Abstract
The conventional, reversed historical perspective of Old World Archaeology has colored many an interpretation of its iconographic repertoire. The motif of the “Master of Animals” is a case in point, with recent surveys having traced its beginnings to pre-urban Mesopotamia. This chapter critically examines the Old World concept of this theme and focuses on one particular compound motif consisting of a hero and an animal adversary. Our emphasis on this classic combination has overshadowed the antiquity of its constituent parts and their likely origin among hunter-gatherer societies, who believe in a symbiotic relationship between shamans and animal gamekeepers. What happened to these two prominent characters as societies transitioned from foraging to food-producing? Göbekli Tepe and Çatalhöyük, two early Neolithic sites in modern-day Turkey, suggest different scenarios, but neither involves a clear break with the past. Instead, the evidence supports cultural continuity while highlighting the distinct trajectories of the animal gamekeeper and his human counterpart, each of which undergoes modification in the face of social, economic, and environmental issues arising from local processes of neolithization.
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Notes
- 1.
The oldest textual attestation of laḫmu comes from the Gudea Cylinder A (c. 2125 BCE). We do not know when this name was introduced or whether it applies to earlier representations of the “6-curled hero.” Therefore, Wiggermann’s (1981–1982:99; 1992:165) suggestion that, originally, the laḫmu may have been a spirit of the rivers, who mastered wild animals and offered water to herd animals, which is based on earlier representations of the third millennium BCE, cannot be confirmed. For a discussion on the figural representations identified with this mythological figure, see also Bonatz (2019).
- 2.
For example, the chlorite vessels of the so-called “intercultural style” that circulated between Iran, Syria, and the Gulf regions during the third millennium BCE, and the metal, stone, and ivory objects of the so-called “international style” that circulated around the Mediterranean during the Late Bronze Age (Kohl 1975, 2001; Feldman 2006:25–58).
- 3.
These animals were not hunted for food and, therefore, do not feature among the remains of predated animals found at habitation sites.
- 4.
The earliest clear evidence for feasting in the Near East is found at Kharaneh IV and Jilat VI (dated to the Early/Middle Epipaleolithic, c. 21/20 k cal BP), two exceptionally large aggregation locales on the western margins of the Azraq Basin in eastern Transjordan. It seems that in these early examples, feasting was not primarily associated with death rites (Goring-Morris and Belfer-Cohen 2011, 66–68 with References).
- 5.
- 6.
The earliest known cemetery at ‘Uyun al-Hammam in the southern Levant contained 11 individuals interred in 8 graves, of which 2 (graves 1 and VIII) pertain to the human-fox burial. The excavators conclude that the fox is closely associated with one individual because parts of both appear to have been moved from one grave to the other (Maher et al. 2011).
- 7.
- 8.
Foxes frequently occur as motifs on the T-shaped pillars and elsewhere at Göbekli Tepe (Mahler et al. 2011, 8). The high relative frequency of fox bones (mainly the red fox, Vulpes vulpes) is a typical feature of most PPNA and Early PPNB archaeofaunas from the Euphrates drainage area and the southern Levant. This skeletal bias is also observed at Göbekli Tepe and can be interpreted as evidence for the exploitation of fox for its pelt (Peters and Schmidt 2004:207 with References).
- 9.
Deposits of aurochs bucrania are described from different PPN sites, e.g., Hallan Çemi Tepesi, Tell Halula, Jerf el Ahmar, Tell Mureybet, and Tell ‘Abr 3 as well as at Göbekli Tepe and Çatalhöyük (see Peters et al. (2012:33) with References).
- 10.
Snakes are the most common motif at Göbekli Tepe. Their shape corresponds to vipers (Peters and Schmidt 2004:183). In the Pre-Pottery Neolithic of the Upper Euphrates basin, the snake motif appears to have been widespread. This is illustrated by findings from PPNA Jerf el Ahmar and Tel Qaramel, Early-Middle PPNB Nevalı Çori, and Körtik Tepe. At Nevalı Çori, for example, a limestone sculpture of a human head decorated with a snake was found in the wall of a ritual building (Hauptman 1993). At Körtik Tepe, several stone vessels decorated with snake motifs were present among the grave goods (Peters and Schmidt 2004:214 with References). Leopard bones are extremely rare at Neolithic sites (Russell 2016:27). They are found in Neolithic contexts at Çatalhöyük, Bouqras, and Tell ‘Abr (Peters and Schmidt 2004:184 with References).
- 11.
“The taxa most frequently depicted are snake, fox and wild boar, whereas the bone remains from Göbekli Tepe reflect the over-whelming importance of aurochs, goitered gazelle, and Asiatic wild ass in terms of meat procurement” The imagery of snakes and scavengers, which is elsewhere associated with burials, supports a mortuary function, but the absence of vultures, another well-known funerary motif, is problematic (Schmidt 2006; Peters and Schmidt 2004:209–15 with References), and, to date, few burials have been found at Göbekli.
- 12.
See Orrelle (2011) for a discussion on other possible representations of anthropomorphic deities during the Natufian and PPN periods.
- 13.
- 14.
- 15.
One of many examples occurs during the so-called Akkadian empire in Mesopotamia (twenty-fourth to twenty-second centuries BCE), when the Sumerian pantheon was restructured and its deities were replaced with their Akkadian equivalents.
- 16.
“The pace of change within the social realm is, by default, very slow, as it comprises the basic foundation and frame of reference for the identity of any particular group; so, even when changes occurred, they were incorporated within previously entrenched frameworks” (Belfer-Cohen and Goring Morris 2011:92).
- 17.
At Boncuklu Höyük, a focus on hunting large bull aurochs and the curation of cattle bucrania within structures suggests that bovine-centric feasting practices extend back to the earliest phases of the central Anatolian Neolithic in the ninth millennium cal. BC (Peters et al. 2012:29–30 with References).
- 18.
These narrative murals are associated with two buildings in Mellaart’s levels V and III: “Shrine” F.V.1 and A.III.1 (Mellaart 1966).
- 19.
Domestic caprines were kept in large numbers from the beginning of the site’s occupation, and the economy is based on livestock husbandry by the end (Peters et al. 2012:8).
- 20.
On the enigma of the leopard and the discovery of the leopard pendant at Çatalhöyük, see Hodder (2006). The famous image of the nude female seated on a leopard throne (height 20 cm) was found in a grain bin in “Shrine” A11.1. Although this is a unique find, numerous figurines of corpulent women and women wearing feline skins were found at both Çatalhöyük and Haçilar (Mellaart 1967; Voigt 2007; Meskell and Nakamura 2009, 2016). For color photographs, see Hodder (2006: 20 and 24).
- 21.
At its peak between 6610 and 6250 BCE, the population at Çatalhöyük is estimated to be between 3500 and 8000. Its funerary record consists of 470 complete individuals in stratified primary contexts and the partial remains of 272 individuals found in secondary and tertiary contexts (Larsen et al. 2019).
- 22.
For a discussion on status markers and public feasting in relation to Körtik Tepe and Hallan Çemi in the upper Tigris drainage, see Peters et al. (2012:29).
- 23.
Excavations yielded 12,466 cattle horn cores and horn core fragments, mostly in “special” contexts, defined as installations on walls or in benches, feasting spreads, and caches (Hodder and Meskell 2011:237). Wild cattle make up 54% of all animal bones in installations and special deposits and 40% of the animal reliefs. Other bucrania include wild ram and goat skulls and horns with the heads plastered (Russell and Meece 2006, Table 14.5).
- 24.
At Göbekli Tepe, aurochs constituted about 50% of the total meat consumed, whereas gazelle, the most frequently hunted animal, only contributed some 15% (Peters and Schmidt (2004:208); Hodder and Meskell (2011:241–3). In the earlier part of the sequence at Çatalhöyük (c. 7400–6500 BCE), wild cattle constituted only 20–25% of the faunal assemblage, but they featured disproportionately in feasts (Russell and Meece 2006; Russell et al. 2005; Twiss and Russell 2009:21). At this time, there is also a marked rise in the importance of wild cattle in the southern Levant. This is reflected by the disposal of distinct concentrations of Bos bones within well-defined features/pits in early PPNB sites. Examples include Motza in the Judean hills and Kfar HaHoresh in the Lower Galilee (Horwitz and Goring-Morris 2004; Khalaily et al. 2007). These concentrations appear to represent feasting, which is often, but not always, linked to death (Goring-Morris and Horwitz 2007; Twiss 2008).
- 25.
- 26.
At Çayönü, efforts to domesticate cattle are believed to date back to the transition from Early to Middle PPNB. One exception to this general trend comes from the Early Chalcolithic village of Köşk Höyük in the Niğde region of central Anatolia. The presence of roasting pits dominated by the remains of wild equids and aurochs suggests the continuation of periodic large game hunting and feasting events into the early sixth millennium BCE when such practices generally become increasingly rare in the archaeological record (Peters et al. 2012:31).
- 27.
This theme has been proposed in connection with later Minoan bull-leaping scenes (Younger 1995).
- 28.
Verhoeven (2002:245) estimates that the enclosures at Göbekli Tepe could accommodate up to 20–35 people at any one time, and he believes that the ritual buildings at ‘Ain Ghazal, Nevalı Çori, and Çayönü were similarly restricted to a segment of the population. According to Hodder and Meskell (2011:244), these numbers could be doubled or tripled, given the size of some of the Göbekli enclosures (e.g., the Double Pillar building, which measures 25x5m). D. Baird (in Hodder and Meskell (2011:251)) agrees and increases the estimate to between 30 and 150 people. However, Peters and Schmidt (2004:213) point out that the foundations of the central twin pillars did not insure good stability, making mass gatherings unlikely, especially ones involving group movement or dance.
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Stein, D.L. (2023). Humanoid Pillars and the Leopard’s Paw: Thoughts on Animal Masters and Gamekeepers in the Ancient Near East. In: Chacon, R.J. (eds) The History and Environmental Impacts of Hunting Deities. Conflict, Environment, and Social Complexity. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-37503-3_4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-37503-3_4
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