# Temples of mysterious mouthless idols (Southern France & Northern Iran)



## Cyrus (Jan 28, 2005)

*Could there be any connection between these two far regions more than 5,000 years ago?*









Yeri, Khiav, Iran

TEHRAN, July 19 (MNA) -- Over 500 stone steles bearing images of faces of men and women with no mouths were recently discovered at Shahr Yeri in Ardebil Province, the director of the team of archaeologists working at the site announced on Tuesday. 
Alireza Hojabri Nuri added that the steles are arranged one after another in the form of a wall and date back to the Iron Age. 
Shahr Yeri is located near Pirazmeyan village, 32 kilometers off of Meshkin Shahr in Ardebil Province.
“The discovered steles enjoy unique characteristics, and the remains of earthenware and rare stones on the stone platforms beneath the steles indicate that the place used to be a temple where the inhabitants made offerings.
“The temple floor was made of stone, although no sign of its ceiling has been found yet. The steles vary in height from 35 centimeters to 230 centimeters. 
“It seems that the temple was very important in the time before the Urartians invaded the region, but then the temple lost its prominence. The Urartians were famous for attacking the beliefs of the inhabitants of every region they occupied in their invasions,” he explained.










And









A similar statue from Montpellier in southern France: http://lithos-perigord.org/spip.php?article797

http://www.jrank.org/history/pages/6535/Statue-menhirs.html

The identity of these mysterious personages is unclear. Of the three regional groups on the French mainland, only one, the Languedoc group, shows any association with settlement site or burial monuments. The others, especially the Rouergue group, are located far from contemporary settlement sites in relatively remote areas of upland. This has led to the suggestion that they represent deities. Breasts on a few examples indicate that some of the statue-menhirs are female; others are considered male from the presence of weapons, though it is quite possible that these were also used by women at this time. The universal absence of a mouth is a feature that may indicate the ritual or belief associated with the monuments.

The south French and Alpine statue-menhirs are dated to the late Neolithic and Chalcolithic Periods (ca. 3500–2500 B.C.). This is shown both by the objects depicted on the stones and by the occasional discovery of a statue-menhir in a sealed archaeological context. At Euzet, Gravas and Montferrand statue-menhirs have been found among the remains of prehistoric farming villages dated to this period.









Another statue from southern France: http://www.loupic.com/Exposition-Des-pierres-qui-nous.html

There is certainly a long distance but I think there could be a connection, don't you think so?


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## El_Greco (Apr 1, 2005)

Thats very interesting! A coincidence seems like a most unconvincing explanation and I think it is important to remember that the Ancient World was well connected and this could easily be result of trade. 

There is plenty of similar cases when objects from rather far away appear in the most unexpected places, but contexts seem to be different, indicating that usage/purpose of these objects has changed. For example, cooking wares of 'Crimean' origins found in Greece seemingly were used for funerary purposes.


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## Cyrus (Jan 28, 2005)

El_Greco said:


> Thats very interesting! A coincidence seems like a most unconvincing explanation and I think it is important to remember that the Ancient World was well connected and this could easily be result of trade.
> 
> There is plenty of similar cases when objects from rather far away appear in the most unexpected places, but contexts seem to be different, indicating that usage/purpose of these objects has changed. For example, cooking wares of 'Crimean' origins found in Greece seemingly were used for funerary purposes.


I think it shows more a cultural relation than a commercial relation, the link that I posted about the ones in France: http://www.jrank.org/history/pages/6535/Statue-menhirs.html also talks about similar statues from Sardinia in the soughteast of France.

You proabably know about the ziggurats: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ziggurat as you read "the Sialk ziggurat, in Kashan, Iran, is the oldest known ziggurat, dating to the early 3rd millennium BC." but it seems there is an older one in Sardinia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monte_d'Accoddi (4th millennium BC)


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## Cyrus (Jan 28, 2005)

It can be intersting to know more about *Galesh people* in Iran, this project seems to be useful: http://www.hrelp.org/grants/projects/index.php?projid=150

Documentation of the language and lifestyle of the Galesh, province of Golestan, Iran
Helen Jahani, Uppsala University

Project Summary:
The Galesh are herdsmen in the Alborz mountains. Their total number is unknown, but diminishing rapidly due to the modernisation of the Iranian society. This project attempts to find out if the language of the Eastern Galesh in Golestan is similar to any of the languages of the settled population in the area or if it should be regarded as a language of its own. In Galeshi there are many terms for husbandry and dairy production, which are not found among the agriculturalists. Since the lifestyle of the Galesh is severely threatened this project will document important aspects of it before it is too late.


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## Cyrus (Jan 28, 2005)

Some kms west of Khiav, near a village named *Hergelan*, there is a huge statue that local people call it *Gelan*, it is certainly related to ancient *Gela* people who lived in this region, the name of Gilan province of Iran is derived from this people, herodotus calls them *Geloni* and says they speak a language half Greek, half Scythian, Strabo calls them *Gelae* and says Greek burial places are to be seen there, and Pliny calls them *Gaeli* and says that they are the same people whom the Greeks call them Cadusian (Gaeli, quos Graeci Cadusios appellavere) Book 6, Chapter 18.

Statue of Gelan:










In the south of Sardinia, there is *Sicily*, another Island of Italy, and the ancient city of *Gela*: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gela is located in the south, of course I don't know there is any similar statue or not but there are some interesting conis.

Ancient Coinage of Sicily, Gela

http://www.wildwinds.com/coins/greece/sicily/gela/ : 

Forepart of man-headed bull (the river-god *Gelas*):










You can see the similarities:


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