddess of eastern lands. The cult statues of the Ephesian Artemis differ greatly from those of mainland Greece, whereas she is depicted as a huntress with her bow and arrows. Those found at Ephesus show her in the eastern style, standing erect with numerous nodes on her chest. There have been many theories as to what they represent. Some say they are breasts, others that they are bulls testes which were sacrificed to her. Which is the true interpretation remains uncertain, but each represent fertility.”

“Why is it always some sort of sexual thing?”

It's a failing of humans to worship the creation rather than the Creator.

[Tax-chick]

Obviously our ancestors spent most of their time praying and playing.

Because basic survival was so easy, right?

On the other hand, it is hard to see what this dohickey is good for, practically ... unless it's a flattering portrait of the artist's mother-in-law.

[lucias_clay]

47 posts and not a single helen thomas......................

[patton]

As to basic survival, consider the US Indian population before the arrival of europeans - they did quite well, and did not spend all of their time looking for food...

[paulycy]