Ports. 1 Links with the Levant (Nahal Hemar) are also evidenced by the stone face

masks known from Göbekli Tepe and Nevali Qori. aH The Anatolian finds are un-

doubtedly part of the same ancestor ritual tradition sometimes referred to as ‘skull

,.,39

Worship.

The Skull House from the Pre-Pottery Neolithic site of (Jayönü Tepesi is com-

Monly believed to be a sanctuary of this kind of cult. 40 It functioned for a long time

And was rebuilt a number of times in successive phases of the village. In one of the

Phases, the house measured c. 10 by S m and consisted of a row of three rooms

Preceded by a paved yard. In the rooms, more than 70 skulls had been deposited.

A large flat stone in the corner of the yard may have acted as an altar; the excava-

Tors reported evidence of blood sacrifices which took place on this stone. 41 It was

Also thougbt to be the place where the corpse was prepared, The context of the find

Suggests a form of worship addressed to a community of the villagers’ ancestors.

At other Neolithic sites, too, the findspots of skulls and their Position leave little

Doubt as to a ritual context of the finds. One noteworthy discovery is a set of four

skulls found in situ on the floor of room E VII 21 in. Qatalhöyük. Two had been

Placed, one each, below bucrania mounted on the east and west walls of the room,

And the remaining two were found under a wall painting of vultures. 42 Detached

•32 Strouhal 1973; Goren -- Sega! 1995.

33 Ferembach - Lechevaüier 1973.

Rollefson 1983; Simmons - Boulton - Butler - Ka.fa.fi - Rollefson 1990; Griffin - Grissom -

Rollefson 1998; Rollefson -- Schmandt-Besserat - Rose 1999.

Stordeur 2003; Stordeur - Khawam 2007.

De Contenson 1992; 187f.; 2000: 56.

De Contenson 1992. According to Cauvin 2000b: 247, “these are a kind of cult objeefc intended to

be visible... to the living.”

Bar-Yosef 2003.

Bienert 1991; cf. also Cauvin 2000b: 247, and now Kuijt 2008.

Cf. Haas 1994a: 46; Sharp doukowsky 1996: 78; Cauvin 2000b: 246.

41 Özbek 1988; Loy — Wood 1989.

Mellaart 1967: 103, Fig. 83.

I

12 1- Pkehihtübic Anatolia

Human skulle were found also in Building 17 and Building 3 during lan Hodder’s

Recent excavations at the site.

Forrns of ancestor cult changed in later periods due to social transformation lead-

Ing to the breakup of the original community into smaller tribes and families, fur-

Ther differentiated by rank and economic Status, It is still too early to say whether

These changes started already in the later Neolithic or did not begin until the Chal-

Colithic and the Early Bronze Age (see 1.2).

In speaking of the. earliest cult places from Asia Minor, it is inevitable to men-

Tion the rectangular stone structures with rounded corners whieh the societies in-

Habiting the limestone plateau in the vicinity of modern Urfa were continuously

constructing on Göbekli Tepe for more than fifteen hundred years, from the middle

Of the tenth through the beginning of the eighth millennium BC. The excavators

Interpreted these structures as the earliest known sanctuaries of ancestor cult. They

Used to be built at a time when grain had yet to be domesticated and animals had

Not yet began to be herded; the economy of the people who built them depended

Mostly on hunting and intensive selected gathering of wild cereal grasses. Of the

Structures identified to date, four have been excavated, their diameters ranging

From JO to 30 m. The outer walls incorporated monolithic pillars, each 10-20 tons in

Weight. Inside there were free-standing T-shaped monoliths. Some had hands marked

On them, indicating that they were supposed to represent stylized human figures.

The biggest monoliths were 7 m tall and one, found unfmished in a nearby quarry,

Weighed 50 tons. The moving of such huge blocke for any distance required concerted

Effort of a whole community. The monoliths were carved in flat relief with Images of

Lions, bulls, foxes, gazelies, serpents and birds, all of whieh have parallele in the

Relief depiction of scorpions and serpents, dated to the same period, from Jerf al-