Antropoloji Bölümü

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A heart-shaped bone artifact from Körtiktepe
(2020) Özkaya, Vecihi; Sıddıq, Abu Bakar
Along with the emergence of sedentary life, the Pre-Pottery Neolithic (PPN) settlements brought revolutionary changes in production of material cultures as well as cultic and ritual activities, which are often argued to be associated with new waves of interactions between humans and their natural world. Körtiktepe of southeastern Turkey yielded by far the richest PPN assemblage in the world, standing among the very few earliest cultural and production centers which acted to be the predecessors of the development and spread of the Neolithic in West Asia. In this paper, we report a heart-shaped bone artifact which is one of the rarest finds in the extremely large cultural assemblage of Körtiktepe. The manufacture features indicate that the “heart-like” shape of this unique artifact was the product of intentional human activity. Overall archaeological context indicates its probable use as a bone pendant or amulet for the dead; providing the fact of its association with three early PPNA burials, many other ritual objects, and a large number of grave goods. Although difficult to argue for its association with the sense for “emotion”, “affection” or “love” in the present world, it is still significant that the unique specimen traces the symbolic presence and ritual use of the shape of a “heart” in West Asian prehistoric context back to the Early Pre-Pottery Neolithic of around 10000 cal BC.
Intra- and intercommunal rituals in the Upper Mesopotamian Pre-Pottery Neolithic: The beginning of organized religion?
(Mardin Artuklu Üniversitesi Yayınları, 2020) Sıddıq, Abu Bakar; Özkaya, Vecihi
While a ‘faith system’ is mainly based on simple beliefs on certain supernatural forces, the ‘organized religion’ is characterized by a faith-based doctrine with standardize worships, a hierarchical structure, and organization of dogmatic rules and practices. Archaeologically the earliest belief system on supernatural forces dates back to 80,000 to 100,000 years BP. However, the senses of organized and inter-communal religious practices apparently evolved in Early Neolithic period, following the beginning of sedentary life throughout eleventh millennium BC. Since then, the ‘organized religion’ has been helping human individuals and different social groups to be valued parts of a greater “community”. Particularly different Early Neolithic sites in Southeast Anatolia including Körtik Tepe, Göbeklitepe, Hasankeyif Höyük, Nevali Çori and Çayönü Tepesi, along with some other contemporary sites in northern Syria, present the sign of inter-communal and regional-scale rituals practices, continued for millennia. People in these early sedentary villages often constructed large, round and subterranean cult buildings. Sometimes they were built with carved upright stone slabs, decorated with friezes of triangles, undulating lines, human figures, raptors, different types of dangerous animals as well as hybrid creatures of half human and half animal. Being the communal rather than individual or household interest—these spiritual centers became the focal points of group identities for over thousand years. Over time, these very early religious centers and sanctuaries became the promoter of inter-communal complex ritual systems, and the earliest form of ‘organized religion’. With the help of the examples of communal and inter-regional cult activities and symbolism at some of these remarkable archaeological sites, this study examines the position of Southeast Anatolia in the origin of ‘organized religion’ throughout the development of Neolithic culture in West Asia.

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