Symbol or Utilitarian? Perspectives on the Function of Two Unusual Artefacts from the Chalcolithic Settlement Isaiia-Balta Popii

Abstract

The article brings to the attention of both specialists and the general public two clay artifacts, quasi-conical, provided with holes and perforations, discovered in the Precucuteni II-III settlement at Isaiia-Balta Popii, Iasi County. Although objects with similar characteristics are rather rare, the authors have managed to find a few nearly exact analogies. This is all the more surprising as the analogies come from various Neolithic and Eneolithic cultural contexts in Central and Southeastern Europe, giving this object an archetypal character. Establishing its functionality, however, proved to be much more challenging, leading many archaeologists who discovered or approached similar artifacts to easily place them in the somewhat ambiguous sphere of symbolism and cult. Although this interpretation cannot be categorically ruled out, there are arguments supporting a surprising utilitarian functionality, albeit situated, in a sense, within the realm of prehistoric spirituality.