Oldest scene in world: 11,000-year-old wall relief near Gbeklitepe

[Judi Lynn]

BY DAILY SABAH
ISTANBUL DEC 12, 2022 - 12:29 PM GMT+3



A male figure is situated between two leopards on the Sayburç relief, in the northern part of the village of Sayburç, in Şanlıurfa, Türkiye. (Photo from the journal Antiquity)

A mosaic panel is pictured in al-Rastan city, Syria, Oct.12, 2022. (Reuters Photo)

An 11,000-year-old wall relief, located near Şanlıurfa's famous Göbeklitepe in southeastern Türkiye, constitutes the earliest known depiction of a narrative "scene" and reflects the complex relationship between humans, the natural world and the animal life that surrounded them during the transition to a sedentary lifestyle, new research revealed recently.

The ancient wall carving depicts five figures: Two humans, a bull and two leopards.

Eylem Özdoğan, the author of the study published in the scientific journal Antiquity, stated that there is very little information about the civilization that made this relief.

"The communities living in this region share a common cultural environment. They certainly communicate with each other and share innovations, social ideology and a common culture," Özdoğan, an archaeologist at Istanbul University, said in a statement to Gizmodo.



A communal building, in northern part of village of Sayburç, in Şanlıurfa, Türkiye. (Photo from the journal Antiquity)

According to the news of Independent Turkish, radiocarbon dating studies of samples taken from the region continue, but researchers believe that these reliefs were made around 9,000 B.C.

More:
https://www.dailysabah.com/life/history/oldest-scene-in-world-11000-year-old-wall-relief-near-gobeklitepe

[Walleye]

1. Pretty cool, I think of it as early photojournalism

[tanyev]

2. I wonder if there's some ritualistic significance to that relief.

My first thought was of the many representations of Ancient Egyptian priests wearing leopard skins, with the heads still on the skin. Granted, this is much older, but some of those traditions hang on for a very long time. The bull was also a sacred animal in many cultures.