During the 1961–1963 excavation seasons at Ali Kosh Tepe on the Deh Luran plain, southwest of Iran, in levels dating to the Bus Mordeh and Mohammad Ja’far periods (7500–5600 BC), objects identified as representations of male sexual organs were discovered which were the same as examples from early villages of Mesopotamia and Iran. Interpreted as signifying magic, reproduction, fertility rites and voluptuousness, it is suggested here that another explanation can be achieved through analysis of the cultural and ideological evolution of Neolithic people. The present paper proposes that the representation of the human body signifies sexual knowledge, feminine and masculine identity, and knowledge of plant domestication and animal reproduction.
