Comparative Analysis of the Early Human Figurines in the Fertile Crescent (Levant, Mesopotamia, Anatolia & Western Iran)

Looking at the dawn of human figurines in the Fertile Crescent which comprises Western Iran, Anatolia, Mesopotamia and Levant, this article aims to explore the reasons of their making and their meanings comparatively. This may help scholars to compare the artifacts following their construction timeline. The historical span of investigated museum artifacts in this case study is from the end of Epipaleolithic and the beginning of Proto Neolithic to the end of Neolithic. This article pursues the following four 1) investigating the theories and ideas of scholars about the function of Neolithic human figurines, 2) studying and separating spatially and temporally the Neolithic sites of Fertile Crescent in which such figurines have been made, 3) preparing the map of Neolithic human figurines of Fertile Crescent, 4) searching the reasons for making human figurines in the changes of the economic context of the area. The data of this study has been gathered via library and museum survey. The method of this study is comparative examination of the figurines’ structure and analytical investigation of their relation with each other. Regarding purpose and methodology, this research is respectively a foundational and historical research. The most important result of this study is the absolute dominance of feminine figurines over the masculine ones regarding number and variety. On the other hand, the western side of this region has started the making of such artifacts almost one millennium earlier than the eastern side and, exactly with the very temporal distance, it has commenced agriculture whereas the beginning of animal husbandry was in the eastern side. On the basis of archaeological evidence it can be said that the procedure of making human figurines is closely coordinated with the beginning of agriculture and inclining toward farming- based economy.