THE STATUETTE FROM HOROZTEPE

Abstract

We havc already publishcd 1 the objects discovcred by chancc in 1954 at Horoztepe, near Erbaa in the vilâyet of Tokat, and havc pointcd out the importancc of this site. In October 1957, cxcavations at Horoztepe have provcd it to be a flat settlemcnt of the Chalcolithic and Copper Age pcriods. The most important result, however, was the discovery just outside the settlemcnt of a grave containing nume- rous bronzc objects. Contrary to Alacahoyuk, the burials arc cxtra- mural2. 1 Tahsin Ozguc—Mahmut Akok, Objects from Horoztepe (Belleten 82, p. a n ff). 2 The besi vicws about the graves at Alacahuyuk being extramural or not have been cxprcsscd b y j. Mellaart (Anatolian Studies VII, 1957, p. 65-66). The new Horoztepe grave supports these vicws. The grave measurcd 8. 5 M. by. 3 M. and the funerary gifts vvere scattered inside and formed a large heap in front of the knccs and legs of the dead (P1 17 a). In this group, which ineluded bronzc tables, vessels, the supports of a baldaquin, asun-disk and the statuc of a bull, one of the most remarkable objects was the statuc of a mother nursing a child at her brcast (P1 17 b). It had been placcd on the carth at the bottom of the pile and was lying on its side ncxt to the pedestal of the bull’s statuc.