One Of World’s Oldest Narrative Artworks Happens To Be NSFW NSFW
Art has been used as a form of storytelling since the beginning of time, and now, archaeologists in Turkey have chanced upon one of the oldest-known examples of it.
Last year, during an excavation of a Neolithic communal structure in Sayburç, southeastern Turkey, researchers discovered a 12-foot-long panel of narrative art, which, at its center, featured an image of a man holding his penis.
Details of the artifact were recently published in the Antiquity journal. It is believed to be 11,000 years old and, as per the paper’s author Eylem Özdogan, could reveal key insights into the ancient communities that once roamed the region.
Carved into the panel are two leopards, with the man sandwiched between them, clutching onto his private bits. On the left of the piece, another human-like figure with an exaggerated phallus can be seen, with a bull beside it.
According to Artnet News, while narrative stories have been implied in older works, such as a painting of pigs dating back to 45,000 years ago, this panel in question could be the oldest artwork telling a progressive story with related scenes.
“This scene has the narrative integrity of both a theme and story, and represents the most detailed description of a Neolithic ‘story’ found to date in the Near East, bringing us closer to the Neolithic people and their world,” remarks Özdogan in the paper.
Intriguingly, the researchers believe the artwork could have served an educational purpose, as it was placed in an assembly area where most of the population would see it, as opposed to other paintings hidden deep inside caves.
While we may never fully understand the tale behind the relic, as Özdogan concludes, the panel will serve as a “reflection of a collective memory that kept the values of its community alive.”
[via Artnet News and Eylem Özdogan / Cambridge University Press (CC BY 4.0), images via various sources]
