Various "eye idols" from the settlement of Tell Brak, which flourished in Upper Mesopotamia from the 4th millennium BC
Mother and child?
Couples?
Birth giver? See the M symbol?
This depiction of women in, what is called "Natural birthing position" is found all over Eurasia...I talked about this in my posts "Birth giver", "Birth giver from Luristan" and "Mama"...
Only "living beings" have eyes. So here eyes are used to symbolise living things. These Tell Brak Eye-dolls 🙂 probably belong to the same group of idols as this one, where eyes are used to symbolise "Living" "Mother" Of Grain...
An early Halaf Culture figurine from the Arjoune site in Syria with a square (field) vulva and large eyes symbolising Mother of grain. I talked about it in my post "Arjoune venus"...
These Neolithic ones from Levant use the same visual symbolism to depict "Mother" Earth. What is the best way to symbolically depict "Mother Earth"? Well, place mountains, plants and animals between wide open eyes and vulva...Simple...
Decorated bone depicting slightly bewildered "Mother Earth", 6th - 5th millennium BC, Hagoshrim, Southern Levant.
I talked about this in my post "Eyes"...
So I don't think that all Tell Brak Eye-Dolls 🙂 depict humans. Compare the above Levantine one with this one from Tell Brak. Eyes, ibex, bird..."Living" "Mother" Earth? "Living" "Mother" Mountain?
Now remember the post "Mother of grain from Yarim Tepe"? About this figurine from the same area where Tell Brak is located, that (possibly) symbolically depicts "Mother Earth", "Mother of grain" between two rivers, Tigris and Euphrates?
Figurine of a nude woman form Yarim Tepe, Iraq. Ubaid period, 5000-4000 BCE. Iraq Museum.
This is the location of Tell Brak
How about these two Tell Brak figurines? Eyes, water...
Are these depictions of the "Living" "Mother" (or "Father" 🙂) Mountain?
Remember the post "Altyn Tepe mother of grain"?
How to depict "Mother Earth", more specifically "Mother of Grain" in Central Asia? Like a voluptuous woman (Mother) whose vulva (where new life come from) is horizontal (like Earth, Field) with horizontal lines (furrows) with plant (Grain) growing out of them, between two rivers, Amu Darya and Syr Darya, which make the land between them fertile?
Mountain were supper important in Mesopotamia too, as it is the snowmelt from the mountains to the North East of Mesopotamia, that is the major source of water in Tigris and Euphrates...
I talked about Abzu in several of my posts: "Maran", "Utu or Enki", "Goatfish", "When Utu steps up to heaven", "Shamash young and old", "The great imposter", "Problems of the Abzu"...
These mountains are also E-Kur, the mountains of the gods, the original heaven on earth...I talked about it in my article "Eagle dance"...
Oh, while we are talking about mountains, did you know that the guys from Tell Brak were obsessed with mountain Ibex goat. You know The Goat (God) of Rain...
Here is the Goat Dude from Tell Brak, dating to c. 3800-3600 BC.He is wearing "opanak" shoes and holding two snakes...
This is the same guy we find in Iran a bit later, around 3000BC...I talked about this figurine in my post "Strider". See the shoes? Cool right?
And the same guy we still find in Iran, a lot later, around 8th–7th century BC. I talked about this in artefact in my post "Dancing goat men from Luristan"...
On the Tell Brak seal, the Goat Man is holding (dominating) two snakes. Why? The climatic year in the region is divided into hot, dry summer (Apr/May-Oct/Nov), and cool, wet winter (Oct/Nov-Apr/May)...Al Hasakah is the capital of the province where Tell Brak is located...
The beginning of the mating season of Bezoar Ibex goats (Oct/Nov) coincides with the beginning of the rain (and snow) season in Mesopotamia and surrounding regions...Hence Ibex goat as the symbol of the cool, wet half of the year...
The beginning of the mating season of the most common Eurasian snakes, vipers (Apr/May), coincides with the beginning of the drought season in Mesopotamia and surrounding regions. Hence snake as the symbol of the hot, dry half of the year...
Hence Goat (God) of rain holding (dominating) Snake of drought...
BTW the Goat Man dominating snakes from Tell Brak is not the oldest one found so far. Here are another two seals depicting the same scene from Susa Iran, dated to 4000BC.
So that's it...What you think?
