<P> For a long time, feminist authors advocated that these peaceful, matriarchal agrarian societies were exterminated or subjugated by nomadic, patriarchal warrior tribes . An important contribution to this was that of archaeologist Marija Gimbutas . Her work in this field is now however largely rejected . Also with feminist archaeologists this vision is nowadays considered highly controversial . </P> <P> Since the sixties of the twentieth century, especially in popular culture, the alleged worship of the mother goddess and the social position that women in prehistoric societies supposedly assumed, were linked . This made the debate a political one . According to the goddess movement, the current male - dominated society should return to the egalitarian matriarchy of earlier times . That this form of society ever existed was supposedly supported by many figurines that were found . In academic circles, this prehistoric matriarchy is considered unlikely . Firstly, worshiping a mother goddess does not necessarily mean that women ruled society . In addition, the figurines can also portray ordinary women or goddesses, and it is unclear whether there really ever was a mother goddess . </P> <P> Between 1961 and 1965 James Mellaart led a series of excavations at Çatalhöyük, north of the Taurus Mountains in a fertile agricultural region of South - Anatolia . Striking were the many statues found here, which Mellaart suggested represented a Great goddess, who headed the pantheon of an essentially matriarchal culture . A seated female figure, flanked by what Mellaart describes as lionesses, was found in a grain - bin; she may have intended to protect the harvest and grain . He considered the sites as shrines, with especially the Seated Woman of Çatalhöyük capturing the imagination . There was also a large number of sexless figurines, which Mellaart regarded as typical for a society dominated by women: emphasis on sex in art is invariably connected with male impulse and desire . The idea that there could have been a matriarchy and a cult of the mother goddess was supported by archaeologist Marija Gimbutas . This gave rise to a modern cult of the Mother Goddess with annual pilgrimages being organized at Çatalhöyük . </P> <P> Since 1993, excavations were resumed, now headed by Ian Hodder with Lynn Meskell as head of the Stanford Figurines Project that examined the figurines of Çatalhöyük . This team came to different conclusions than Gimbutas and Mellaart . Only a few of the figurines were identified as female and these figurines were found not so much in sacred spaces, but seemed to have been discarded randomly, sometimes in garbage heaps . This rendered a cult of the mother goddess in this location as unlikely . </P>

Which one is considered the mother of creation