Figurines, Fertility, and the Emergence of Complex Society in Prehistoric Cyprus Author(s): Diane Bolger Source: Current Anthropology, Vol. 37, No. 2 (Apr., 1996), pp. 365-373 Published by: The University of Chicago Press on behalf of Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2744358 . Accessed: 09/09/2011 14:22 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. The University of Chicago Press and Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Current Anthropology. http://www.jstor.org Volume 37, Number 2, April I996 365 Paleolithicevidence (Fifty-fourth James Arthur Lecture on POPE, GEOFFREY G. I989. Bambooand humanevolution. Natu- "The Evolutionof theHuman Brain,"1984). New York:Amer- ral History,October, pp. 48-56. ican Museum ofNatural History. SHEA, JOHN J. I988. Spearpoints from the MiddlePaleolithic of . I988a. "The species-specificevolution and contextsof the Levant.Journal of Field Archaeology I5:44I-50. the creativemind: Thinking in time,"in The creativemind: . I989a. "A functionalstudy of the lithicindustries associ- Towardsan evolutionarytheory of discovery and innovation. ated withhominid fossils in the Kebaraand QafzehCaves, Is- Editedby E. 0. Wilson,pp. II6-I9. Journalof Social and Bio- rael,"in The humanrevolution: Behaviorial and biologicalper- logicalSciences I I. spectiveson the originsof modern humans. Edited by P. )i988b."The Neanderthalsand thehuman capacity for Mellarsand C. Stringer,pp. 6II-25. Edinburgh:Edinburgh Uni- symbolicthought: Cognitive and problem-solvingaspects of versityPress. Mousteriansymbol," in L'hommeNeandertal: Actes du Col- . I989b. A new perspectiveon Neanderthalsfrom the Le- loque International,I986, Liege,vol. 5, La pensee.Edited by vantineMousterian. Anthroquest 4I:I4-I8. M. Otte,pp. 57-9I. Liege: Universit6de Liege. I990. A furthernote on Mousterianspear points. Journal . I989. Evolutionof the human capacity: The symbolicevi- ofField Archaeology I7: I I I-I4. dence.Yearbook of Physical Anthropology 32:I-34. STRAUS, LAWRENCE G. I989. Age ofthe modern Europeans. Na- . I990. "Earlyhominid symbol and evolutionof the hu- ture342:476-77. man capacity,"in The emergenceof modern humans. Edited . I990. "The EarlyUpper Palaeolithic of SouthwestEu- by Paul Mellars,pp. 457-98. Edinburgh:Edinburgh University rope:Cro-Magnon adaptations in the Iberianperipheries, Press. 40 000-20 000 BP," in The emergenceof modern humans. Ed- . iggia. A replyto Davidsonon Mania and Mania. Rock itedby P. Mellars.Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. ArtResearch 8:47-58. WHITE, RANDALL. i982. Rethinkingthe Middle/UpperPaleo- . iggib. The femaleimage, a "time-factored"symbol: A lithictransition. CURRENT ANTHROPOLOGY 23:I69-92. studyin styleand modesof image use in the EuropeanUpper . I989. "Productioncomplexity and standardizationin Palaeolithic.Proceedings of thePrehistoric Society 57:I7-3I. earlyAurignacian bead and pendantmanufacture: Evolutionary . I99ic. The rootsof civilization.Mt. Kisco,N.Y.: Moyer implications,"in The humanrevolution: Behavioural and bio- Bell. logicalperspectives on the originsof modern humans, vol. I. iggid. "The originof language: An anthropologicalap- Editedby P. Mellarsand C. Stringer,pp. 360-99. Edinburgh: proach,"in Languageorigin: A multidisciplinaryapproach. Ed- EdinburghUniversity Press. itedby J.Wind et al., pp. 42I-48. (NATO ASI SeriesD, Behav- . i992. Beyondart: Toward an understandingof the origins ioraland Social Sciences,6i.) Dordrecht:Kluwer Academic ofmaterial representation in Europe.Annual Review of Anthro- Publishers. pology2 I 537-64. I992. "The analyticalproblems of subjectivity in the . I993. "Technicaland social dimensionof 'Aurignacian makerand user,"in The limitationsof archaeological knowl- age' bodyornaments across Europe," in BeforeLascaux: The edge.Edited by T. Shayand J.Clottes, pp. i8i-2io. Liege:Uni- complexrecord of theEarly Upper Paleolithic. Edited by H. versit6de Liege. Knecht,A. Pike-Tay,and R. White.Boca Raton:CRC Press. I993. Correctdata base: Wrongmodel? Behavioral and ZIAEI, M., H. P. SCHWARCZ, C. M. HALL, AND R. GRUN. BrainSciences I6:767-68. "Radiometricdating of the Mousteriansite at Quneitra,"in . I994. Commenton: Symbolingand the Middle-UpperPa- Quneitra:A Mousteriansite on the Golan Heights.Edited by leolithictransition, by A. MartinByers. CURRENT ANTHROPOL- N. Goren-Inbar,pp. 232-35. Monographs of the Institute of Ar- OGY 35:386-87. chaeology,Hebrew University of Jerusalem,3I. I995. "Maszyckaiconography: A studyof the dispersed symbolsystems of the Magdaleniena navettes,"in Maszycka. Editedby StefanK. Kozlowski.Jahrbuch des Romisch- GermanischenZentralmuseums 40. I996a. "Paleolithicsymbol and imagein the Near East: An internalanalysis and comparisonwith the EuropeanUpper Figurines,Fertility, and the Paleolithic,"in Beyondart: Pleistocene image and symbol.Ed- itedby M. W. Conkey,0. Soffer,and D. Stratmann.Berkeley Emergenceof Complex Society and San Francisco:University of CaliforniaPress. I996b. "Okiuzini:Variabilit6 de categoriedans l'imagerie in PrehistoricCyprus symbolique,"in Fouilles a Okiizini,un site pal6olithiquefinal au sud de la Turquie.Edited by I. Yalcinkayaet al. L'Anthropo- logie IOO:586-94. DIANE BOLGER . n.d.a. BerekhatRam: An Acheuliancarving from the Le- vant.MS. Universityof Maryland, UniversityCollege European . n.d.b."Image and symbolat Okiuzini,"in Okiizini:A Division, Grueneburgweg8i, 60323 Frankfurt, last hunters'site in Anatolia.Edited by M. Otte et al. Antiq- Germany.9 VIII 95 uity.In press. MEIGNAN, L. I988. "Un exemplede comportementtechnolo- figurines, gique diff6rentialselon les matierespremieres: Marilla, cou- The interpretation of anthropomorphic ches 9 et IO," in L'hommede Neandertal,vol. 4, La tech- whetherfrom Upper Paleolithic Europe or fromlater nique. Editedby M. Otte. Liege: Universit6de Liege. prehistoricperiods of the Mediterraneanregion, remains MELLARS, PAUL. I99I. Cognitivechanges and the emergenceof one of the most elusive and problematicalareas in the modernhumans in Europe.Cambridge Archaeological Journal study of early representationalart. Perhaps more than I(I):63-76. MUNDAY, F. C. I979. LevantineMousterian technological vari- any othertype of artifactfrom the prehistoricpast, the ability:A perspectivefrom the Negev. Paleorient 5:87-IO4. female figurehas persistentlyelicited a prioriconcepts OLIVA, M. I993. "The Aurignacianin Moravia,"in BeforeLas- concerningthe natureof early religion and gender-biased caux: The complexrecord of theEarly Upper Paleolithic. Ed- views concerningthe roles of women and men in early itedby H. Knecht,A. Pike-Tay,and R. White,pp. 37-55. Boca Raton:CRC Press. societies. For the Abbe Breuil,the "Venuses" were man- Paleoanthropologistslaunch a societyof their own. i992. Science ufacturedas eroticparaphernalia, providing "pleasure to 256:128i-82. Paleolithic man duringhis meals" (Ucko and Rosenfeld 366 1 CURRENT ANTHROPOLOGY I973: I i9). A recentreview of college-levelanthropology boundup withthat precious resource (Gale i99i), and textbookshas shown thatestablishment views have not thereis evidence forpopulation increase and emerging changed substantiallyover the years,often settling for social stratification(Peltenburg I99I, BolgerI994). At monolithicconcepts of "fertility"or "eroticism"to en- this time as well therearose a highlydistinctive sculp- compass them all (Nelson I993). These conclusions are tural traditionfor which the Chalcolithic periodin Cy- commonly based on fragmentaryevidence, with little prus is perhapsbest known,comprising representations regardfor details of spatial and temporalcontext or for offemales in potteryand stone (fig.2). Like theirprecur- the socioeconomic components of the cultures that sors of Upper Paleolithic Europe, these figurineshave manufacturedand used them. For the later prehistoric traditionallybeen interpretedas "mothergoddesses" or periods,figurines assumed to representpregnant females "fertilityfigurines," the latter being a particularlyat- are known fromsites in the Mediterraneanregion, in- tractiveconcept in Cyprus,the mythologicalbirthplace cludinga substantialgroup of ceramic and stone exam- and chief cult center of Aphroditein Classical times. ples fromChalcolithic and Bronze Age Cyprus.Obsta- The temptationamong scholarsto "read back" fromthe cles such as the difficultyof establishingwhether the Greco-Romandeity to the periodof her supposedorigins figurinesdo indeed representpregnant females and the has thus been seductive and compelling,and many in- lack of secure contextualevidence have preventedeven terpretationstreat the Chalcolithic figurinesprecisely those critical of the "Venus" theoryfrom developing in this way, as prototypesof Aphrodite,normally re- more socially based interpretivemodels (e.g., Vagnetti ferredto as the "Great Goddess" or "Mother" (e.g., J. I 980: 53-5 7; OrphanidesI 990). A recentdiscovery at the KarageorghisI977; V. KarageorghisI99I:I-3; Maierand Chalcolithic site of Kissonerganear Paphos has opened KarageorghisI984:34,