ISTANBUL, TURKEY—According to a Gizmodo report, narrative scenes thought to have been carved some 11,000 years ago have been discovered in southeastern Anatolia at the site of Sayburç by Eylem Özdoğan of Istanbul University. The five figures, found behind benches lining the walls of a Neolithic building, include two apparently male humans, a bull, and two leopards. One of the men is holding a snake or rattle in his right hand, while the other is holding his own penis. Özdoğan thinks one of the humans and the bull make up one scene, while the human flanked by two leopards make up a second. The building is thought to have served a communal purpose, he added, noting that the carvings may reflect a collective memory. Read the original scholarly article about this research in Antiquity. To read about the 11,000-year-old stone circles at Göbekli Tepe in Turkey, go to "Last Stand of the Hunter-Gatherers?"
