Wolfman: 11,500-year-old life-size statue of a man holding a penis

More than 11,500 years ago, people in what is now southern Türkiye began making the first life-sized human statues. Urfa Man, also known as the Balikurgöl statue, is the oldest example of this sculptural tradition, but many of its details remain a mystery.

According to the Archaeological Museum of Şanlıurfa, which owns the statue, Şanliurfa Man was accidentally discovered in 1993 during construction work in Şanlıurfa’s Barkulgurgöl district.

Wolferman is carved from limestone and stands 5 feet 11 inches (180 centimeters) tall. His face has deep eye sockets filled with black obsidian chunks, a partially broken nose and a missing mouth. The V-shaped line on the neck probably represents a necklace. Other than this accessory, Wolfman is completely naked. His hands are folded in front of him, gripping his erect penis. Instead of legs, Wolfman has a U-shaped lower body, presumably designed to fit into a recess.

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Archaeologist Bahattin Çelik said the statue probably came from a Neolithic settlement that archaeologists call Yeni Mahale, after the current district of Şanliurfa. Excavations at Yeni Mahale in 1997 revealed the remains of two circular buildings with floors made of terrazzo (a cement-like material filled with fragments of granite, quartz, glass, and other materials), as well as flint arrowheads, sickle blades, and obsidian fragments. Archaeologists used radiocarbon analysis of carbonated plant remains to date the site to around 8600 BC.

It is unknown whether Wolfman is related to other ancient sites with life-sized male statues.

The Göbekli Tepe ruins, located about 16 km (10 miles) northeast of Sanliurfa, are known for containing the world’s oldest temples. The temple consists of a monumental communal structure with distinctive T-shaped limestone columns and numerous animal carvings. Ceremonial human statues were discovered at this location in 2025.

Archaeologists also discovered statues of men with phalluses dating back 11,000 years at nearby sites, including Karakhan Tepe and Sayburci. One interpretation of Karakhan Tepe’s human figures is that the figures depicted are deceased and represent important ancestors associated with the building. As archaeoastronomer Alistair Coombs has argued, this may also be the case for Wolferman.

“The mouthless feature forms part of a stylistic design that symbolically alludes to the presence of the dead,” Coombs wrote in a 2016 study. According to Coombs, Wolfman’s lack of a mouth was clearly intentional, and may have been intended to portray a “realistic, human-shaped communicator from the supernatural world of the dead to the world of the living.”

For more amazing archaeological discoveries, check out our Astonishing Artifacts archive.