6,000-year-old shaped child skull found at Yassıhöyük

6,000-year-old shaped child skull found in Yassıhöyük, where layers from the 2,600-year-old Achaemenid period were found.

Yassıhöyük is located in the Tanır neighborhood in the Afşin district of Kahramanmaraş.

Prehistoric period layers were identified during the excavations carried out by the team led by Ahi Evran University Assistant Professor Elif Baştürk.

Nine graves were unearthed in the Prehistoric period layers just below the Late Iron Age structures.

Elif Baştürk “”At a relatively high point of the mound, at a point we never expected, just below the Late Iron Age structures, we identified Prehistoric period layers. In fact, these large structures in the back were built in the form of a terrace in the Late Iron Age, and this structure scraped away all the layers below until 4000 BC. We identified 9 graves and extremely important scientific data were uncovered.”

Stating that one of the most important graves was a kind of deformation called conscious skull shaping, Elif Baştürk said, “We found that the head of an individual was wrapped with two cloths from the top and bottom while he was alive. This pottery was revealed in the grave. It is a skeleton belonging to a 10-12 year old child and we think it was a special individual. The grave structure was different from the other graves and it was richer with jewelry made of beads and bones and it was a single finding. It is probably an application made to recognize the place of a selected special individual in the society and to distinguish them from others.”

A necklace made of 820 beads was also discovered in another scattered grave, dated to 4000 BC and belonging to an infant.

Cover Photo: IHA