© Peter Watson 2017 hundreds of years but were rebuilt – on the same location – several times, with the walls being replastered, sometimes as often as every month, ‘which suggests that rights and resources were passed down to members of the same “house” through time.’ Social status early in the site seems to have focused on wild animals, associated feasts and male prowess, whereas in the upper (later) levels the success of the house was represented by its size, by the centrality of the hearth, and by representations of women. The architecture at Çatalhöyük consists of agglomerated individual houses of mud brick, whereas at the earlier Göbekli site the buildings are of stone, sometimes of monumental proportions. Also at Göbekli, 20-35 people could assemble in the buildings, ‘some unit beyond a small family or group is indicated.’ At Çatalhöyük the art and symbolism occur in the domestic houses, whereas at Göbekli the symbolism is focused in separate ‘temples.’ Between Göbekli and Çatalhöyük, nuclear families have arrived. The concept of Neolithic phallocentrism has lately been introduced to counter previous emphasis on females. Female sculptures have not been found at Göbekli. The main objects there are the so-called T-pillars, which have predominantly human form, with some animals, but may themselves also be phallic objects in their entirety. And many of the animals depicted are recognizably male, with penises. ‘The basic relationship expressed is between humans and male wild animals.’ Near Göbekli at Yen Mahalla there is a larger than life stone sculpture of an impressive, naked male with splayed fingers pressed outward from the genital area so that the viewer’s attention is drawn to the presence of the erect penis. In fact the splayed fingers cover the upright penis. Possibly red pigment or other discoloration marks the area. There are parallel figures found at other sites, dating to c. 8,000 BC. In another sculpture one penis is overlain by another and a hole is present, which some have interpreted as mimicking masturbation. Still other pillars have what appear to be snakes issuing from ‘the same position where one might expect male genitals.’ Semen? At Göbekli the only figure is on a bench which shows a woman with drooping breasts, her legs splayed and her vagina fully depicted, and an engraved hole with a penis inserted. At Mezraa Teleilat (8500-8200 BC) 94 phallic figurines have been found, ‘suggesting a focus on male sexuality as denoted by the penis.’