| Chapter 2: | Female Figures in Eurasian Neolithic Iconography |
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Female Display Figures
Other figures crouch and display their genitals. Probably the earliest (uncontested) female display figure, dating to the aceramic, pre-agricultural Neolithic no later than 8000 BCE, has been found in level II of the southeast Anatolian site of Göbekli Tepe; the figure is carved on a stone slab that was found in the Lion Pillar building in an area between pillars containing depictions of felines (see figure 5). She is crouching, and her arms and legs are bent. Her bent legs frame a clearly depicted vulva with enlarged labia. Her breasts hang
Figure 5. Stone slab with depiction of a female figure in magical dance; found in the Lion Pillar Building in Göbekli Tepe, Southeastern Turkey; ca. 8000 BCE.
Source. Schmidt 2006.