Abstract

This essay aims to examine a small assemblage of anthropomorphic clay objects recovered from the prehistoric settlement in the Smintheion (Sanctuary of Apollo Smintheus) at the town of Gülpınar in northwestern Anatolia. Smintheion is known as the Sanctuary of Apollo Smintheus dating to the Hellenistic and Roman periods. The Middle Chalcolithic settlement where the anthropomorphic clay objects introduced here were found is temporally placed into circa 5000 BC on the basis of radiocarbon dating. The small assemblage of anthropomorphic clay objects introduced here is constituted of seven protomae placed on top of the rims of cultic vessels and one anthropomorphic handle. These anthropomorphic objects are curious as they find no identical parallels among the examples of the Balkan cultures of this period.