28 August 2025 The Future is the Product of the Past

A Newly Found 12,000-year-old Burial in Türkiye May Belong to a Female ‘Shaman’

A recently published study suggests that a woman buried in the upper reaches of the Tigris River in south-eastern Türkiye around 12,000 years ago may have been a shaman believed to have had a spiritual connection with wild animals.

According to researchers, the burial may represent one of the earliest known examples of its kind in an Anatolian Neolithic context.

A new archaeological discovery at Çemka Höyük (meaning the “mound by the water”) in the Dargeçit district of Mardin province has revealed that a woman dating back to 12,000 years ago with unusual grave finds offers important clues about the spiritual and shamanic rituals of the period. These findings suggest that the woman may have been a shaman.

In the grave of the woman, who died at the age of about 25-30, the skull of an aurochs, partridge wings, marten legs, and the remains of sheep or goats were found. The woman was buried under the grave pit and the grave was sealed with a large limestone block. This is noteworthy as a practice contrary to the burial traditions of the period.

The woman, who died from natural causes was buried under the floor of a mudbrick building at Çemka Höyük, while another 14 people were buried under other nearby buildings. The burials took place during what archaeologists call the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA) period, a transitional phase of human society between 10,000 and 8,800 BC, just before the development of agriculture. It was common during the PPNA to bury the dead under the floor of a house, but it was unusual to cover it with a limestone block.

Aerial view of Çemka Höyük Sector 1 and chronological development of the settlement. Photo: Ergül Kodaş and Yunus Çiftçi

People at this time were still hunter-gatherers, like their Mesolithic ancestors, and pottery hadn’t yet been invented. However, it appears that they had already established settlements,  at least for parts of the year, in locations such as Göbekli Tepe, an archaeological site in Turkey 150 miles west of Çemka Höyük, and Jericho in the Palestinian Territories.

The situation after the excavation of the tomb surprised the archaeologists even more: the skull of an aurochs (a primitive ox) was placed above the woman’s body, with its jaw separated and resting at her feet. Other animal bones appeared to be dispersed throughout the burial pit, including the remains of a sheep or goat, a partridge’s wing, and a marten’s leg.

The animals must have been wild because the woman was buried before farm animals were domesticated, according to lead study author and archaeologist Ergül Kodaş of Turkey’s Mardin Artuklu University. He points out that the fact that there are so many aurochs bones suggests the significance of wild cattle, which were already a major source of food even though they wouldn’t be domesticated for thousands of years.

This tomb provides important information about the ritual and social life of hunter-gatherer societies before the development of agriculture. British archaeologist Kathleen Kenyon has emphasized the complexity and sophisticated ritual practices of this period. This discovery at Çemka Höyük helps us better understand this complexity and spiritual beliefs.

The burial of the ‘shaman’ included a woman curled up on her right side and accompanied by a variety of animal bones. Photo: Associate Professor Doctor Ergül Kodaş

Archaeologist Bill Finlayson of Oxford University notes that the term ‘shaman’ was coined in the 18th century to describe indigenous practices in Siberia, so their role in the Neolithic period may not be fully determined. However, when the female grave at Çemka Höyük is compared to similar shamanic burials, it is thought to be a spiritual leader.

Archaeologist Steve Mithen of the University of Reading says that social and environmental changes during the PPNA period may have increased the importance of people who could communicate with unseen forces. In this context, the discoveries at Çemka Höyük provide new insights into the development of ritual beliefs in early societies.

The 12,000-year-old female grave found at Çemka Höyük makes an important contribution to our understanding of shamanic practices and ritual beliefs in the Neolithic period.

This peculiar burial suggests that women were heavily involved in the ritual belief that archaeologists now believe played a significant role in the development of early societies. Archaeological findings allow for a deeper understanding of the spiritual and social structures of early societies.

The study was published in the journal L’Anthropologie.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anthro.2024.103277

Cover Photo: AA

Related Articles

Well-preserved 2,000-year-old Chime Bells (Bianzhong) discovered in China

3 September 2023

3 September 2023

A total of 24 well-preserved Chinese bianzhong (chime bells) in two sets from the Spring and Autumn period (770-476 BC)...

A first-of-its-kind Ayyanar stone idol found in Vellore, India

25 June 2022

25 June 2022

An Ayyanar stone idol, the first of its kind in Vellore, was discovered at Thandalai Krishnapuram (TK Puram) in Tamil...

Coin hoard found in fireplace ‘belonging to Scottish clan chief’ murdered at infamous Glencoe Massacre

17 October 2023

17 October 2023 1

Coins believed to have belonged to a Scottish clan chief murdered in an infamous 17th-century Glencoe massacre, have been found...

Dog Kajtuś uncovers Poland’s biggest treasure of the past 100 years

21 April 2022

21 April 2022

A dog named Kajtuś discovered the biggest treasure found in Poland in the last 100 years. The treasure was found...

Rare African Script Offers Clues to the Evolution of Writing Systems

4 February 2022

4 February 2022

The world’s very first invention of writing took place over 5000 years ago in the Middle East, before it was...

The Ancestors of Today’s Barbie Dolls “Coptic dolls”

23 September 2023

23 September 2023

For as long as there has been civilization, children have played with dolls. Wooden dolls with bead hair have been...

White grape pips found in the Negev dated may be the oldest of its kind worldwide

29 April 2023

29 April 2023

Researchers from the University of York, Tel Aviv University, and the University of Copenhagen provide new insight into the mystery...

Bergama Ancient City Takes Its Place in Digital Environment

1 February 2021

1 February 2021

As a result of the studies carried out by the German Institute, Bergama Ancient City was It was transferred to...

3,500-year-old perfectly preserved ancient frozen bear found in Siberian

28 February 2023

28 February 2023

As the permafrost on Bolshoy Lyakhovsky Island in eastern Siberia melted, a mummified brown bear that lived more than three...

Ancient Cretans ‘Killed’ Their Tombs in Symbolic Feasts 4,000 Years Ago

24 April 2025

24 April 2025

An international team of archaeologists has unveiled a remarkable ritual practiced by the ancient Cretans, revealing how they symbolically “killed”...

On the beach of Herculaneum, a victim of the Vesuvius explosion was discovered with his bag

4 December 2021

4 December 2021

Archaeologists released haunting images Wednesday of the skeletal remains of a man buried by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in...

Restoration of the Duomo of Florence has revealed original polychrome paint

1 December 2022

1 December 2022

During the restoration of the Porta dei Cornacchini and the marble cladding of the northern side of Florence’s Duomo, extensive...

Incredibly Rare Tyrian Purple Discovered at Carlisle Roman bathhouse

5 May 2024

5 May 2024

A rare archaeological object – thought to be the only one of its type in the former Roman Empire –...

The 5,000-Year-Old Beaded Burials that Reveal Women’s Power in Copper Age Iberia: Over 270,000 Beads

6 February 2025

6 February 2025

Archaeologists investigating the Montelirio tholos burial site in southwestern Spain, dating back approximately 5,000 years, have uncovered that the women...

10,000-year-old Settlement Discovered in Turkey’s Şanlıurfa

25 June 2021

25 June 2021

A Neolithic settlement was discovered in the garden of a house in the Sayburç Neighborhood of Şanlıurfa’s Karaköprü district. News...