SAEDNEWS: A female clay figurine has been discovered at the Neolithic site of Ulucak Hill in İzmir, western Turkey, distinguished from similar statues primarily for its prominent “mouth.
This is the sixth female statue found at Ulukak, but the latest discovery differs significantly from previous finds: this new statue has a mouth! The mouth is actually a hole extending down to the neck, likely designed to allow a cord or necklace to pass through. Earlier examples had only eyes and a nose.
The statue is just under 10.16 centimeters tall, easily fitting in the palm of a hand. It was discovered next to a hearth inside a house, buried near the ovens in a pit under the doorway threshold. Millstones and flint stones were also found within the pit.
Archaeologists suggest that the statue may represent a powerful woman in the community, such as an oral historian or storyteller, which could explain the pronounced mouth. Alternatively, it may have had a ritual function, in which case it would have had no connection to any living members of the community.
The Ulukak mound was one of the earliest settlements of farmers in western Anatolia. Its earliest layers date back to 8850 BCE, and the settlement remained continuously inhabited for over 1,150 years.
