ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the aspects of the Mother Goddess as an archetype and explores that the Minoan's scientific observations are based on information from as far back as the Paleolithic and Neolithic Eras. Ian Hodder had attempted a 'contextual interpretation' of the symbolism at atalhyk. Christine Hastorf was an archaeobotanist, expert in recovering tiny plant remains from ancient sites. She had read James Mellaart's 1967 book about atalhyk and decided she must see the celebrated Neolithic site. Her first doctoral supervisor was Marija Gimbutas, the Lithuanian-born archaeologist whose contention that atalhyk was a matriarchical center for goddess worship had done so much to boost the site's fame. Gimbutas was a charismatic and imposing woman something like a goddess herself, Christine thought. She objected bitterly to Ian's dismissal of the goddess, as well as to some of his statements about the symbolic meanings of stone axes found in European Neolithic graves.
