16,000 Year Old Goddess Figurine Discovered in Turkey

A very important find in Turkey Archaeologists Unearth 16,000-Year-Old Goddess Figurine in Turkey BalkanTravellers.com 20 August 2009 A 16,000-year-old clay figurine of a female was found by archaeologists during excavations in southern-eastern Turkey. The mother goddess sculpture was discovered in the Direklu Cave in the Kahramanmaraş Province, which archaeologists have been excavating since July 15, Gazi University Archaeology Department lecturer Cevdet Merih Erek told national media. The find suggests that women had a high social status in the region at the time the figurine was made, Erek explained. In addition, it challenged archaeologists’ previous knowledge by suggesting that the method of using fired clay to make figurines was much older than previously thought. Before this recent discovery, the oldest fired clay god or goddess figurines unearthed in Mesopotamia, Anatolia and other Near East regions were made in 5,000 BC. The information on the discovery appeared in Today's Zaman, August 17, 2009. I was not able to locate a photograph of the figurine - drat!