by An 11,000-year-old rock-cut relief in southeastern Turkey featuring menacing animals and two men, one of whom clutches his genitals, is the oldest narrative scene on record, according to a new study .
Archaeologists have discovered the curious carvings on benches embedded in a Neolithic (or New Stone Age) building in the Urfa region. Measuring approximately 2.5 to 3 feet (0.7 to 0.9 meters) high and 12 feet (3.7 m) long, the newly discovered rock-cut relief features two leopards, a bull and the two men – one holding his phallus and the other holding a rattle or snake.
Whoever sculpted the wild creatures accentuated their dangerous, sharp parts – the teeth of leopards and the horns of bulls. But exactly what this account was meant to convey is lost to time, according to the study, which was published Thursday, December 8 in the journal antiquity (opens in a new tab).
Related: Carvings of human heads and phallus-shaped pillars discovered at 11,000-year-old site in Turkey
Archaeologists found the carved scene at Sayburç, a Neolithic mound site about 35 miles (56 kilometers) east of the Euphrates and 20 miles (32 km) north of the Syrian border. Sayburç dates back to the ninth millennium BCE, a time when hunter-gatherers turned to agriculture and long-term settlements.
Excavations at the site began in 2021 and soon revealed the ruins of a communal building measuring 36 feet (11 m) in diameter, about the length of a telephone pole. The building was carved into the limestone rock with stone walls and benches that rose from the ground. The artwork was found on the front of one of the carved benches, according to Eylem Özdoğan (opens in a new tab)archaeologist at Istanbul University and sole author of the study.
According to Özdoğan’s research, there are two separate scenes that are meant to be read together as a narrative work of art. From the left are shallow carvings of a bull and a man facing each other. The man has a “phallus-like extension on the abdomen” and his “open and raised left hand has six fingers, while the right holds a snake or rattle,” she wrote in the journal. The second scene features two leopards – open mouths, visible teeth, long tails curling towards the body – facing an almost 3D sculpted man. He looks around the room rather than to the side and holds his phallus with his right hand.
“In terms of technique and craftsmanship,” Özdoğan wrote, “the flat relief figures are also comparable to other pre-pottery Neolithic images in the region” such as those nearby Gobekli Tepe (opens in a new tab), a UNESCO World Heritage Site known for housing the world’s oldest megaliths – massive pillars decorated with animals and people. But Sayburç’s reliefs differ because the figures form a narrative, suggesting recounted events or retold stories, a sort of “reflection of a collective memory that has kept the values of its community alive”.
In an email to Live Science, Özdoğan explained that “in places like Göbekli Tepe and Sayburç, there is a male world and its reflections – male predatory animals, phalluses and male representations. Sayburç’s are different in that they are represented together to form a scene.”
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Jens Notroff (opens in a new tab), a Neolithic archaeologist from the German Archaeological Institute who was not involved in this research, agreed that the artwork was intended to convey masculinity. He told Live Science in an email that “the juxtaposition of the display of vitality and virility – the presentation of the phallus – on the one hand and the mortal danger – the snarling predators with bare teeth – on the other seem particularly noteworthy here.”
Notroff added that this discovery could help archaeologists better interpret Neolithic iconography in Turkey. “Unfortunately, while the Neolithic hunter may have readily recognized his message,” he said, “we still lack understanding of the actual narrative.”
The communal building of Sayburç has so far only been partially excavated. Although Özdoğan is confident in interpreting the building as a staging area, she is unsure what they will find when they finish digging. “There may be a stage or other elements on the opposite side” of the bench, she told Live Science.
Notroff is excited about what future digs could tell archaeologists about art and society in ancient Turkey. This discovery at Sayburç is a “fascinating new idea,” he said, and he “looks forward to seeing more results from ongoing research and excavations at other early Neolithic sites in the Urfa region. and beyond”.
