Faces of the Goddess Magazine SGC 21

and Tigris Rivers both up and down from
the site where Gobekli Tepe was erected, on
the border between both Mesopotamia and
Anatolia. Settlement populations during this
period grow from the normal 40 – 60 that we
see with hunter gatherer tribe sizes to around
200 - 500 people.
Burial practices also begin around this
period in certain locations, with the dead
being placed under the floor of the house,
with house dwellers “Living with the Dead”.
These are the first signs that the “Cult of the
Dead” is taking shape. This only begins with
permanent settled communities.
Pre-pottery Neolithic ‘B’ 8800-6500 BC
- Kinship Develops into the Cult of the
Ancestors
We now enter a period we call the Prepottery
Neolithic ‘B’. At this point the
villages increase in size and density from the
500 people we had during the Pre-pottery
Neolithic ‘A’ up to 1400 people by the Middle
Pre-pottery Neolithic ‘B’; and then up to 4000
people by the Late Pre-pottery Neolithic ‘B’. It
is with this population increase that leads to a
shift in societal structure with regards to the
concept of the family.
We must remember that the earlier hunter
Gatherer Tribes of 50 – 60 people relied on
keeping numbers to ensure survival of the
tribe. When mankind settles people are
now beginning to live and cohabit alongside
their extended families, sharing a home
with parents and grandparents, children and
grandchildren.
The concepts of kinship slowly changes at
this period to be more focused on extended
family. From this societal change we see the
‘cult of the ancestors’ emerging. We must
remember that very few burials existed with
hunter gatherer tribes, with the current
belief that most left bodies of those tribes to
nature to be eaten by the animals. Now we see
families go from burying family under their
home, to manipulating and plastering over
human skulls and bones.
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