By Ceyda Caglayan and Ali Kucukgocmen

ISTANBUL (Reuters) -A set of carved stone animals - a fox, a vulture and a wild boar - is shedding light on the way prehistoric people told stories after being unearthed by archaeologists in southeastern Turkey.

Dating back some 11,500 years, the trio of figurines found at the Karahantepe archaeological site is the first known example of objects being arranged in a specific way to convey a narrative, archaeologists say.

"Telling a story undoubtedly brings storytellers to mind, and carving them into stone reveals the existence of artists. But it also proves that communities who know those stories share a common memory," Necmi Karul, head of the excavations at Karahantepe, one of the world's oldest Neolithic........

© Al Monitor