• Figurine is one of thousands previously discovered at the Catllhoyuk site
• The city, established around 7,000 BC, was home to 5,000 people 
• This artefact is special because it is fully intact and made of stone, not clay
• It could represent a fertility goddess or an older woman with high status

Archaeologists have uncovered a rare stone figurine of a woman at a dig in Turkey’s central province of Konya.

The woman, with her sagging breasts and belly, is thought to represent either a fertility ‘mother goddess’ or an older woman who has achieved high status.

An expert says the figurine, dating back 8,000 years, is one of only handful of statuettes of the era ever found in one piece.

By 2009, nearly 2,000 figurines had been unearthed at the site in Catalhoyuk, Turkey.

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