File:Urfa museum Totem sept 2019 4807.jpg

English: This object is described in an issue of Actual Archaeology of Summer 2012. It had been set into the north-eastern wall of a rectangular room and was not visible originally due to the wall completely covering it. It is 1.92 meters and features three main motives above each other. The uppermost depicts a predator, probably a bear or a large felid. The frontal part of the head had been obliterated in antiquity; the surface of the break is covered with a thin limestone coating. Below the head a short neck, arms and hands are visible. Their human-like shape is remarkable. Although it might be postulated it was a man-animal hybrid, but may also be meant as animal all-over. The arms (or legs) hold another head which again lost its face in antiquity. The motif of a wild beast holding a human head is well-known from several sculptures from Nevali Çori and Göbeklitepe. For this reason it is very probable that the lost face was that of a human, further strengthened by the fact that human arms are depicted below the head. The hands are placed opposite one another and on the stomach of the individual, a manner reminiscent of the T-shaped pillars. Below the arms and hands a second person is visible, whose face has been preserved. Also depicted is the upper part of the body, including arms and hands. Below the hands is an unidentified object. It seems likely that the person is depicted giving birth although it may also be presenting a phallus. On both sides of the pole large snakes are visible, with their heads just above the level of the small individual. Below the heads of the snakes structures are visible that may be interpreted as the legs of the uppermost human. Fragments of a similar totem pole-like object had been discovered 20 years earlier at Nevali Çori. From an illustration on WikiCommons I take: "Totem pole from Göbekli Tepe, Layer II, 8800-8000 BCE Sanliurfa Museum"