Two 8,000-Year-Old Naked Figurines Discovered In Çatalhöyük, Turkey

Two 8,000-year-old stone figurines depicting naked women were discovered by Polish archaeologists during this year’s excavations in one of the oldest cities in the world – Çatalhöyük, located in the southern part of the Anatolian Plateau in central Turkey.

The two artifacts, which are very well preserved, were discovered next to each other inside a house built at the end of the settlement activity, between 63 and 61 hundred years BC. The figurines were lying on a platform, bench adjacent to one of the inner walls of the house, made of mud bricks covered with white plaster.

Çatalhöyük (UNESCO World Heritage Site) was inhabited continuously for over one thousand years between the years 7100 and 6000 BC. According to the researchers during its heyday the densely built-up settlement had by approx. 5000 residents. The site became famous thanks to the murals, which decorated the walls of houses. They depicted as human and animal figures and geometric motifs.