Olive and Olive Oil Myths I - Prehistoric Anthropological Preface
22-06-2023
11:40
Göbeklitepe, Neolithic Archaeological Excavation Site, Örencik Village, Haliliye District, Şanlıurfa, Southeastern Anatolia Region.
Dating to around 9600-9500 BC, Göbeklitepe is the oldest known temple in the world so far.
For modern people, myths are imaginary plots or fictional stories invented by their ancestors. Anthropologists, ethnologists, and historians of religion suggest that we consider myths as sacred traditions of our ancestors, prehistoric revelations, or belief models of ancient times that emerged in human consciousness. Myths and legends lack logic, almost all of them are irrational, but they contain power and holiness. With this; Legendary folk tales, whether fabricated or forgotten, are cultural elements unique to humans, functional allegorical creations born from the collective consciousness and imagination of humanity.
The stories reflect the spirit of their times, they are transferred from generation to generation, and they transform and change over the centuries. Heroes can take on a different character in neighboring geographies or in different eras in the same geography. Peoples do not immediately give up their beliefs that they learned from their ancestors, but they reveal new beliefs and holy ones in the course of history. The leading characters are often similar to each other, but come up with a new fiction that is a little different from the old one.
For the first civilizations, the function of myths was to express the beliefs of peoples and to regulate social life, as well as to defend moral principles and impose them on society. In the historical process, when humanity began to replace reason and logic with imagination and the sacred, the skepticism that arose started radical changes in their beliefs and holy ones.
Each civilization has constructed its own religion and cultural model. There is a consensus that temples emerged as soon as the village appeared at the beginning of the civilization, which we laid the foundations of by starting a settled life and farming. With this; This view, which has been generally accepted for years, has come into question with the archaeological findings of Göbeklitepe, which is called the zero point of history. The prehistoric people who built the temple unearthed in Göbelitepe; There is a consensus that they are non-resident, hunter-gatherer migratory peoples. Although not settled, hunter-gatherers were found to be creative people who could move rocks weighing around five tons and be organized enough to build a temple, on top of which they could make artistic figures with symbolic meanings. Because of this; It is thought that the nomads who did not settle down had as much faith and technological intelligence as those who did, and the findings strengthened the argument that the temples may have emerged before agriculture. Göbeklitepe excavation research continues, new findings to be reached in time will reveal the reality on this discussion.
We can say that the olive tree is the Mediterranean counterpart of the "Tree of Life" symbolism, which is one of the oldest common cultural imaginations of humanity. Symbols describe a reality other than itself. Man uses signs or objects to describe his thoughts, which he believes are inexplicable and incomprehensible with his senses. Symbols associated with religious beliefs are perceived and felt designs attached to a metaphysical element. Symbols are concrete and simple representations of the belief we feel in our consciousness. The tree, as a symbol, is the center of the world and the support of the universe in most of the ancient narratives. In many mythological stories it is the symbol of the cosmos, the source of immortality and fertility, the expression of life and rebirth. On the other hand; The olive tree, as a symbol of coexistence, has been a symbol of peace, resilience and order.
Archaic society man sought his origins in mythical events. For the first civilizations, the function of myths was to express the beliefs of peoples and to regulate social life, as well as to defend moral principles and impose them on society. As humanity began to replace reason and logic with imagination and the sacred, the resulting skepticism caused radical changes in our beliefs and sacredness. The belief in the identification of human existence with vegetative life persisted for thousands of years, nurtured literature, philosophy and thoughts, and is still valid even for modern humans. The modern man of today's civilization no longer seeks his origins in myths, but in history and positive sciences.
The olive tree has been a useful, valuable and respected tree for thousands of years, especially for the coastal and island peoples settled in the Mediterranean basin. Archaic beliefs related to the symbolic meanings of the tree have differentiated in parallel with the civilization we have established, and the olive, which used to be the symbol of life and immortality, continued its existence in human consciousness as a symbol of abundance, wealth and spaciousness until recently. It continues to exist as a symbol of peace in contemporary human consciousness.
The hunter-gatherer people of prehistoric times, who evolved as sentient beings, were aware of the seasonal cycles, the fruiting/drying and revival of plants and trees, and the different recurring appearances of the moon in the sky without change. The harvesting periods of plants and fruits are repetitive natural processes, so the harvesting and processing and storage of herbs and fruits is traditionally done at certain times of the year. On the other hand, the anxieties and fears that arise due to deviations in natural cycles (such as drought, famine, natural disasters) are another source of their beliefs. The imaginations created by these natural cyclical processes began to affect their beliefs over time. The mutual interaction he established with the outside world through his perceptions, the absolute and unchangeable realities he was aware of as a conscious being, over time formed the basis of his beliefs, the sacred and the religions he created. Our imaginations and our beliefs in nature were often associated with these periods at first; our festivities, rituals, and worship have always been in some way connected with nature and natural cycles. With this; According to Mircea Eliade, myths were by no means a fantastic reflection of a natural event in human imagination, "nature" in the field of belief is never "natural", nature; In myths it is a religious or magical object of our consciousness.
Human communities that decided to settle down took an unnatural action, which had never been done before in history, with this choice. He was now aware that he had a power to act on nature. His ability to tame animals and plants increased his self-confidence. Realizing that they can shape nature under their own control, the way humanity perceives the world has also changed. Now he began to believe that he was the sovereign. This mental transformation was also reflected in their beliefs. It is thought that the largest T-shaped columns positioned in the center of the temple in Göbeklitepe symbolize the gods in human form, while the animal figures drawn on the smaller columns at the outer edge of the temple symbolize the animals they had deified in the past. The archaeological findings here suggest that the transformation in human consciousness did not happen all of a sudden, and that mental differentiation began in peoples who lived as nomads before they settled down.
The choice to be settled now makes them more dependent on nature. In addition, settled life, human communities face new factors such as famine and hunger caused by seasonal changes that take place for longer periods, epidemics that they have never encountered before from domestic animals, repetitive natural disasters that can cause great destruction (such as earthquakes, floods). brings it to the surface.
The effort to reach the agricultural product requires a series of complex activities, division of labor and equipment that must be implemented in succession. In this endeavor, the responsibility fell primarily on women. Historically, in ancient times, when we lived as hunter-gatherer groups, the activity of collecting plants is thought to be primarily the activity of women, as it requires a certain knowledge, observation and experience. In many of the origin myths of prehistoric hunter-gatherers, edible tuberous plants and edible tree fruits arose from a god who was killed, dismembered, and buried. Feeding on the product of the god's body, which was killed and dismembered, is identified with feeding on the essence of divinity. Fruits are sacred because they emerge from the body of a god. The seed planted in the ground yields as a result of mythological events involving the death and resurrection of the gods. This thought did not change much in the religions of the first primitive settled agricultural society, according to their beliefs; agricultural products emerge as a result of the marriage/sexual union of the masculine gods in the sky and the feminine gods on earth.
Woman is subject to the secrets of creation as a being that gives birth in human consciousness. The person observing the nature identifies the relationship between the soil and the seed with the woman's body, as an object that gives birth to a woman, it is also a symbol of fertility, just like the soil. Researchers think that a small 7,000-year-old statue found at an archaeological site in the Adige valley in northern Italy is representative of the consciousness of that time: a broad-shouldered female figure whose hips are covered with blood from ocher, and her genitals are left open for a plant to emerge.
The female object, which reveals its power with productivity, protection and equality, evolves into a sacred position in human consciousness over time. This perception and imagination manifests itself as the cult of the “Mother Goddess”. For example, women's monthly menstruation and the crescent moon, which is the growth phase of the moon, are associated with fertility, this belief appears as the "Moon Goddess" cult. Therefore, in ancient beliefs and stories about olives, we will almost always come across a female figure.
In the New Stone Age (8000 - 5500 BC), it was supported by other archaeological findings that the belief that influenced the Aegean and Mediterranean was a matriarchal belief system. Archaeological findings from Çatalhöyük date back to the Mother Goddess belief, BC. It showed that it dates back to 7000-6500 BC, a seed grain was found in the belly of a fat woman figure found in Çatalhöyük. Although it differed according to civilizations and historical periods, the social structure created by the settled order and agriculture often featured women. The lineage is determined by the woman, however; Throughout history, we can say that the female object, as an indicator of a systematic dominance, is positioned just behind or equally right next to the male, who is the symbol of ancestral power. In addition; It is debatable to think that the figures found in archaeological research are only the symbol of the “Mother Goddess” or to accept this idea as it is, the findings may have different meanings in different contexts – for example; The possibility that these figures may be a toy used by children should not be ignored. For what purpose the female figurines could have been made is a long-standing debate. It has been suggested that the purpose of making Paleolithic Age female figurines may be small figurines that the makers liken to themselves.
Compiled by: Uğur Saraçoğlu (ugisaracoglu@yahoo.com)
Resources:
1. Introduction to the History of Religions, Mircea Eliade, 1979, Translated by Lale Arslan, Kabalcı Publishing House, 2000.
2. Characteristics of Myths, Mircae Eliade, 1963, Translated by Sema Rifat, Alfa Publishing, 2016.
3. History of Religious Beliefs and Thoughts, From the Stone Age to Eleusis Mysteries, Mircae Eliade, 1975, Translated by Ali Berktay, Kabalcı Publishing House, 2000.
4. History of Evil, Book 1/Perceptions of Evil from Antiquity to Primitive Christianity; Jeffrey Burton Russell, 1977, Translated by Nuri Plümer, Kabalcı Publishing House, 1999.
5. Descriptions of Women and the Social Status of Women in Ancient Greece; Laleş Uslu, Ph.D. Thesis, Department of Archeology, Assoc. Dr. Nurettin Koçhan, 2018.
6. The Most Beautiful History of Man; Dominique Simonnet, Andre Langonay, Jean Clottes, Jean Guilaine, Translated by Emine Çaykara, September 2000.
8. Paleolithic Female Figurines; Arman Tekin, Gorgon; Culture - History - Research Journal, February 19, Issue 6.