One of the World’s oldest known statues* “Balıklıgöl Statue” in the Urfa Museum is a two-meter high statue of a male which was discovered in Balıklıgöl, Turkey in 1993. The statue is made of limestone and the eyes are carved out of obsidian.
A head of magnitude greater than normal may have been part of a composite representation type “totem pole” of Nevali Cori (height cm. 23).
A stone totem excavated at Gobekli Tepe “of a non-human creature evolving into birth of human-like infant.” The top figure holds the head of a human figure, which in turn holds another figure.
There is a precedent for the totem stones giving birth as seen here;
Various views of the anthropomorphic limestone statue from Kilisik, a village near Kahta, Turkey, north of Sanliurfa (Urfa) and Gobekli Tepe. Height 31 inches. Stone totem that has angled arms in this Kilisik sculpture, but that look like snakes, from the side, in the Gobekli Tepe stone statue now housed in the Urfa Museum.
The association of twin serpents with birth giving Goddess’ dates back to at least 11,000 years, going on to be a major motif of Near Eastern art. The differance with the Gobekli Tepe totem is that the woman giving birth, the mid-part of the sculpture, is herself an aspect of the greater figure who thus appears to have the aspect of a birth Goddess, it’s difficult to be certain due to damage, but her head appears to have been that of a serpent.
Hard to see due to damage and wear, but even the figure that is emerging from the mid-point birth could also be giving birth, which would be three births seen in conjunction, giving birth whilst being born….unusual.
Coatlicue (“skirt of snakes”), also known as Teteoh innan (“mother of the gods”)
Some Aspects of Symbolism in Neolithic Turkey
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