Deities, Dolls, and Devices

Lauren E. Talalay

Description

A significant study of a group of figurines from southern Greece and of their importance in prehistoric art.

Talalay reports on a small body of figurines (24 figurines and 21 fragments) recovered during excavations at Franchthi Cave and at the nearby open-air settlement along the present shoreline. She also reexamines the theoretical and methodological foundations of scholarship in the field of figurine studies. A thorough and pathfinding study of the most important body of figurines from southern Greece, this book will be especially valuable to specialists in prehistoric Greece and to all scholars interested in early representations of the human figure in prehistoric art and in the significance of these representations to the members of early human communities. The book also makes a contribution to the growing body of literature on gender in early societies with a critical evaluation of the uses of evidence in addressing gender issues.

Foreword (T.W. Jacobsen)
Preface
Acknowledgments
Introduction

Chapter One An Overview of the Franchthi Figurines/Chronological Distribution/Archaeological Context/Raw Material/Subject Matter/Design

Chapter Two Catalogue/Descriptive Categories/Catalogue

Chapter Three The Production of the Franchthi Figurines/Construction Techniques/Figurine-Makers and Ownership/Figurines and Pottery

Chapter Four Deciphering the Use and Meaning of Prehistoric Figurines/Introduction/Figurines and Their Contexts/Ethnographic Analogues/Summary

Chapter Five Deciphering the Use and Meaning of Prehistoric Figurines/Use/
Meaning/Summary

Chapter Six Franchthi Figurines: A Regional Perspective/Introduction/Discussion of Regional Styles/Discussion of Use and Meaning by Region

Chapter Seven Conclusion/Summary/Avenues for Future Research

Appendixes A: Findspots of Franchthi Figurines
B: Hardness Ratings of Clay Bodies form Franchthi (Mohs Hardness
Scale)
C: Color Values of Figurines from Franchthi (Munsell Soil Color
Charts)
D: Possible Figurine Fragments
E: Coded Dimensions Used in Cluster Analysis
F: Published Figurines from Southern Greece

Notes
References
Plates

Sujets

• Archaeology
• Archaeological science
• Social sciences
• Anthropology
• Classics

Informations

• Publié par: Indiana University Press
• Date de parution: 26 octobre 2018
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780253044556
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

Deities, Dolls, and Devices
Neolithic Figurines from Franchthi Cave, Greece
Excavations at Franchthi Cave, Greece
T. W. Jacobsen, General Editor
Lisa S. Williams, Managing Editor
F ASCICLE 9
Deities, Dolls, and Devices
Neolithic Figurines from Franchthi Cave, Greece
LAUREN E. TALALAY
INDIANA UNIVERSITY PRESS Bloomington Indianapolis
Copyright 1993 by Lauren E. Talalay
All rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. The Association of American University Presses Resolution on Permissions constitutes the only exception to this prohibition.
Library of Congress Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
Talalay, Lauren E. (Lauren Elizabeth), date.
Deities, dolls, and devices : Neolithic figurines from Franchthi Cave, Greece.
p. cm. - (Excavations at Franchthi Cave, Greece; fasc. 9)
Includes bibliographical references.
1. Franchthi Cave (Greece) 2. Neolithic period-Greece.
3. Pottery figures, Prehistoric-Greece. 4. Paralia Site (Greece)
I. Title. II. Series
GN816.F73T34 1993 730 .0938 8-dc20 92-43060
ISBN 0-253-31981-1 (pbk.)
1 2 3 4 5 97 96 95 94 93
TO MY MOTHER AND FATHER
CONTENTS
FOREWORD (T. W. Jacobsen)
PREFACE
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
INTRODUCTION
Chapter One
An Overview of the Franchthi Figurines
Chronological Distribution
Archaeological Context
Raw Material
Subject Matter
Design
Chapter Two
Catalogue
Descriptive Categories
Catalogue
Chapter Three
The Production of the Franchthi Figurines
Construction Techniques
Figurine-Makers and Ownership
Figurines and Pottery
Chapter Four
Deciphering the Use and Meaning of Prehistoric Figurines
Introduction
Figurines and Their Contexts
Ethnographic Analogues
Summary
Chapter Five
The Use and Meaning of the Franchthi Figurines
Use
Meaning
Summary
Chapter Six
Franchthi Figurines: A Regional Perspective
Introduction
Discussion of Regional Styles
Discussion of Use and Meaning by Region
Chapter Seven
Conclusion
Summary
Avenues for Future Research
APPENDIXES
A: Findspots of Franchthi Figurines
B: Hardness Ratings of Clay Bodies from Franchthi (Mohs Hardness Scale)
C: Color Values of Figurines from Franchthi (Munsell Soil Color Charts)
D: Possible Figurine Fragments
E: Coded Dimensions Used in Cluster Analysis
F: Published Figurines from Southern Greece
NOTES
REFERENCES
PLATES
FIGURES
1. The Franchthi figurines
2. Chronological distribution of Franchthi figurines by trench
3. Major types and groups from southern Greece
MAPS
1. Southern Greece and the Cyclades: Neolithic sites
2. Southern Greece and the Cyclades: Neolithic sites with figurines
TABLES
1. Franchthi figurines listed by catalogue number
2. Southern Greek sites with Neolithic figurines
3. Chronological distribution of Neolithic figurines from southern Greece
4. Chronological distribution of Franchthi figurines by trench
5. Major types and groups of figurines from southern Greece
6. Northern Greek sites with Neolithic figurines
7. Middle Neolithic figurines from southern Greece
8. Height:arm:waist measurements of complete stone figurines
9. Late Neolithic figurines from southern Greece
10. Final Neolithic figurines from southern Greece
11. Features and finds associated with Franchthi figurines
PLATES
(photographs and drawings)
1. FC 118
2. FC 42, FC 167
3. FC 42, FC 167
4. FC 112, FC 4, FC 12
5. FC 112, FC 4, FC 12
6. FC 28, FC 122, FC 190
7. FC 28, FC 122, FC 190
8. FC 208, FP 173, FC 124
9. FC 208, FP 173, FC 124
10. FC 68, FC 57
11. FC 68, FC 57
12. FC 117, FC 101
13. FC 117, FC 101
14. FS 101, FC 60
15. FS 101, FC 60
16. FC 31, FC 30, FC 11
17. FC 31, FC 30, FC 11
18. FC 41, FC 177, FC 88
19. FC 41, FC 177, FC 88
20. FC 178, FC 176, FC 204, FC 45, FC 114
21. FC 178, FC 176, FC 204, FC 45, FC 114
22. FC 27, FC 195, FC 29, FC 130, FC 181, FC 180
23. FP 80
24. FC 97, FC 191, FC 98, FC 202, FC 194, FC 175, FC 170, FC 131, FB 82
25. Body Markings: New Guinea, Motu, Somali, Galla
FOREWORD
The study of gender and the role of women in prehistoric societies are issues that have lately come to be of increasing concern to archaeologists and feminist scholars. Under the circumstances, it is perhaps not surprising that the venerable concept of the Mother Goddess, dormant (if not dead) in the archaeological literature for decades, has reappeared and seems to be flourishing in some quarters once again. In the following pages, Lauren Talalay reevaluates the appropriateness of that concept in the interpretation of Neolithic anthropomorphic figurines and, at the same time, addresses other fundamental questions relevant to the study of prehistoric figurative art in the Aegean world.
The primary objective of this volume, the ninth in the series of final publications of the excavations at Franchthi Cave, is the detailed presentation and analysis of the Neolithic human and animal figurines from our site. That is accomplished in Chapters 1 - 5 . In Chapter 6 the author offers a valuable review of the Franchthi sample in the context of comparable material from elsewhere in southern Greece and the Aegean islands and, in less detail, the more abundant remains from northern Greece and the Balkans. This volume cautiously explores new territory in an attempt to understand early Aegean figurative art, and in a concluding chapter (7) Dr. Talalay suggests additional paths for exploration in the future.
Major contributions of this study are discussions of the classification, dating, and production of the Franchthi and southern Greek figurines, essentially for the first time. (All dates are given in uncalibrated years b.c.) In addition, the author examines the use and meaning of those pieces and concludes, largely on the basis of ethnographic evidence, that they must be viewed as a multifunctional class of objects. Therefore, it seems that, at least in the case of the anthropomorphic examples, the Mother Goddess interpretation by itself is unsatisfactory.
The general editor wishes to take this opportunity to thank once again Lisa Williams for her invaluable help at all stages in the preparation of this volume for publication. I would also like to acknowledge the assistance of Stephen Krebs and Kimberly Elkins of the Program in Classical Archaeology at Indiana University. Costs for the preparation of camera-ready copy were borne by the E. A. Schrader Endowment and a grant from The Office of Research and the University Graduate School at Indiana University. I gratefully acknowledge the Office of the Vice President for Research at the University of Michigan for a grant awarded to the author to help defray the costs of printing.
T. W. JACOBSEN
PREFACE
David Clarke s now classic article Archaeology: The Loss of Innocence (1973) begins with a simple observation: The loss of disciplinary innocence is the price of expanding consciousness; certainly the price is high, but the loss is irreversible and the prize substantial. Exploring the trajectory of disciplinary growth, Clarke argues that scholars move from discussions of the purely pragmatic to querulous debates about definition, classification, and methodology, and, finally, to a rethinking of the philosophical, metaphysical, and theoretical issues which guide their research. While not everyone would agree with the specifics of Clarke s paradigm, it is certainly true that significant advances in all disciplines result when long-standing and traditional forms of reasoning and interpretation are challenged. To that extent, the loss of disciplinary innocence is critical to every field of study.
One of the fundamental preoccupations of the New Archaeology of the 60s and 70s was precisely this self-conscious concern with underlying theories in the discipline. Several subfields within archaeology willingly, if not eagerly, sought ways to shed their innocence, and often vociferous debate resulted. Others were more reluctant to join in the fray. With a few notable exceptions (e.g., Ucko 1962, 1968), the small cadre of specialists who studied Stone Age figurines was slow to initiate meaningful dialogues on method and theory. Even today, two decades after Ucko s pioneering work was published, the boundaries of archaeological consciousness in figurine studies have not expanded to the point where new observations, methods, perspectives, and theories are vigorously discussed. Despite claims to the contrary, we are still a long way from explaining how figurines were used in prehistoric contexts or how they fit into the larger social or adaptive strategies of early, nonliterate societies.
This volume, a fascicle in the series on Franchthi Cave, attempts to address some of the theoretical and methodological issues confronting archaeologists who study prehistoric figurines. These larger concerns are not, however, the only or even the prime goal of this work. In fact, theoretical matters became an issue only after it became clear to me that a proper study of the figurines from Franchthi could not rely on guidelines available in the literature. They were too few and too po