Anthropomorphic Vessel Fired Clay, Vădastra, 5500-5000 BC. National History Museum of Romania, Bucharest: 15908. © Marius Amarie via The New York Times.
See other similar things:
Cucuteni - Romania - 4500-4400 BC. Via atil.pagesperso-orange.fr.
Cucuteni - Romania - 4500-4400 BC. Via atil.pagesperso-orange.fr.
Cucuteni Figurines (Romania). © Marius Amarie via archaeology.org. They, and many other figurines like them—such as the one pictured at right—were made by a people we know today as the Cucuteni culture, which lasted from 4800 to 3000 B.C. in what is now Romania and Ukraine. Some scholars have interpreted these lines as representations of body modification. “They could be tattoos,” says San Francisco State University archaeologist Douglass W. Bailey. “Some say they are clothes, or they could represent something else we don’t understand. We will never know for sure, but in a sense, that’s unimportant. What’s important is that they were using the surface of their bodies to communicate ideas, whether they related to membership in a group or individual identity.”
Anatolian Idol in the Form of a Stylized Female Figure. 3500 BC - 2500 BC. Silver, height 3.3 cm. Acquired on the European Art Market, 1994. Serial Nº: 13384. © e-tiquities.com.
Female idol with jewelry and costume. From Ludus, Serbia, Dubovac Culture. Terracotta (15th BCE). © lessing-photo.com. Height 20 cm. Inv. 10.439. From the Narodni Muzej, Belgrade, Slovenia.
Terracotta figurine recovered from a site at Charsadda Shaikhan Dheri, Gandhara, Pakistan. Made circa 2nd century BCE. Museum number: IS.20A-195. © Victoria and Albert Museum. Location: Ceramics Study Galleries, Asia & Europe, room 137, case R, shelf 3.
Three Syrian terracotta idols circa 2nd Millenium B.C. © christies.com
One with long cylindrical body, hands held up to chest, the bird-like face with applied disc eyes; one with flat body, arms outstretched, with dotted lines around waist and on necklace, and incised lines on high headdress; and one with flat outstretched arms, headdress and pierced ears
5½ in. (14 cm.) high max. (3)
Female figurine with movable legs. Handmade. Bell-shaped body with modeled breasts, tall neck ending in a bird-like face. From Thebes. Early 7th c. BC. © National Archaeological Museum of Greece.
Bird-Headed Figure Whistle, 8th–9th century Mexico, Veracruz Ceramic. © The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Indus Valley Terracotta Figurine. Pakistan/Western India Circa: 2600 BC to 1900 BC. Terracotta. Height 7 cm. © barakatgallery.com.
Amulet in the form of a head of an elephant. © The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Period: Predynastic, Naqada II
Date: ca. 3500–3300 B.C.
Geography: From Egypt
Medium: Serpentine Bone
Dimensions: h. 3.5 × w. 3.6 × d. 2.1 cm (1 3/8 × 1 7/16 × 13/16 in.)
Credit Line: Rogers Fund, 1959
Accession Number: 59.101.1
