The Urfa Man

The Urfa Man in Sanliurfa Museum

This stone-carved and near life-size statue was found by chance during building work in the old part of Sanliurfa, a few miles from Gobekli Tepe and the location of the Pre-Pottery Neolithic hilltop settlement of Yeni Mahalle, which dates to around 9500BC. The ‘Urfa Man’ dates to this period and is one of the oldest human statues known. Like the pillars of Gobekli Tepe, he stands with his hands clasped in front of his stomach and he has a V-shaped stole or collar around his neck, the only ornamentation present.

The statue was dismissed as unimportant and spent twenty years in a store room before European archaeologists were asked for their opinion. Today he has pride of place in the city museum, and he has the eeriest sense of presence I’ve ever felt in an inanimate object. His gleaming obsidian eyes seem to watch you and there is a definite sense of a very sinister intelligence to him. I would not like to spend a night in his presence!

This effect may be entirely due to the skill of the craftsperson. Obsidian was deliberately used for eye-pieces in historic times because the light reflects from its dozens of angles to reflect the movement and light in living eyes, and gives the impression of a living presence. It’s very subtle, but its effect on viewers can be near terrifying.

A Hittite sphinx with obsidian eyes, which guarded the Hattusa city entrance around 2000BC.

This ‘spirit-presence’ was used to great effect by Hittite craftspeople in later Turkey, who created huge statues of lions and sphinxes to guard the gateways into their cities. Walking past their watching eyes would have had a profound effect on visitors and emphasised the city’s physical and spiritual power.

I feel the Urfa Man had a similar role. In Broken Skies, he is the guardian of the five spirit houses of Duku  or Gobekli Tepe, and all those who wished to gain entry had to submit to his assessment. Archaeologists have found the remains of a stone pool on the site, and here I placed the guardian whose granting of passage I linked to the ritual cleansing and washing which many spiritual practices require.

Sanliurfa

So how did he end up in Yeni Mahalle? This site was contemporary to Gobekli Tepe, and I named it KharsagVillage in Broken Skies, the home of the Irin or Watchers. When Gobekli Tepe was eventually decommissioned and buried, its guardian was removed and placed here for safe keeping, where it remained until its chance discovery, over 10,000 years later.