Mellaart 1967: 1.08; cf. also Hodder — Cessford 2004: 23f.

Mellaart 1966: Pis UV, LVIIh, LVIII; 1967: Fig. 171.

It was claimed fco show Hasan Dag, the distmcfcive double-peaked volcano, Me’

Pis 59-60. According to Meeee (2006), however, the painting depiets no volcar

Skin above a panei of geometric design.

PfilsTIISTORiC ANATOIJA

The mouldings and wall paintings from Qatalhöyük emphasize the female

(woman’s figure, breasts) and male (bulls, bull’s and ram’s heads) elements in the

Context of birth, life and death. At the same time, they refer to the world in the wild

60 -.

(leopards, she-bears(?), beer, mountain goats, hunting seenes). ' Their symbolism

Lies undoubtedly in the sphere of protective magic, which is even more recognizable

In the case of some other symbols and signs, like the red or black hands on the

reliefs and the bull's and ram’s heads, oceasionally arranged in a few regulär rows

On the walls of a hause. 61

Clay and stone figurin.es representing animale and humans, mostly womerx, have

Been found in large numbers at many Pre-Pottery Neolithic sites, 6 “ but iconographic

Types were first recognized among the stone and clay anthropomorphic figurines ex-

63

cavated at Qatalhöyük. The bulk of the figurines represent steatopygous females,

Among which two iconographic types can be distinguished: a young woman and

A mature matron giving birth. Some hold up their breasts in a gesture known from

Later representations of a naked goddess from various regions of the Anderst Near

East. The type representing a woman giving birth, shown either squatting or sit-

Ting, is evidenced in various iconographic Variante: either holding the breasts or

Placing hands on thighs, while the body is decorated with a painted omament which

sometimes resembles a leopard s'kin.

The best known is a figure of a woman giving birth, seated on a throne between

64

Two leopards and resting her feet on a skull. By this, she is revealed as a mistress

Of life from birth to death, ruling over the wild beasts as well. Worthy of notice is

Also a unique female figurine, holding up full breasts and with a prominent belly

(pregnant?), while the back depicts an articulated skeleton with a modeled spinal

Column, a pelvis and scapulae that project above sh.oulders, and individual ribs

60 For animal representations, see Russell - Meece 2005: 2'li, Table 14.1 (paintings), 21S, Table

14.2 (mouldings). 219, Tables 14.3 & 4 (animal-part installations).

Mellaart, 1967: 91.

62 Cf., e.g., stone figurines from Mezraa-Teleilat, Özdogan 2003,

Hamilton (1996) identified 254 figurines from Meliaart’s old excavations; cf. also Voigt 2000:

Figurines came frorn Hodders current excavations until 1999; see Hamilton 2005.

Meskeli — Nakamura - King - Farid (2008: 143) mention some 1966 examples found up tili the

End of the 2006 season, of which 61 are stone, only 3.1 per cent.

Mellaart 1964: 93, 95, Fig. 31f.; 1967: PL IX.67-68.

Neolithic

Depicted through diagonal seoring. 6 ’ 5 Two other figurines show the Mistress of

Animais Standing next to a leopard. Similar Images of women of various age — giv

Ing birth, supporting breasts, sitting on a leopard or between two cats, cuddling child-

Ren or small leopards - were discovered at Hacilar layer VI, which was Contempo

rary with the fall of the viliage at Qatalhöyük. All the Hacilar anthropomorphic

Figurines were made of baked clay.

Female figurines underwent sehematizaiion already in the terminal phases of

The Neolithic. Simplified representations of females holding up their breasts, seat

ed, kneeling or squatting, known from, among others, Höyücek near Lake Burdur

west of Bucak ' and Camharman near Yalva$, are recognized as prototypes of the

Violin-shaped idols of the Chalcolithic and the Early Bronze Age (see 1.2).

While much less frequent in the plastic arts of Qatalhöyiik, male figures also

Represent a few iconographic types: a bearded man sitting on a bull, a youth riding

A leopard, an enthroned male figure with a headdress that appears to have been

Made of a leopard skin.