The Urfa man, also called the Balıklıgöl statue, is an ancient statue shaped like a human. It was discovered during excavations in Balıklıgöl, near Urfa, in the area of Upper Mesopotamia, which is in the southeast of modern-day Turkey. The statue dates back to around 9000 BC and belongs to the Pre-Pottery Neolithic period. It is considered the oldest realistic sculpture that looks like a real person. It is from the same time as the sites of Göbekli Tepe (Pre-Pottery Neolithic A/B) and Nevalı Çori (Pre-Pottery Neolithic B). The statue is part of the Taş Tepeler tradition, which includes large statues of men showing their erect phallus. The site where the statue was originally found, called Yeni Mahalle, was carbon dated to 8600 BCE.
Discovery
The statue was discovered during construction work. The exact location where it was found has not been clearly recorded, but it may have come from the nearby Pre-Pottery Neolithic A site of Urfa Yeni-Yol. This site is close to other known Pre-Pottery Neolithic A sites around Urfa, such as Göbekli Tepe (about 10 kilometers away) and Gürcütepe. It is reported that the statue was found in 1993 on Yeni Yol street in Balıklıgöl, at the same place where the Pre-Pottery Neolithic site of Yeni Mahalle was studied from 1997.
The statue is almost 1.90 meters tall. The eyes are deep holes filled with black obsidian pieces. It has a V-shaped collar or necklace. The hands are held together in front, covering the genitals. The statue is believed to date to around 9000 BC and is often claimed to be the oldest known statue in the world.
Context
Before the Urfa Man, many small statues from the early Stone Age are known, such as the Löwenmensch figurine (around 40,000 years ago), the Venus of Dolní Věstonice (around 30,000 years ago), the Venus of Willendorf (around 25,000 years ago), and the realistic Venus of Brassempouy (around 25,000 years ago).
A little after the Urfa Man, during the Pre-Pottery Neolithic C period, statues of people were found in the Levant, such as the 'Ain Ghazal Statues. In 2023, it was reported that excavations at Karahan Tepe uncovered a similar human statue dating to about 9,400 years ago.