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VI/1/2015
INTERDISCIPLINARIA ARCHAEOLOGICA
NATURAL SCIENCES IN ARCHAEOLOGY
homepage: http://www.iansa.eu
De-constructing Terracotta Female Figurines: a Chalcolithic Case-study
Andrea Pizzeghello
a
, Massimo Vidale
a*
, Giuseppe Salemi
a
, Vincenzo Tinè
b
, Sergio Di Pilato
c
a
Department of Cultural Heritage: Archaeology, History of Art, Music and Cinema, University of Padua, Italy
b
Archaeological Superintendency of the Veneto Region, Italy
c
Pantamedica, Fidene, Italy
1. Introduction
The aim of this paper is to confrm that non-destructive,
advanced CT scanning techniques can be applied to
prehistoric terracotta fgurines, revealing important details
of their inner structure resulting from clay manipulation
and forming. Furthermore, we show that such an approach,
supported by a more traditional micro-stratigraphical
interpretation and by archaeological know-how, may grant
a complete three-dimensional rendering of their growing
structure. From this we can retrace, step by step (or lump
by lump), the sequence of fne, perhaps almost unconscious
decisions and corrections (Van der Leew 1993) put in play
while generating the terracotta images.
Why are terracotta female statuettes and their building
processes important? Figural art was a crucial component of
prehistoric social structures, and the female life cycle was at
the core of the survival and reproduction of the household.
One can hardly doubt of the artifacts’ prominent symbolic
values for representing female bodies; and their fashioning
sequences may show – by dynamic, three-dimensional maps
– some important cognitive implications. Admittedly, to
identify the agency of the artists, and to decide on such a line
of evidence whether the fgurines referred to supernatural,
or rather to gender, sexuality and reproduction issues will
probably remain beyond our power of defnition. However,
the old and current studies reviewed in the following section
support the idea that by re-enacting the potter’s creative
process and by evaluating at the same time the general
archaeological context, we can better understand the active
roles played by female fgurines in past social systems.
2. A short review of previous research
For a long time, clay and terracotta Neolithic/Chalcolithic
female statuettes have been generally and generically
interpreted as images of goddesses, worshippers or supplicant
women (Mellaart 1967; 1975). Since the famous discoveries
Volume VI ● Issue 1/2015 ● Pages 7–17
*Corresponding author. E-mail: mass.vidale@gmail.com
ARTICLE INFO
Article history:
Recieved: 8
th
August 2014
Accepted: 29
th
July 2015
Keywords:
prehistoric female fgurines
Hacilar I
CT scanning
Chalcolithic modelling techniques
ABSTRACT
We report the results of detailed imaging studies of the inner structure of a terracotta female fgurine
dated to the 6
th
millennium BC, most probably from the Lakes region of Turkey, now kept at the Nati-
onal Museum of Oriental Art “Giuseppe Tucci”, Rome. The fgurine was investigated with advanced
CT scanning, recording 966 transversal sections. Each section was stratigraphically interpreted and
digitized, reconstructing in three dimensions the form and mode of application of each lump or slab
under the potter’s fngers. A review of the available information on the techniques of construction of
prehistoric terracotta fgurines in Eurasia reveals at least two diverging technical templates, here named
core
and
dual
forming processes. The structure of the investigated fgurine and its operational sequence
reveals a version of the dual technical template, confrming the presence and infuence, at a cognitive
level, of organic analogies and a possible map of the female body in the modelling process.
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at Hacilar (Mellaart 1970, 170), they have also been linked
to the popular concept of an archaic Mother Goddess and
to conjectural fertility cults by pristine matriarchal societies
(Gimbutas 1991,
contra
Ucko 1968; 1996; Meskell 1995;
1998; Tringham, Conkey 1998; Clark 2007b).
In contrast with generalistic and ideological
interpretations, inspired by the paradigm of a presumed (and
never ascertained) similarity of these fgurines across no less
than three or four millennia, new critical approaches have
focused on their active roles in the dialectic construction
of personhood and social and gender identities through
stereotypical body characterizations of the human body.
For example, in Chalcolithic Cyprus a well-preserved
ritual hoard suggested that fgurines “...were clutched in
the hand, probably during childbirth, while the ceramic
fgurines served a didactic purpose, perhaps as part of
puberty rites” (Bolger 1996, 368). The idea is interesting,
but impossible to verify. Voigt (2007, 165) states that Hacilar
female images might refect the life cycle of women and
their changing social roles through time, from young girls
to mature individuals. A similar template was recognized
in the Neolithic statuettes’ corpus of Crete and the Aegean
(Mina 2008, 123; see also fnal comments in Nanoglou 2010,
222), while at Chatalhöyük, where “...many of the human
fgurines are suggestive of aging bodies rather than young
and reproductive types” (Nakamura, Meskell 2009, 219),
bodily excess and obesity might hint to resource abundance,
and metaphorically to mature age, accumulated experience
and knowledge, personal success and social respect. In short,
female fgurines are now reconsidered for studying “women”
and their active roles in prehistoric societies (Knapp, Meskell
1997; Lesure 2010), rather than “the woman,” as a more
qualifed focus of research.
Besides reference to the life cycle of females, some
prehistoric fgurines were interpreted at the same time as
feminine as well as phallomorphs (Lamberg-Karlovsky,
Meadow 1970; Bar-Yosef 1980; Özdogan 2003; Clark
2007a, 19; Nakamura, Meskell 2009, 212, 222–223). These
speculations emphasize one of the many aspects of gender
ambiguity that can be empirically perceived in this intriguing
class of artefacts (Kuijt, Chesson 2005; see also Nanoglou
2010).
Among others, Lesure (2002, 587) has called for a
“...greater level of sophistication to fgurine analysis by
emphasizing diversity among the images and attempting to
elucidate the meanings and uses of fgurines in particular
times and places.” Meaning, however, will remain elusive,
as it “...continually arises from acts of engagement and
articulation. This relationality is precisely what constitutes the
fgurine as a
process
rather than simply a thing...The fgurine
does not only sustain, but demands multiple viewpoints...it
anchors a dynamic network of encounters with and between
individuals and coproduces various and often concomitant
perceptions, experiences, and knowledges” (Nakamura,
Meskell 2009, 210; see also for discussion Clark 2007a, 15).
If Nakamura’s and Meskell’s fgurines demand multiple
viewpoints, we need to investigate
outside
as well as
inside
fgurines. Spatial and relational contexts
outside the fgurines
have appeared crucial since Ucko (1968). Many authors, in
fact, have stressed the need of moving, beyond iconography
and the traditional ways of evaluating symbols, to a
holistic hypothesis of fgurines in their dynamic, relational
framework with the rest of the involved archaeological
record. This approach focuses on terracotta female fgurines
as “social ceramics” (Starnini 2014). While in this light the
semeiotics of archaeological meaning becomes a crucial
issue, particularly when dealing with old excavations
(Louhivouri 2010), a growing concern for contextual
evaluation has introduced new spheres of information.
These include not only the material terms of site formation
processes (e.g. Abay 2003; Perlés 2004, 255–272; Clark
2009, 253–254), but also correlations with pervasive cultural
templates (Langin-Hooper 2014). Among these studies,
particularly inspiring are those exploring the links of female
fgurines with Neolithic mortuary practices (Kujit, Chesson
2005, 175–176; Nakamura, Meskell 2009).
In this paper, we rather propose an in-depth,
within the
fgurine
investigation, following Nakamura and Meskell’s
paradigm of fgurines as processes. The artefact itself is
viewed in a composite and stratifed archaeological context,
whose interpretation proceeds (at least in part) independently
from the rest of the site.
3. Female fgurines as processes: use and construction
Investigating
within the fgurine
means to observe, in greater
detail and from new points of view, its materiality. In some
rare cases, material modifcations of the ceramic bodies
provide a direct key to the fgurines’ active roles and to social
interaction in ancient societies. In northern Baluchistan, for
example, female fgurines dating from the 7
th
millennium
BC, associated with snakes (painted or modelled), may have
had magic functions, as some, while in a plastic state, were
pierced with multiple holes (Jarrige 2007–2008). At Malta,
a Neolithic clay fgure of a pregnant woman contained
multiple insertions of shell and bone fakes in particular
anatomical parts, and another statuette of a female in the
same conditions was found with possible images of fetuses in
various stages of development. Both images are interpreted
as items of sorcery (Rich 2008). Evident wear patterns on
the surface seems to indicate intensive handling (Nishiaki
2007, 121; Bolger 1996, 368). Other forms of manipulation
are embedded in the structure of composite fgurines. In
Neolithic Chatalhöyük, headless fgurines with dowel holes
for removable heads, including skeletal ones, and a higher
number of heads made for attachment were linked to the
peculiar post-burial treatment of human remains and to the
ritual manipulation of skulls in Neolithic times (Meskell
2008).
This shows how another important processual aspect of
fgurines, like of many other ceramic artefacts, lies at the root
of their “life” cycle.
i.e.
, manufacturing technology. There
is little doubt that the cultural roles of anthropomorphic
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fgurines, like the rest of material culture, should be
described in terms of behavioural chains, activities, material
interactions, technical choices, performance and adaptation
(Lemonnier 1993; Miller 1998; Skibo, Schiffer 2008).
In fact “…stages of manufacture (
chaîne opératoire
) are
another locus for symbolic discourse and negotiation of
gender identities... Symbolic meaning generated by fgurines
may also have been expressed through prohibition on the
involvement of certain gender and age categories in their
production, the pyrotechnical aspects of manufacture and
symbolic associations with fre, ‘hot’ and ‘cold’ activities
and things, and through the parallel treatment of the clay and
physical body as in the application of decoration.” (Mina
2008, 116–117; see also Dobres 2009, 2000; Dobres, Robb
2000). Nonetheless, such important research perspectives
originally belong to the sphere of systemic contexts
and only indirectly to the heuristic and harder realm of
paleotechnological indicators.
So far, in fact, with few exceptions, the manufacturing
technology of Neolithic and Chalcolithic clay female fgurines
has received marginal attention. For example, in Neolithic
Greece their manufacturing was described as follows: “...the
different parts of the body were made separately, often around
a clay or stone pellet, and pegged or stuck together without
much care. Consequently, they frequently broke apart. If they
were initially conceived as short-lived artefacts, the high
frequency of ‘split-legs’, for instance, need not be invested
with special social signifcance” (Perlés 2004, 263).
While the described conditions might ft this and other
particular cases, a preliminary review of the published
information hints at a more complex attention to detail.
Here, we discuss two different technical approaches so far
recognized in the literature on the prehistoric clay female
fgurines of Eurasia. These two approaches are respectively
labeled
core
and
dual
forming techniques.
4. Constructing fgurines:
core forming
We recognize two diverging technical and cognitive
approaches in the construction of clay and terracotta
prehistoric fgurines, respectively named
core
forming and
dual
forming techniques. In core forming, the sequence
started from an inner core on which other plastic elements
(legs, arms, head) were gradually added. In this process the
basic cognitive model is radial symmetry, the limbs being
applied as radial appendages to the solid core. The Neolithic
Greek fgurines mentioned by Perlés were evidently made
in this way.
Similarly, in a Neolithic female fgurine from Tell Seker
al-Aheimar, Northeast Syria, about 7000 cal. BC, “...The
broken surface shows that the body was constructed with
different lumps of clay, using a fask-shaped lump as the
core. A few layers of mud plaster are also visible” (Nishiaki
2007, 121). This description hints at a concentric slab-
construction process starting from a simply formed single
core. In another Neolithic fragmentary clay fgurine found
in Poland, the stretched legs are described as made of a
single lump (Debiec, Dzbynski 2006). A variant of this core-
concentric building technique was recently identifed in a 6
th
millennium fragmentary female image of the early Neolithic
Körös culture, Hungary (Kreiter
et al.
2014). Some have
argued that core forming techniques in Neolithic and early
Chalcolithic Eurasia might have had important symbolic
implications in terms of creation, as the innermost lump
served as a corpus to which the feshy skeletal parts were
gradually added (Hourmouziadis 1973, 40; Nanoglou 2008,
318; Clark 2009, 240). They may have even been shaped
as a hidden spiral-like organ – perhaps a womb, recently
interpreted as a symbol of a possible “...transubstantiation of
divinities” (Pavel
et al.
2013, 332).
In some cases, the construction technique of the fgurines,
in particular those starting from a core, was related to post-
fruition dynamics and to a possible deliberate fragmentation.
In some Vinča Culture sites in Serbia, such as Opovo and
Selevac (Tringham, Conkey 1998), but recently also in Italy
in the early Neolithic site of Favella (Tiné 2009), broken
statuettes were found in pit-structures fll along with fred
daub fragments, the only evidence of vanished dwelling
structures. Both at Opovo and Favella each pit contained
a fragment of a statuette, with a systematic redundancy
ascribed to specifc ritual performances linked to house de-
functionalization and burning (Tringham 2005). It has been
argued that fragmentation was determined to accompany the
fate of housing structures, with a deliberate process, well-
documented in the Balkans and as early as in the Korös
culture in Hungary, where statuettes were built in parts to be
intentionally dismembered (Makkay 1998). In other settings
this model was related to a specifc process of fragmentation
and burial of worship objects (Chapman, Gaydarska 2007).
Thus, by applying separate parts to the core, people would
have forecasted an easier (and anatomically correct)
fragmentation and subsequent intra-site dispersal.
5.
Dual forming
techniques
For dual forming, in contrast, the torso and more generally
the body is made by joining two elongated slabs or lumps
along a central axis of symmetry, while the rest is applied in
bi-lateral or concentric patterns. O. Muscarella (1971: Fig. 5)
observed exactly this process on a fractured Hacilar female
fgurine that turned out authentic when tested with thermo-
luminescence. Its identifcation, however, has a longer and
geographically widespread history.
In 1959, Bass had described this technique in some
Neolithic fragmentary fgurines found at Thespiai, Greece,
based upon a careful scrutiny of the fracture surfaces. The
best preserved specimen was “...formed of long, oval pellets
of clay, pressed together and covered with the thick coating
of clay which forms the surface. Two pellets, side by side,
made up the chest, and four were used in the stomach. Legs,
buttocks, arm and head were made of separate cores and
attached before the fnal coating. The separate lumps of clay
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did not coalesce, accounting for the break down the middle
of the torso, which leaves half the pellets and gives a clear
cross section of the interior anatomy.” (Bass 1959, 344, Pl.
74, 1).
The fractures of an early Neolithic terracotta fgurine from
Austria (5650–5100 BC,
14
C cal.) similarly revealed that the
upper torso was made of two vertically joined slabs, perhaps
applied upon a larger cylindrical lower body (Sauter
et al.
2002, Figures 1 and 2). A scout view of a CT scanning of a
late Neolithic female fgurine from Shaar Hagolan (Israel)
reveals a torso made precisely in the same way (Applbaum,
Applbaum 2005, 240), as do the surface cracks on the late
Neolithic clay fgurines of Ulucak Höyük (ca. 6000–5700
cal. BC) (Abay 2003, Figure 7, bottom left). The same
construction technique was recently identifed beyond any
possible doubt through the CAT scan of a female fgurine of
the Chalcolithic Cucuteni culture of Romania (Pavel
et al.
2013).
The construction of the Bronze age female fgurines of
the Indus civilization was judged to be “... very different
from that of some ancient Near Eastern fgurines in which
a head, arms, and legs were attached to a violin-shaped
torso or ‘core’... the faces were pinched out from the two
joined vertical rolls of clay rather than being attached and
the legs are continuations of two rolls of clay rather than
separate pieces applied to a ‘core’...” (Clark 2009, 246). The
same author proposed that such a forming technique might
symbolically represent creation by the integration of two
opposite halves (see also Dales 1991). On the other hand, the
same dual construction technique has been independently
observed in radiography in an animal fgurine from the 3
rd
millennium site of Shahr-i Sokhta at the Iranian portion of
the Sistan basin (Bollati
et al.
2009).
Thus, in Eurasian protohistory dual techniques may
be as old as core-forming ones, and there are no simple
geographic boundaries describing their relative spread.
Cultural and symbolic implications of the different cognitive
approaches are an open line of inquiry. It is worth noting
that dual building techniques might be linked to modes
of fragmentation enhancing “non-potential breakages”
(especially at the middle of the trunk) observed in some
Balkan Neolithic contexts (Chapman 2000).
Figure 1
. The terracotta fgurine National Museum of Oriental Art
(MNAO), Rome (inv. 21392/31729), presumably from the Burdur Lakes
region, Turkey, in right lateral view. Photo Edoardo Loliva (ISCR, Rome).
Figure 2
. Detail (front view) of the head of the terracotta fgurine MNAO
21392/31729, showing the eyes made with inserted obsidian bladelets
(ventral side). Photo Edoardo Loliva (ISCR, Rome).
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6. The object and methodology of the study
We decided to investigate the manufacturing process of a
Chalcolithic terracotta fgurine through the CT scanning of its
inner structure (Hughes 2011) following an
ad hoc
pipeline.
We searched for evidence of one or the other technical
process and for any other possible inner structure that might
have revealed specifc templates. The solid fgurine we
analyzed (16 x 7 x 6,5 cm) is a recent acquisition (2007)
of the National Museum of Oriental Art, Rome (Figures 1
and 2, inv. 21392/31729). Although its precise origin is
unknown, an almost identical fgurine, kept at the Burdur
Muzesi, Turkey (Inv. Nr. E4999, Badishen Landesmuseum
Karlsruhe 2007: 363, Figure 383), places our specimen in
the Lakes region and dates it around 5500–5250 BC. The
same approximate date is confrmed by two vessels that
accompanied the fgurine to the Rome Museum (Bollati
et al.
2012) and by a third fgurine of the same type, now
at Florence (Guidotti
et al.
2007, 210). From a formal
viewpoint, the fgurine matches Mellaart’s type B3 (1970: Pl.
CLXXB, Figure 245, 1 and 3), or “kneeling female fgure.”
See critical remarks and analytical data on Hacilar female
images in Muscarella (1971).
The fgurine leans back at an angle of 70°. The bent legs
appear as two egg-shaped, thick elements and the buttocks
are well-defned. At the sides of the torso, the arms are
represented by two oblique, short cylindrical holes. A central
projection stands for the hands. The breasts are small, and the
neck and head are not distinguished. When observed from
the side, the round bent legs and thinner, elongated body give
to the fgurine an apparent phallic characterization, and thus
might fall under the categories of intriguing gender ambiguity
previously remarked by several authors, quoted above. We
specifcally wondered whether the inner structure of the
image might have supported or weakened the hypothetical
analogy with a phallus. On the face (Figure 2), two obsidian
bladelets were inserted in the fnal stages of polishing, the
fat ventral side in sight.
The outer surface is smooth, highly polished and covered
with broad, angular motifs traced with a thick red pigment,
apparently rich in iron oxides. The fgurine is painted with a
complex symmetrical motif – concentric angles converging
on the chest, while legs are flled equally symmetrically with
solid patterns in which S-shaped, angular designs appear in
the negative. A solid lozenge appears at the height of the
joint hands. In short, the painted fguration follows a bi-
lateral symmetry, but at the same time the lower and upper
parts of the body are painted following opposite templates.
On the back are visible rows of angular designs and an empty
losange is at the base of the spine, ideally opposed to the
solid lozenge on the hands in front: again, painted decoration
precisely follows a central axis of symmetry and a complex
play of graphic oppositions. No evidence of surface wear or
substantial manipulation was detected.
The CT scanning was made by one of the authors (SDP)
at the Hospital Regina Margherita, Rome, with a General
Electric Bright speeds 16 Turbo Solaris, an advanced
facility that created for each section 16 additional micro-
layers. Later, DICOM data were obtained as a unique fle
and treated with software AVIZO7, reading the 966 visible
layers, corresponding to 531 sections on the XY axis, 212 for
the XZ axis, and 223 for the YZ one.
Figure 3 shows the outer volume of the image as
reconstructed. The inner structure was interpreted and
reconstructed by emphasizing, section after section, the phase
discontinuities among the inner lumps and slabs. When such
discontinuities or interfaces became less distinct, we applied
a “glow.col” enhancing flter, and through a “segmentation
editor” we operated on the three-dimensional volumes of
each inner lump or slab (hereafter Technical Episode or
Figure 3
. Volumetric rendering of the terracotta fgurine by means of CT
scanning.
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Figures 4
. Form and location of the 19 individual TEs discovered by means of the CT scanning and following micro-stratigraphic interpretation.
a)
i)h)g)
f)
c)
e)d)
b)
TE). In order to measure each inner TE, we made a cage
of six orthogonal planes (“ortho slices”) defning a virtual
tetrahedron, where couples of parallel slices are placed at the
extremities of the TEs.
These eventually were represented as individual
three-dimensional elements by different colors for
better visualization (Figure 4a–r). They were treated as
the main indicators of a plastic addition process, from
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Figures 4
. Form and location of the 19 individual TEs discovered by means of the CT scanning and following micro-stratigraphic interpretation.
(Continuation).
r)q)p)
o)n)
l)
m)
k)j)
the lower limbs to abdomen, torso, head and the applied
obsidian inserts, resulting in a final, high resolution
rendering of the composite volume of the figurine
(Figure 5).
Our frst goal was a detailed reconstruction of the
operational sequence of the clay modelling in terms of
subsequent TEs, formalized as a stratigraphical fow chart.
Secondly, we tried to defne each TE in terms of geometrical-
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topological features (after van der Leeuw 1994, 136–137)
and of the partonomy of the sub-sequences of TEs by which
the fgurine was made, possibly defned by temporary
interruptions. This three-level abstraction allowed us to
transform a set of pure forms into a hypothesis of technical
and cognitive strategy. Having reconstructed in 3D the shape
of each lump or slab applied to form the clay sculpture,
and thus the sequence of modelling, we then compared this
latter to the technical approaches mentioned above. We
then searched in the fgurine’s hidden structure any possible
analogy with the human body and/or its parts. Moreover, we
wanted to ascertain whether the inner structure itself had any
resemblance to a penis or not.
7. De-construction
The CT sections show, as main phase discontinuities, several
light-coloured inclusions (large-sized silicate grains, mostly
with angular contours) and linear, curved interfaces, considered
the main indicators of the slab/lump construction sequence.
The sections show that the surface of the fgurine is formed by
an outer peel of fne clay a few millimetres thick. In the images
and in the reconstructions, this fne “skin”, evidently applied
in the fnal fnishing stage, is not emphasized.
Table 1 attempts to defne analytically the sequence of
TEs we identifed, their partonomical pertinence (
i.e.
their
belonging to the base, torso or head, three fundamental
moments in the construction of the fgurine) and their
geometrical-topological features (pellet, lump or slab,
anatomical reference; we identifed the hand-forming
techniques that, on the basis of actualistic considerations,
were presumably used in each TE). Table 1 summarizes the
3D map and stratigraphic fow chart of Figure 6.
These analytical results (Figures 5, 6) show that the
beginning of the sequence was the inner core of the left leg,
from which rose a vertical slab, meant to become part of
the fgurine’s back (TE1). The forming sequence continued
by joining to a shapeless inner piece (or support) a series
of hemispherical or cone-shaped forms (TE2–TE5) that
gradually reproduced two paired bent legs and buttocks. TE5
was clearly applied on the right as a “knee” for matching
symmetrically the shape of the left leg. This sequence, in
spite of its formal discontinuity, retained a basic axial
symmetry, at least in front and in the fnal vision.
The vertical extremity of TE1 was planned for better fxing
the base to the torso. In the middle body, TE6 and TE7, two
slabs joined vertically on the fgurine’s axis, confrm the
evidently dual organization of the slab contruction process.
This is further enhanced by the symmetry of TEs 9 and 10
(left and right shoulders), of the applied breasts (TE12), of
the two holes at the elbows (TE13) and of two other paired
elongated strips that form the neck and the head (TEs 14
and 15); as obviously do the obsidian eyes (TE19). The
protuberance of the clutched hands (TE11), the nose (TE18)
and the probable headdress on the nape (TEs 16 and 17) are
on the central axis of symmetry. If the legs and buttocks were
mostly made of hemispherical parts, the torso area was made
with fatter slabs and sub-triangular applications (TEs 9, 10,
11). Ultimately such a composite, bi-lateral inner structure
points to a map of the female body and rejects the apparent
similarity to a male organ, that might have been more simply
expressed with a cylindrical shaft and round appendages for
the testicles.
Figure 5.
General interpretation of the inner structure of the fgurine,
reconstructed by means (after interpretion) of the evidence of CT scanning
and following micro-stratigrafc interpretation of 966 sections. Each colored
part corresponds to a specifc added lump or slab (Technical Episodes or
TEs, see Figure 4). The construction sequence is detailed in the following
Figure 6 and in Table 1 (see text).
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Table 1
. Partonomy, geometric-topological features and technical performance of the modelling sequence of the Rome fgurine (terms after van der Leew
1994) as defned by means of CT and ensuing digital processing. See also Figure 5.
TEs
PartonomyGeometrical-topological features, metadataModelling (actualistic hypothesis)
TE1base, legs, abdomen
vertical elongated lump, core of left legpalm-squeezing
TE2
base, legs, abdomenhemisphere, front of right leg
pinching or palm-forming, joining,
rounding
TE3base, legs, abdomenhemisphere, right buttock
pinching or palm-forming, joining,
rounding
TE4
base, legs, abdomenegg-shaped lump, left leg and buttockpalm-forming, joining
TE5
base, legs, abdomencone/hemisphere, right knee
pinching or palm-forming, joining,
rounding
TE6middle body, torsoelongated slab, up to left side and left armpinching, joining, forming
TE7middle body, torso
fat slab, right side of the back and right armpinching, fattening, joining, forming
TE8
middle body, torso
flling of a triangular gap in the bellypellet forming, inflling
TE9middle body, torso
fat triangle, right shoulder, elbow and forearm
pinching, joining, forming
TE10
middle body, torso
fat triangle, left shoulder and left upper chest
pinching, joining, forming
TE11middle body, torso
horizontal fat triangle, hands clutched in frontpinching, fattening, joining, forming
TE12
middle body, torsotwo paired cones as the breastspinching, joining
TE13middle body, torso
negative interfaces, holes at inner elbows
impressing a cone-pointed tool
TE14
top, headelongated semi-cylinder, right side of headrolling, joining, forming
TE15
top, headelongated semi-cylinder, left side of headrolling, joining, forming
TE16top, headhemisphere, headdress(?) on nape
pellet forming, fattening, joining
TE17top, headhemisphere, headdress(?) on nape
pellet forming, fattening, joining
TE18
top, head
fat triangular pellet
pinching, joining
TE19top, head
Obsidian bladelets, ventral side, eyes
inserting, tucking-in of clay along edges
Fig. 6
. Final deconstruction of the fgurine in subsequent TEs, in the form of a 3D map (right) and a stratigraphic fow chart (left). Both show a fundamentally
dual construction process, expressed, in particular, in the axial symmetry of the applied parts in the legs and trunk region.
8. Discussion and conclusions
Our review of the published literature on the manufacure
of female fgurines challenged implicit and simplistic
assumptions, revealing at least two alternative choices (core
vs. dual forming techniques). Obviously enough, we cannot
expect that the two technical templates will resolve all
issues. Other forming processes need to be considered along
the approaches of dual and core-forming techniques.
With CT scanning, we demonstrated the actual possibility
of reconstructing the modelling sequence of a prehistoric
terracotta fgurine with a detailed step-by-step model, without
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16
minimally damaging its integrity. The inner structure of the
statuette follows, to a large extent and redundantly, an axial
symmetry: in fact, parts of the legs and torso, the breasts and
even the head were made by bilateral additions. Although
the shape of the infated bent legs might recall testicles, the
composite structure of torso and head does not support a
conceptual reference to a penis shaft, for which one would
expect a much simpler construction. The hypothesis of
gender ambiguity, in other words, is not supported by what
we understand of the image’s building process.
The inner bilateral structure of the Rome fgurine matches
with previous information on the
châine opératoire
of
the Hacilar statuettes: it is certainly a variation of the
dual forming approach. Its operational sequence partially
replicated the strong symmetry of the fgurine’s painted
decoration, in a fundamental (although indirect) cognitive
analogy with the human body. Has this any bearing on the
sacred vs. secular inspiration of the fgurine? One could
argue that organic analogy would be more appropriate for
images of real women, rather than of deities, but this remains
impossible to demonstrate.
Mina (2008, 130–131) recognized in the variability
of Cretan Neolithic female fgurines, possibly in their
manufacturing techniques, aspects of individualism and self-
projection. The age and gender of the artists of the various
categories of clay anthropomorphic fgurines thus becomes
a crucial issue. How far a closer focus on construction
technology can lead us in this direction, it is still hard
to say. In 2002, Králík
et al.
, while studying the famous
terracotta Venus of Dolní Věstonice, having measured the
dermatoglyphs of a single partial fngerprint, proposed that
the last individual to touch it before it dried was a young
individual from 7 to 15 years old. The implications in terms
of agency might have been extraordinary; but the method was
questionable, and conclusions were hindered by the absence
of comparanda. Advanced paleotechnological studies on the
interior structure of Neolithic/Chalcolithic fgurines may not
straightly reveal the gender, age and agency of their makers.
However, there is little doubt that further research
within the
fgurines
and a growing understanding of the chronological,
spatial and cultural coordinates of the various techniques on
record will help us to focus new hypotheses on the agencies
and social roles in these prehistoric communities.
Acknowledgements
The authors are very grateful to Francesco Di Gennaro,
Director, and to Giovanna Lombardo of the National Museum
of Oriental Art “Giuseppe Tucci”, Rome, for permission
to study the fgurine. Roberta Bollati, conservator at the
Istituto Superiore per la Conservazione e il Restauro (ISCR),
Rome, took care of the conservation of the object. Elisabetta
Starnini and Paolo Biagi provided useful information, and
Luca Bondioli (Museo Luigi Pigorini, Rome) helped in
processing the CT scanning data. The text was patiently
edited by Michela Spataro (British Museum) and David
Frayer (University of Kansas) and commented by Kamila
Remišová Věšínová (Charles University, Prague) to whom
the authors are greatly endebted.
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