A human-like bone figurine around 8,000 years old has been found in Catalhoyuk, a proto-city settlement that existed from roughly 7500 BCE to 5700 BCE in what is now south central Turkey. A rare example of a well-preserved Neolithic settlement, it shows evidence of the transition from life in villages to an urban agglomeration which preceded cities as we know them. Its smost famous artefacts to date have been female figures made of clay.
     Just 6 centimetres high, the newly discovered figurine is made from a bone from a donkey's hoof, with cuts that look like eyes. The first bone figurine found at the site, it had been placed in a clay container in a room where food was stored. Though ancient bone figures with human features have been found in the region before, most are much later - around 4300 to 3300 BCE. The clay pot in which this one was found was made around 6500 to 6300 BCE.

Edited from Science in Poland (30 January 2020), The First News (4 February 2020)