Photo of a TV screen showing a movie still with archaeologist Klaus Schmidt sitting at a desk, in front of shelves with boxes and other stuff.

So many great finds in that exhibition, so many familiar pieces, many more seen (in person) for the first time. - But then the most emotional bit suddenly was hearing Klaus' voice again in that old documentary from the 1980's #NevaliCori excavations playing in the background ...

Photo of four miniature limestone T-pillars - one of them really small and missing the characteristic T-head.

And yes, those T-pillars come in all sizes ... the "larger" smaller ones come from #Göbeklitepe, the even smaller one from #NevaliCori.

Photo from the excavations at Göbekli Tepe, showing a view down into one of the monumental buildings with two large T-pillars in the centre and more in the surrounding circular wall.

Without any analogy the #Kilisik sculpture in its days was remarkable, but remained an oddity - and was largely forgotton.

Until first excavations at #NevaliCori and #GobekliTepe highlighted a completely novel form of #Neolithic sculpture: Pre-Pottery Neolithic T-Pillars.

Drawing of one of the Nevali Cori T-Pillars in front and side view.

Of course the #NevaliCori pillars were already known for some time even then, complete with hands and stola-like garments too.

But their abstract and stylised appearance (still impressively expressionistic to me, by the way) made it not that easy to clearly appreciate their human shape.

Plate with drawings of figurines from Nevali Cori, some wearing belts. Partly broken.

Photo of one of the lime and reed sculptures from Ain Ghazal.

However, #PrePotteryNeolithic hunters very likely were aware of these properties - they did experiment with related materials, as numerous figurines (e.g. from #NevaliCori), sculptures (e.g. from #AinGhazal), even a few small vessels made of gypsum plaster (e.g. from #Karahantepe) demonstrate.

More #aDNA (+ #isotope) analyses on human remains from Pre-Pottery #Neolithic #NevaliCori (Turkey) & #Baja (Jordan) "reveal multiscale #PPNB #mobility and #migration across SE Anatolia and the #SouthernLevant":

X. Wang et al., @PNASNews 120(4), 2023....

#PrePotteryNeolithic hunters likely were aware of these properties - they did experiment w/ related materials, as numerous figurines (e.g. from #NevaliCori), sculptures (e.g. from #AinGhazal), even a few small vessels made of gypsum plaster (e.g. from #Karahantepe) demonstrate.

Today’s #Neolithic day at #MuseumsUnlocked - so why not take another little (virtual) tour through the exhibition of Sanliurfa‘s archaeological museum @SMuzesi in #Turkey, having a closer look at the finds from the Pre-Pottery Neolithic sites of #GöbekliTepe and #NevaliCori ...

Without any analogy, upon its discovery in the 1960s the #Kilisik sculpture remained a strange oddity and was largely forgotton.

Until excavations at #NevaliCori and #GobekliTepe in the 80s & 90s highlighted a previously unknown form of sculpture: The early Neolithic T-Pillars.

With ongoing research at #NevaliCori, #GobekliTepe, and other related sites our understanding of the complexity of early #Neolithic art has significantly grown - helping to understand formerly rather odd exceptional finds ... like the #Kilisik sculpture.

Klaus on the other hand previously has been long involved in the excavations at #NevaliCori under H. Hauptmann (where T-pillars were discovered for the first time in the 1980s) - and thus prepared to recognise already the few architecture remains visible during his visit.

Without any analogy the #Kilisik sculpture remained an oddity and was largely forgotton. Until the excavations at #NevaliCori and #GobekliTepe highlighted a completely new form of sculpture: The early Neolithic T-Pillars.

Of course #NevaliCori‘s pillars were already known for some time, complete with hands and stola-like garments. But their abstracted and stylised appearance (still impressively expressionistic to me, by the way) made it a bit of a challenge to easily accept their human shape.

And there's that stone vessel fragment from #NevaliCori. Dancing w/ turtles, what the heck did these guys smoke?!