A Queer perspective on the Early Neolithic Urfa Region: The Ecstatic agency of the Phallus

The phallus, which has an important place in the Upper Mesopotamian Early Neolithic iconography, has been evaluated in the archaeological literature through contemporary connotations rather than its material assets. The myriad phallic themes are interpreted as precursors for a male-centered society, although there is no material evidence that supports the existence of top-down hierarchical social stratification or binary sex system. This thesis offers a holistic interpretation of the phallic iconography by using Contextual Archaeology with the frame of Queer Theory on the archaeological material recovered from Nevali Çori, Göbeklitepe, Karahantepe, and Sayburç. In this study, instead of understanding the phallic imagery as a symbol for a male-centered society, the phallus is contextualized through its physical properties, as an ecstatic ritual tool that helped the mediator to transcend into the spiritual world. In this attempt, current archaeology politics of sexuality are criticized by using phenomenological approaches to queer studies. Moreover, strong post-structuralist relations between Queer Theory and Contextual Archaeology are revealed and novel ways of practicing Queer Archaeology are introduced.