No possible, probable shadow of doubt (original) (raw)
Venus Figurines of the European Paleolithic: Symbols of Fertility or Attractiveness
The earliest known representations of the human female form are the European Paleolithic " Venus figurines, " ranging in age from 23,000 to 25,000 years. We asked participants to rate images of Paleolithic figurines for their attractiveness, age grouping and reproductive status. Attractiveness was positively correlated with measures of the waist-to hip ratio (WHR) of figurines, consistent with the " sexually attractive symbolism " hypothesis. However, most figurines had high WHRs (>1.0) and received low attractiveness scores. Participants rated most figurines as representing middle-aged or young adult women, rather than being adolescent or older (postmenopausal). While some were considered to represent pregnant women, consistent with the " fertility symbol " hypothesis, most were judged as being non-pregnant. Some figurines depict obese, large-breasted women, who are in their mature reproductive years and usually regarded as being of lower attractiveness. At the time these figurines were made, Europe was in the grip of a severe ice age. Obesity and survival into middle age after multiple pregnancies may have been rare in the European Upper Paleolithic. We suggest that depictions of corpulent, middle-aged females were not " Venuses " in any conventional sense. They may, instead, have symbolized the hope for survival and longevity, within well-nourished and reproductively successful communities.
Upper Paleolithic Venus Figurines and Interpretations of Prehistoric Gender Representations
Pure Insights, 2015
Interpretations of Upper Paleolithic Venus figurines pose an interesting challenge for archaeologists. Scholars who have studied these prehistoric representations of the female form have reached a variety of conclusions that may be better seen as a reflection of modern sociocultural values and ideals than being representative of the peoples who made the Venuses. I argue that by transposing our own ideals onto the Venus figurines, we act as colonizers and appropriators of the past. Reviewing archaeological literature regarding the Venuses, we gain a sense of the strengths and weaknesses of current approaches to interpreting representations of gender. These lessons serve as a starting point for constructing archaeological methods of interpreting representations of gender and gender relations in a way that more accurately reflects the ancient peoples who crafted these figurines.
Paleoanthropology present a series of documents covering a variety of subjects in the archaeology of the Old World (Eurasia, Africa, Australia, and Oceania). This series encompasses a broad range of subjects -from the early prehistory to the Neolithic Revolution in the Old World, and beyond including: huntergatherers to complex societies; the rise of agriculture; the emergence of urban societies; human physical morphology, evolution and adaptation, as well as; various technologies such as metallurgy, pottery production, tool making, and shelter construction. Additionally, the subjects of symbolism, religion, and art will be presented within the context of archaeological studies including mortuary practices and rock art. Volumes may be authored by one investigator, a team of investigators, or may be an edited collection of shorter articles by a number of different specialists working on related topics.
The "Venus" Figurines Textiles, Basketry, Gender, and Status in the Upper Paleolithic 1
Research on Gravettian textiles and basketry informs our understanding of Upper Paleolithic ideology and yields new insights on one component of Stone Age material culture-the "Venus" figurines. Detailed studies of a series of figurines indicate the presence of at least three types of dressed female depictions. These include several types of headgear, various body bandeaux, and at least one type of skirt. Using data from Europe, we argue that the garments portrayed were made of plant fibers and that their exquisite detailing reflects the important role played by textiles in Upper Paleolithic cultures. The iconography also associates these technologies with women as well as with power, prestige, and value.
Figurines, Fertility, and the Emergence of Complex Society in Prehistoric Cyprus
Current Anthropology, 1996
Volume 37, Number 2, April I996 365 Paleolithic evidence (Fifty-fourth James Arthur Lecture on "The Evolution of the Human Brain," 1984). New York: American Museum of Natural History.. I988a. "The species-specific evolution and contexts of the creative mind: Thinking in time," in The creative mind: Towards an evolutionary theory of discovery and innovation. Edited by E. 0. Wilson, pp. II6-I9. Journal of Social and Biological Sciences I I. .)i988b. "The Neanderthals and the human capacity for symbolic thought: Cognitive and problem-solving aspects of Mousterian symbol," in L'homme Neandertal: Actes du Colloque International, I986, Liege, vol. 5, La pensee. Edited by M. Otte, pp. 57-9I. Liege: Universit6 de Liege.. I989. Evolution of the human capacity: The symbolic evidence. Yearbook of Physical Anthropology 32:I-34.. I990. "Early hominid symbol and evolution of the human capacity," in The emergence of modern humans. Edited by Paul Mellars, pp. 457-98. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.. iggia. A reply to Davidson on Mania and Mania. Rock Art Research 8:47-58.. iggib. The female image, a "time-factored" symbol: A study in style and modes of image use in the European Upper Palaeolithic. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 57:I7-3I.. I99ic. The roots of civilization. Mt. Kisco, N.Y.: Moyer Bell.. iggid. "The origin of language: An anthropological approach," in Language origin: A multidisciplinary approach. Edited by J. Wind et al., pp. 42I-48. (NATO ASI Series D, Behavioral and Social Sciences, 6i.) Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers. I992. "The analytical problems of subjectivity in the maker and user," in The limitations of archaeological knowledge. Edited by T. Shay and J. Clottes, pp. i8i-2io. Liege: Uni-versit6 de Liege.. I993. Correct data base: Wrong model? Behavioral and Brain Sciences I6:767-68.. I994. Comment on: Symboling and the Middle-Upper Paleolithic transition, by A. Martin Byers. CURRENT ANTHROPOLOGY 35:386-87.. I995. "Maszycka iconography: A study of the dispersed symbol systems of the Magdalenien a navettes," in Maszycka. Edited by Stefan K. Kozlowski. Jahrbuch des Romisch-Germanischen Zentralmuseums 40.. I996a. "Paleolithic symbol and image in the Near East: An internal analysis and comparison with the European Upper Paleolithic," in Beyond art: Pleistocene image and symbol. Edited by M. W. Conkey, 0. Soffer, and D. Stratmann. Berkeley and San Francisco: University of California Press.. I996b. "Okiuzini: Variabilit6 de categorie dans l'imagerie symbolique," in Fouilles a Okiizini, un site pal6olithique final au sud de la Turquie. Edited by I. Yalcinkaya et al. L'Anthropologie IOO:586-94.. n.d.a. Berekhat Ram: An Acheulian carving from the Levant. MS.. n.d.b. "Image and symbol at Okiuzini," in Okiizini: A last hunters' site in Anatolia. Edited by M. Otte et al. Antiquity. In press. MEIGNAN, L. I988. "Un exemple de comportement technologique diff6rential selon les matieres premieres: Marilla, couches 9 et IO," in L'homme de Neandertal, vol. 4, La technique. Edited by M. Otte. Liege:
Science, the Media, and Interpretations of Upper Paleolithic Figurines
American Anthropologist, 2014
Using the recent discovery of the Hohle Fels figurine as a catalyst, in this article we briefly review the history of scholarship regarding Upper Paleolithic figurines that are often referred to as “Venus” figurines. We integrate this review with a critical examination of the assumptions underlying the “Venus hypothesis”—the perspective that these artifacts are best understood as sexual objects—based on the available data from both inside and outside of the field of Paleolithic archaeology. We suggest that interpreting the figurines in a purely sexual context obstructs their objective, scientific study and has unintended social consequences. Following from this, we consider why the Venus hypothesis persists in the popular media and scholarly research despite decades of reflexive critiques. Finally, building on these critiques, we argue for the importance of contextualization in the study of Upper Paleolithic figurines and discuss new approaches to their study.
Rock art research, 2010
The recent find of a female statuette in Aurignacian contexts in Hohle Fels Cave, southwest Germany, has important implications for the understanding of the development of European Palaeolithic art and its ideological and practical contexts. Here, it is argued that this figurine provides support for the continuity of metaphorical relationships that connected the characteristics of humans and animals over thousands of years during the early Upper Palaeolithic of Europe. These relationships were expressed during the Aurignacian period (c. 40 000 -32 000 BP) mainly through figurative animal representations that were materially and socially attached to individual persons. Subsequently (c. 29 000 -18 000 BP), this discourse was transformed in the course of socio-economic changes in subsistence and settlement patterns and with the development of larger and more permanent settlement structures. The new find of the Hohle Fels 'Venus' allows an understanding of these processes of change and continuity in greater detail, and has implications for future studies in this direction.
ASEXUAL FIGURINES OR NEOLITHIC DEITIES? THE CASE OF CUCCURRU S’ARRIU (SARDINIA). EAA 2024 abstract
European Association of Archaeologists, Rome 2024, 2024
ASEXUAL FIGURINES OR NEOLITHIC DEITIES? THE CASE OF CUCCURRU S’ARRIU (SARDINIA) Archaeological narratives about gender have concerned not only "flesh-and-blood" bodies but also their most direct representations: figurines. In this contribution I will attempt to show how archaeological theories and interpretations have shaped women’s prehistory by mystifying or erasing female gender, both in processual and post-processual archaeological theories. On the one hand, until the 90s, the deceased in graves with significant finds have often been assigned male gender, and figurines have been often considered Mother Goddesses without any serious inquiry. With post-processual theories the main trend has been to define the figurines as “asexual”, thus erasing female gender and excluding women from the main narrative. In the attempt to show the consequences of these (mis)interpretations, I will discuss the case of a Sardinian Neolithic’s statuette, with such iconographic features that it was used as the cover of The Oxford Handbook of Neolithic Europe (2019). This figurine has been found in the Cuccurru S’Arriu’s Neolithic burial (tomb #386) and it is dated ca. the first half of V millennia BC, located in Cabras (Sardinia). Through an interdisciplinary iconographic and comparative analysis, I will try to show how this figurine could have been a goddess. In addition, I will argue that the female body narrative, within archaeological theories, has apparently changed in order not to change (i.e. add gender and stir), as Tomasi di Lampedusa's words featured in EAA's motto 2024: "If we want that everything remains the same, it is necessary that everything changes." G. Tomasi di Lampedusa (1896-1957) - The Leopard."
Bodies and identities from the Palaeolithic to the Neolithic in Europe.Iberian Figurines
Mobile Images of ancestral Bodies: A millenium long perspective from Iberia to Europa, 2021
Iberia provides a solid foundation for expanding the study of the earliest examples of human images, clothed and accompanied by diverse objects. Their association with the social codes in the European Neolithic and Chalcolithic adds relevant information. Powerful links between the continental plains and the Near East are compatible with the Palaeolithic and Mesolithic roots of many of the objects. Likewise, they are compatible with the personality of each of the areas with the greatest population densities. Their relationship with materials such as clay, the observations of female genitalia and the detail of maintenance activities that seen on the figurines, confirm that some of these figures transmitted cultural codes related to women. However, a single hypothesis for the whole chronological and geographic repertoire, and for the different representation of gender and ages, is too limited. Any satisfying hypotheses must consider their marked multifunctionality and therefore their polysemy. The synchrony detected in the Iberian Peninsula between figurines as the most familiar formulae and the presence of decorated megaliths, rock-shelters, rocks and stelae, as the most visible and social evidence, is a basic element to understand the role of the portable images. From group codes to individual representations, their use repeats social systematics expressed in other symbols in European Late Prehistory. Roots in the past were established by symbols recuperated from old ancestors, which were enriched by diverse raw materials (including ivory and gold). They became support for the power of emerging lineages related to new leaders.