A study published online July 9 details the discovery of a prehistoric human skeleton buried with wild animals, suggesting the woman may have been a shaman some 12,000 years ago, around the same time as construction of Gobekli Tepe.
The body was uncovered at the Çemka Höyük site, a Neolithic settlement in Turkey, in what researchers are calling a “very unusual” burial, according to the study published in the journal L’Anthropologie. Data suggests the body was laid to rest during the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A period (PPNA), its grave covered with a long, flat block of limestone, a pretty odd thing to do, according to the researchers.
The woman was buried on her right side lying northwest-southwest, her face looking west. She was believed to be around 25- to 30-years-old when she died. And for another unknown reason, she was surrounded by animal bones from an extinct cattle known as aurochs, a small ruminant, partridge, canid and marten.
Mardin’deki Çemka Höyük’te bulunan mezar bir kadın şamana ait olabilir.
Çemka Höyük (Su Kenarı Höyük), Ilısu Barajı baraj gövdesinin yaklaşık 1 km güney-batısında, Mardin’in Dargeçit ilçesi Ilısu Mahallesi sınırları içerisinde yer alıyor. L’Anthropologie dergisinde Kazı Başkanı… pic.twitter.com/689sgrXL2p— arkeolojihaber ® (@arkeolojihaber) July 28, 2024
This region of Turkey is shrouded in mystery over its eerily advanced inhabitants during the end of the Younger Dryas cold period, who built such marvels as Gobekli Tepe. (RELATED: ‘Unique’ Dig Reveals Potential 6000-Year-Old Settlement Along Highway)
Like the burial site at Çemka Höyük, Gobekli Tepe is also strewn with animal bones. And no one can figure out precisely why.
“Considering the fact that the female individual and the animal bones were deposited together in one burial, we may assume some symbolic relations between the animals and the hunter-gatherer-fishers of Çemka Höyük, who had already embarked towards a sedentary life,” the authors suggested.
This burial is still unique in comparison to others at the site. The woman was the only one with such specificity, suggesting she may have been of special status, or a shaman. At least, this is what the researchers believed.
And when in doubt, Big Archaeology always leans on the “it was probably just a religious thing” trope.