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An Exploration of Context and Meaning

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An Exploration of Context and Meaning HESPERIA 72 (2003) PAI NTE D EARLY Pages 4 os-44 6 CYCLADIC FIGU RES AN EXPLORATIONOF CONTEXT ANDMEANING ABSTRACT EarlyCycladic marble figures were commonlyenriched with paintedpat- terns.Certain motifs occur on a greatnumber of figures,supporting the hy- pothesisthat small communities separated by spaceas well as timewished to acknowledgeand confirmcultural unity. Other patterns are relatively rare, suggestinga needto expresssmaller group or individualidentities (perhaps associatedwith particularevents). Possible functions and meaningsfor the figuresare proposed here on the basisof thesepainted motifs, the archaeo- logicalcontexts of the figures,and ethnographic parallels. INTRODUCTION Theexamination of Early Cycladic figures in collections in the United States andabroad makes it clearthat most were finished with strongcolors in patternsthat are not easilyfathomable to observerstoday (e.g., Fig. 1).1 Ihave examined approximately 450 such figures under various conditions- mostlythrough vitrine glass-and haverecorded evidence for painton morethan 200 examples(e.g., Figs. 2, 3). To this numbercan be added manyfigures with evidencefor paintthat I haveseen only in published illustrations.2Why werethese works painted? In orderto approachthis question,we mustask another: Why were they made at all? 1. This studycould not have been Ihave also benefited from the com- donot comefrom documented carriedto this pointwithout the mentsof audiencemembers at the excavations.These examples can none- generousencouragement and critical BronzeAge Colloquiumin New York, thelessprovide information about their adviceover the lastseveral years of whereI presented an earlierversion of originalappearance if one is willingto TonyFrantz, Pat Getz-Gentle, Gunter thispaper on February11, 2002.I am takethe timeto checkfor surface Kopcke,Joan Mertens, John M. Rus- gratefulto RobertKoehl for inviting patternscaptured by the photograph sell,and George Wheeler. My debtto meto presentmy work there. My (whichis usually composed and lit to caretakersof collections in Greeceand thanksalso to the editorof Hesperia showform rather than surface texture). theUnited States is gratefullyacknowl- andto the anonymousreviewers, whose Someof the mostuseful illustrations edged;in particular I wish to thank suggestionsgreatly improved the text. canbe foundin the followingcata- KatieDemokopoulou, Dolly Goulan- All photographsand drawings are logues:Zervos 1957; Thimme and dris,Nikolaos Kaltsas, Marisa Mar- thework of the author. Getz-Preziosi1977; Doumas 1983; thari,Joan Mertens, Photeini Zaphei- 2. The majorityof EarlyCycladic Getz-Preziosi1987a, 1987b; Getz- ropoulou,and Eos Zervoudaki. (EC)figures illustrated in catalogues Gentle2001; Renfrew 1991. American School of Classical Studies at Athens is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve, and extend access to Hesperia ® www.jstor.org 406 ELIZABETH A. HENDRIX In this articleI seekto identifysome of the possiblefilnctions and meaningsassociated with the paintedfigures of the EarlyBronze Age Cyclades.3To addressthe relationship between individuals and the marble figuresthat they made and used, I consideronly some types of evidence relevant:1) themarble figures themselves, their forms and especially their paintedsurfaces, which are made more visible by various methods of docu- mentation;and 2) patternsof deposition,the archaeologicalcontexts of thefigures. I assumethat an analysis of the artifacts-thevisual informa- tion-will allowus to addressmy original questions: how did the marble figuresfilnction in EarlyCycladic communities, and what (various things) couldthey have meant to the peoplewho usedthem? That is, canwe discernthe sorts of memoriesthat were being maintained and transmitted by the figures?4The pursuitof thesequestions may also reveal who those peoplewere. Why were some individuals associated with the figures while otherswere not? APPROACHES TO THE MATERIAL In referringbelow to EarlyCycladic "culture(s)" I mean, in a general Childeansense, the tendencyfor a groupof peopleliving in the Cyclades to expressa commonidentity by makingartifacts or usingmaterial in a broadlyconsistent way. This expression may change over time, and smaller groupswithin the greaterenduring community will addto andsubtract fromthe basiccultural complex, giving it a localflavor. None of thatdi- minishesthe overriding "pan-Cycladic" identity that can be recognizedas such(now, and, I wouldargue, during the EarlyBronze Age), made tan- giblein stone,clay, and metal, and through burial habits and other behav- iorsless resistant to the passageof time.5This largercommunity may in facthave encompassed only some of the inhabitedislands, but the salient featureis that multiplesmall groups seem to haveallied themselves to forma largerentity capable of satisfyinggeneral needs. Comparisonsto othercultures will be madewhen relevant. These in- cludeNeolithic groups from the Aegean, as well as modernnonindustrial groupsdescribed in theanthropological and ethnographic literature. Neo- lithicexamples are useful for insights they provide regarding the possible originsof (anddepartures from) Early Cycladic attitudes toward the use 3. Thefunction of the paintedpat- 4. Melionand Kuchler (1991, p. 3) ternwas to alertthe viewerthat anoth- definememory as "a process precipi- er layerof meaningwas present on the tatedand shaped by the relayingof figure,whereas the meaningof the par- visualinformation." ticularmarkings would have been un- 5. As Nakou(1995, p. 13)writes, derstoodonly by thosewho hadbeen "theuse of metaltechnologies was taughtthe correspondencebetween tiedto the life cycleof its users,while motif(including placement on the body the persistenceof the abstractforms of the figure,color, context of applica- throughconstant repetition and re- tion)and concept. See Hoffman2002, creationwith eachgeneration, ensured p. 525, andespeciallyTalalay 1993, the timelesscontinuity of groupiden- p. 38, for a generaldefinition of the titywithin and above the individual terms"function" and "meaning" in ar- community." chaeologicalscholarship. PAINTED EARLY CYCLADIC FIGURES 4o7 Figure1. EarlyCycladic marble figurefrom Keros,Kavos. H. 54.5 cm. Naxos,Archaeological Museum, Chora,4691. A t etOt w40> 408 ELIZABETH A. HENDRIX Figure2 (lefi). Detail of painted nostrilson EarlyCycladic folded- armfigure; no knownfindspot. H. 36.3 cm. New York,Metropolitan Museumof Art 34.11.3, Fletcher Fund, 1934. Figure3 (below). Sketchof Early Cycladic"Violin" figures from Naxos,Akrotiri, tombs 20 (Naxos, ArchaeologicalMuseum, Chora, 1993) and21 (Naxos,Archaeological Museum,Chora, no visibleaccession number). p.e. e bc\ - -\ts sb t< 7 oe v ,qX bv- _ ; > v sowt cf iSk^" of ob\z tu.eTH ./ .. ^ ,... c .zA ( . 8'D v4'F'sy ,{- | W reve t lfy PAINTED EARLY CYCLADIC FIGURES 4o9 of figuresand the function of surfacemarkings.6 Studies of moderngroups areuseful for suggestingpossible meanings associated with figuresand especiallytheir painted "skins." The EarlyCycladic figures are found almost exclusively in graves, promptingthe need to examinemortuary data. Recent work has made use of severalmethods for consideringthe relationshipbetween prehistoric Aegeanpeoples and their cemeteries. For example, types of burialgoods fromEarly and Middle Minoan Crete have been correlated with, among otherthings, "social differentiation" aswell as rankingboth in life andin death.7In makingthese correlations, we tendto assumethat artifact types we findvaluable today would have been similarly valuable to the people whomade them in thepast, and that a similarstatus is conferredon indi- vidualsburied with thesegoods. The assumptionis madethat there are consistenthuman tendencies to valueexotic or rare materials, labor-inten- siveproducts, and specialized skills.8 As we shallsee, the archaeological datafrom the EarlyBronse Age suggestthat differentindividuals had accessto certainkinds of artifacts,and within this groupsome had ac- quiredmore of them.Well-provided tombs, although rare, are known for a fewindividuals, but these did not contain (preserved) goods that were not availableto others.It is difficultto drawconclusions about social stratifi- cationfrom this evidence, but we maysurmise that particular individuals, whether"rich" or "poor," had access to particularsets of material.9 Underlyingmuch of the followingdiscussion is the assumptionthat humanbeings make, use, and become intimately associated with certain kindsof objectsthat help themunderstand and control the worldthey inhabit.The veryexistence of gravetypes, burial goods, and other clues regardingattitudes toward death demonstrates that the EarlyCycladic peopleshad worked out a culturallyspecific set of behaviorsto helpthem copewith this event. The material remains that have survived the past four to fivemillennia can thus be treatedas windowsto someaspects of this behavior,and the marblefigures are a partof thisevidence. I wouldstress here,however, that final deposition need not representsole function;as detailedbelow, some evidence associated with the painted motifs suggests usesfor the figuresprior to burial. 6. The paintedmotifs found on parallelsdrawn between skin embel- value,an incipienttrend that was dras- Middleand Late Neolithic (MN, LN) lishmentsin modernNew Guineaor ticallyamplified in EBII."Helms terracottafigures from the Aegeanand Africaand strikingly similar EC de- (1993,pp. 3-4) alsoargues that pos- surroundingcoasts provide apparent signs.Close examination of allthe sessionof specialmaterials or skills antecedentsfor some of the motifs
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