A wall relief, comprising five figures carved on a bench in a communal building dating to the ninth millennium BC, was found in south-eastern Turkey in 2021. It 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.
Figure 6. The male figure situated between two leopards (photograph by K. Akdemir). © Sayburç project archive (Özdoğan, Antiquity 2022)
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- Thursday, 8th December 2022 - 11,000-Year-Old Wall Carving in Turkey Could Be Some of the Oldest Narrative Art The recently discovered relief depicts large animals, human figures, and penises.