18 July 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

An Elamite clay tablet has been discovered in Burnt City

6 January 2022

6 January 2022

An Elamite clay tablet was discovered within the Burnt City by a team of Iranian, Italian, and Serbian archeologists. Called...

Neo-Assyrian Writing Boards: The Role of Beeswax, Orpiment, and Carbon Black in 7th Century BC Writing Techniques

13 April 2025

13 April 2025

Recent scientific investigations into the writing boards excavated from the ancient Assyrian city of Nimrud have shed new light on...

A unique find in the Middle Don: Scythian gods on a silver plate

19 November 2021

19 November 2021

Archaeologists of the Archaeological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, during their excavations at the Devitsa V cemetery in...

Archaeologists discovered 7,000-years-old Neolithic Settlement in the Czech Republic

31 July 2024

31 July 2024

Archaeologists have discovered a Neolithic settlement of about 7,000 years old near Kutná Hora, east of Prague in the Czech...

Roman girl adorned with 1800-year-old jewelry found in a lead coffin on Mount Scopus

9 April 2023

9 April 2023

“After the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple and the exodus of the Jewish population, late Roman Jerusalem—renamed Aelia Capitolina—had a...

Japan-Persia Ancient Ties

20 June 2021

20 June 2021

Japanese and Persian ancient ties go back to the 7th century. Silk Road connected Japan with countries and regions far...

Ancient helmets, temple ruins found at a dig in Velia southern Italy

1 February 2022

1 February 2022

A discovery that “sheds new light on the history of the mighty Greek colony” by Velia. Archaeologists in southern Italy...

Experts say that the Stone of Destiny was a doorstep

2 May 2024

2 May 2024

The Stone of Destiny’s recorded links to Scottish royalty date back almost 1000 years, and its origins are shrouded in...

Earthquakes caused slight damage to Hatay Archeology Museum

10 February 2023

10 February 2023

The Republic of Turkey Ministry of Culture and Tourism issued a press release on the latest status of museums and...

Iron Age and Roman Skeletons Discovered on Alderney

19 May 2021

19 May 2021

Well-preserved skeletons from the late Iron Age and Roman periods were found in Alderney, one of the channel islands. The...

A unique golden sun bowl was discovered during an archaeological survey in Ebreichsdorf, Austria

3 October 2021

3 October 2021

A golden sun bowl and several hundred bronze objects were discovered during archaeological excavations in a prehistoric settlement in today’s...

7,000-Year-Old Temple at Risk: Urgent Calls to Save Santa Verna Archaeological Site in Gozo

17 July 2025

17 July 2025

Archaeologists and heritage conservationists are sounding the alarm over continued development near the Santa Verna archaeological site, a prehistoric temple...

Rare Five Bronze Age Axes found in the Forests of Poland

5 December 2023

5 December 2023

Archaeologists in Poland have discovered five Bronze Age axes in Starogard Forest District, located in Kociewie. A metal detectorist named...

New Research Links Climate Crisis to the Fall of the Roman Empire

11 April 2025

11 April 2025

A study led by scientists at the University of Southampton, in collaboration with Queen’s University Canada and the Chinese Academy...

46 Eagles in vivid color revealed on Ancient Egyptian temple ceiling

15 May 2022

15 May 2022

A joint German/Egyptian archaeological mission at the Temple of Esna on the west bank of the Nile, 35 miles south...