UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA GRADUATE COLLEGE ZOOMORPHIC REPRESENTATIONS IN EARLY CYCLADIC ART: A CATALOGUE REFERENCE LIST A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE FACULTY in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of MASTER OF ARTS IN ART HISTORY By MARIAH LOUANN ASHBACHER Norman, Oklahoma 2017 ZOOMORPHIC REPRESENTATIONS IN EARLY CYCLADIC ART: A CATALOGUE REFERENCE LIST A THESIS APPROVED FOR THE SCHOOL OF VISUAL ARTS BY ______________________________ Dr. Rozmeri Basic, Chair ______________________________ Dr. Mary Jo Watson ______________________________ Dr. Allison Palmer © Copyright by MARIAH LOUANN ASHBACHER 2017 All Rights Reserved. I dedicate this thesis to my husband, Todd, and to my children, Christian, Parker and Madison. Acknowledgements I would like to acknowledge the mentoring I received from Dr. Rozmeri Basic over the last four years, who introduced me to the Aegean Bronze Age. It is because of her that I decided to study Art History. Through my studies at the School of Visual Arts, I became acquainted with several professors who shaped my education, including Dr. W. Jackson Rushing, III, Dr. Robert Bailey, Professor Victor Youritzin, and Professor B. Byron Price. I also want to particularly mention Dr. Mary Jo Watson and Dr. Allison Palmer, who along with Dr. Basic, have been sources of immeasurable inspiration as art historians, professors, and women. I thank them for their contribution to this thesis as members of my committee and for shaping me as an emerging art historian. iv Table of Contents Acknowledgements ......................................................................................................... iv List of Figures ................................................................................................................. vii Abstract .......................................................................................................................... viii Chapter 1: Introduction ..................................................................................................... 1 Geographic and Environmental Background ............................................................. 6 Animals in Cycladic Culture .................................................................................... 11 Bronze Age Chronology ........................................................................................... 14 Methodology ............................................................................................................. 22 Chapter 2: Literature Review ......................................................................................... 24 Role of Migration in Cultural Exchange .................................................................. 27 Maritime Trade in Early Bronze Age Aegean .......................................................... 31 Religion and Funeral Rites ....................................................................................... 34 Chapter 3: Animal Presentations in Cycladic Art .......................................................... 43 Domesticates ............................................................................................................. 50 Sheep/Rams ........................................................................................................ 50 Pigs…… ............................................................................................................. 51 Bovines ............................................................................................................... 52 Wild Animals ............................................................................................................ 54 Hedgehogs .......................................................................................................... 54 Birds… ............................................................................................................... 57 Frogs… ............................................................................................................... 64 Snakes.. ............................................................................................................... 65 v Feline… .............................................................................................................. 66 Flies/Bees ........................................................................................................... 68 Marine Objects ................................................................................................... 69 Mythological Animals .............................................................................................. 70 Manticore ............................................................................................................ 70 Chapter 4: Conclusion .................................................................................................... 73 A Brief Note on the Current State of Research ........................................................ 75 Bibliography ................................................................................................................... 83 Appendix A: Catalog Reference List, Chronological ..................................................... 98 Early Cycladic I (3200 BCE-2800/2700 BCE) ...................................................... 100 Early Cycladic II (2800/2700 BCE-2400/2300 BCE) ............................................ 115 Early Cycladic III (2400/2300 BCE-2000 BCE) .................................................... 196 vi List of Figures Figure 1: The Cycladic Islands. Renfrew, The Emergence of Civilization, 137. ........... 76 Figure 2: Axes of migration into the Cyclades. Broodbank, An Island Archaeology, 132. ........................................................................................................................................ 77 Figure 3: Neolithic sites in the Cyclades. Broodbank, An Island Archaeology, 122. .... 78 Figure 4: The early prehistoric culture sequence in the Cycladic Islands. Renfrew, The Emergence of Civilization, 150. ..................................................................................... 79 Figure 5: The Early Prehistoric Culture Sequence in the Cycladic Islands; Renfrew, The Emergence of Civilization, 150. ..................................................................................... 80 Figure 6: Chart of chronological and typological development of Cycladic figurines; Getz-Gentle, Early Cycladic Art in North American Collections, 48. ........................... 81 Figure 7: Part of a large floor composition from Strofilas, Andros; Televantou, "Strofilas: A Neolithic Settlement on Andros," 49......................................................... 82 Figure 8: Rock pecking showing a canoe carrying a person and an animal, from Korphi t'Aroniou on Naxos; Broodbank, An Island Archaeology, 98........................................ 82 Figure 9: Ring-shaped idol pendant from Strofilas and Keros-Syros 'frying pan', Chalandriani; Televantou, "Strofilas: A Neolithic Settlement on Andros," 52; National Archaeological Museum website, accessed 3/19/17. ..................................................... 82 vii Abstract The focus of my thesis is to examine the noteworthy role that three-dimensional zoomorphic figures played in Cycladic Art during the Early Bronze Age Aegean period. The importance of animals for this period, clearly documented by their artistic representations, has largely been surpassed by scholarship on the anthropomorphic figures found in and around burial sites. It is my intention with this study, and an accompanying reference list of sixty-nine works, to provide evidence that supports the importance of the animals, their relationship to the communities of the islands, and to discuss the reasons and iconography behind their artistic production. Previously, the zoomorphic objects discussed here have been studied considering the archaeological context of their discovery, as part of a chronological group or on an individual basis only for their aesthetic qualities. However, by compiling them as an isolated corpus of objects, and then arranging them chronologically, new interpretations become apparent. When these considerations are combined with existing information known about the settlements and cemeteries where they were excavated, established hypotheses about other artifacts, and comparative data concerning cultures of contact, it is possible to come to new perspectives concerning the role of animal objects in the Early Cycladic period. I propose that the three-dimensional zoomorphic figures represented in the catalog reference list are in the categories of votives and occasionally cult images used in domestic cult activity. viii Chapter 1: Introduction Five thousand years ago, on a fractured island group in the Aegean Sea, dozens of small, tightly-knit communities were flourishing during the beginning of the Bronze Age in the Cyclades, (Fig.1). This early Cycladic period (c.3200-2000 BCE) is primarily defined by the myriad anthropomorphic marble figurines found in and around burial sites on these islands. A smaller corpus of figures are the three-dimensional representations of animals and these lesser-known objects are the focus of my thesis. I have compiled sixty-nine animal figures into a catalog reference list that includes the most recent state of research on these objects. Paintings, sculptures and clay modeled animals are part of human history, and the beginning of art history starts with their depictions