plaster
wall relief found in a shrine at the Neolithic site of Catal Huyuk and is dated
c.6500BC. Their similarity furthers proves the viability that prehistoric icons
maintained within the Archaic group kelim weaving tradition. A later rendition
of this design, known as the birth symbol, appears worldwide as a central design
motif
in many 18th and 19th century tribal cultures, which again underlines the importance
of this symbol and its longevity. 
probably
was this icons root source. This simple brace-like design was engraved at a
number of sites and shows a highly schematized female form in the
birth position - outstretched legs and abbreviated upper torso. Much later,
during the Neolithic this same design, though more highly articulated, reappears
on a two handled ritual cup Fig.32 c.6000BC from
the Anatolian site of Hacilar, and on a fragmented bowl Fig.33,
also from Hacilar. Several millennia later another bowl Fig.34,
from Mehrgarh,
a site in the Indus Valley c.2700BC, continues to demonstrate not only the continuity
of this symbol but also the cultural connection much earlier inconographic forms
continued to exert on succeeding generations of design iconography. |
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