A STUDY OF ANTHROPOMORPHIC FIGURINES IN THE NEOLITHIC OF SOUTHWEST ASIA AND SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE by CARL T. FEAGANS Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of The University of Texas at Arlington in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of MASTER OF ARTS IN ANTHROPOLOGY THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT ARLINGTON December 2013 Copyright © by Carl T. Feagans 2013 All Rights Reserved ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I most gratefully acknowledge the professors, staff, and students of the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at the University of Texas at Arlington, who provided an encouraging and energetic environment during the time I studied there. I am sincerely thankful to my thesis committee members, Dr. Naomi Cleghorn, and Dr. Robert Kunovich, both of whom offered encouragement, guidance, and support for my research from start to finish. I am, however, deeply grateful for the advice and mentorship of Dr. Karl Petruso, my thesis supervisor. Discussions in our meetings were always thought-provoking and I shall genuinely miss them. Sincere thanks are due also to Dr. Angela Keller for her encouragement to develop a relational database rather than a complex spreadsheet to manage data. Without her experience and insight, I suspect several wheels would have needed reinvention. I am also indebted to Dr. Josephine Ryan for her encouraging words and advice throughout my undergraduate and graduate studies at UTA. Thanks go to Rassan Sowell who probably sees his contribution as tiny but it was an early one that set me on this journey. Finally, I could not have completed this thesis without the patience and understanding of my wife and daughter, LaVerda and Delaney Feagans. Thank you all. November 12, 2013 iii ABSTRACT A STUDY OF ANTHROPOMORPHIC FIGURINES IN THE NEOLITHIC OF SOUTHWEST ASIA AND SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE Carl T. Feagans, M.A. The University of Texas at Arlington, 2013 Supervising Professor: Karl M. Petruso Anthropomorphic figurines resemble people, very often the people who created them. Thus, these figurines stand to provide insight into their cultures perhaps from the perspective of the original members of the culture. Researchers in figurine studies often speculate on the purposes of figurines and attempt to interpret their meanings. This study attempts to examine anthropomorphic figurines of the Neolithic in Southwest Asia and Southeastern Europe through cataloged and compared physical characteristics of the figurines themselves gathered from published data into a relational database. Figurine data are then imported into statistical software for analysis. The data produced in this study support the early hypothesis that a disproportionate number of figurines are representative of the female sex compared to male. The data also strengthen newer hypotheses that asexual figurines are equally disproportionate. The results reveal trends in representations of sex and suggest perhaps figurine creators may not always have been end users. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ................................................................................................................. iii ABSTRACT .................................................................................................................................... iv LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS ............................................................................................................ vii LIST OF TABLES ......................................................................................................................... viii Chapter Page 1. INTRODUCTION……………………………………..………..….. ..................................... 1 1.1 The Scope of the Project ................................................................................ 2 1.2 A Review of Past Scholarship ......................................................................... 3 1.3 Regional Contexts .......................................................................................... 8 1.3.1 Southwest Asia ............................................................................. 11 1.3.2 Southeastern Europe .................................................................... 12 2. METHODOLOGY ....................................................................................................... 15 2.1 Theoretical Considerations ........................................................................... 15 2.2 Database Creation ........................................................................................ 20 3. THE FIGURINES: MANUFACTURE AND DESCRIPTION ........................................ 25 3.1 Use of Clay ................................................................................................... 25 3.2 Use of Stone ................................................................................................. 28 3.3 Cowrie Eyes ................................................................................................. 28 3.4 Diamond-Shaped or Masked Heads ............................................................. 29 3.5 Posture ......................................................................................................... 31 3.6 Incising and Painting .................................................................................... 32 3.7 Representations of Obesity and Steatopygia................................................ 34 4. ANALYSIS AND RESULTS ........................................................................................ 39 4.1 Analyses and Results ................................................................................... 39 4.1.1 Geography .................................................................................... 39 v 4.1.2 Material ......................................................................................... 41 4.1.3 Dating ........................................................................................... 43 4.1.4 Obesity, Buttocks, Bellies, and Breasts ........................................ 43 4.1.5 Posture ......................................................................................... 47 4.1.6 Sex ............................................................................................... 48 4.1.7 Cruciform ...................................................................................... 49 4.1.8 Diamond-Face / Mask ................................................................... 50 4.1.9 Cowrie Eyes.................................................................................. 51 4.1.10 Arm Position and Status ............................................................. 52 4.1.11 Leg Position and Status .............................................................. 53 4.1.12 Context ....................................................................................... 54 5 DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS ........................................................................... 55 5.1 Discussions .................................................................................................. 55 5.2 Conclusions .................................................................................................. 60 APPENDIX A. ABBREVIATIONS ...................................................................................................... 61 B. CATALOG ................................................................................................................... 63 C. CONCORDANCE ..................................................................................................... 174 D. FIGURINE IMAGES BY REGION ............................................................................. 184 E. FIGURINE ARMS AND LEGS .................................................................................. 193 REFERENCES ........................................................................................................................... 202 BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION .............................................................................................. 210 vi LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Figure Page 1 Study Region of Neolithic Figurines in Southwest Asia and Southeastern Europe............................................................................................... 10 2 Study Area with Individual Regions Indicated ........................................................................... 14 3 The Paleolithic Löwenmensch Iigure, carved From Ivory .............................................................................................................................. 18 4 Example of an Entry in the Primary Database Using LibreOffice Base .................................................................................................................... 22 5 A Marble Figurine Known as the “Sleeping Lady” of Neolithic Malta in a Novel Position ........................................................................................ 27 6 Cowrie Eyes and the Cowrie Shell ............................................................................................ 28 7 Diamond-Shaped Head or Mask ............................................................................................... 30 8 “Birth Giving Goddess” with a Diamond-Shaped or Mask Face......................................................................................................................... 31 9 Yarmukian Figurine of Sha’ar Hagolan with Incised Chevron Pattern on the Leg .................................................................................................