Idols of the Seyitömer Mound

Idols are commonly referred to as concrete depictions of the mother goddess and they serve as cultural objects that provide information on the belief system of particular societies. They might be found in all types of cultural artefacts, inside dwellings, tombs, and warehouses or buried in the ground.The birth of the cult of the mother goddess dates back to prehistoric periods. Earlier societies that investigated life itself considered women who created a new being out of her body and nurtured the newborn as sacred and an understanding of womanhood started to emerge. In the Neolithic period, after the establishment of settled life and the practices of agriculture and livestock raising, the fertility of women was associated with nature and the fertility of nature resulting in the depiction of fertile women figures with exaggerated organs. During the Chalcolithic Age three dimensional mother goddess figurines disappeared and stylized flat bodies became dominant. While the bodies were flattened, the neck and head parts were exaggerated. Stylization continued during the Bronze Age and a large number of three dimensional terracotta goddess figurines were observed alongside flat bodies.This study is important in view of dating the idols discovered at Seyitömer Mound and determining possible interaction with its vicinity. Large numbers of idols and figurines dated to Early and Middle Brozne ages and lesser numbers dated to the Achaemenid period were discovered at Seyitömer Mound. The findings were unearthed inside dwellings, cesspits and filling material. A total of 70 idols made up of marl, marble, bone, opal, sandstone, clay and terracotta were investigated in terms of their age and stylistic features. As a result, it has been determined that the discovered idols and figurines exhibited similarities with neighbouring cultures yet they also have some structural features peculiar to this dwelling.Keywords: Seyitömer Mound, Idol, Fertile Mother, Mother Goddess, Fertility