We are One: Figural finds from the eastern border of the Linear Pottery Culture distribution

Abstract

The paper discusses anthropomorphic representations from two Ukrainian sites which can be dated to the Linear Pottery Culture. They can be categorized as applications and incised human representations. Although their posture is similar, their meaning was probably differing. The applications were fixed to vessels' walls in such a way that they look inside the container, whereas the incised representations look away from the content, facing anyone that would approach it. We may conclude that applications like the ones from the Ukrainian sites are part of a common set of beliefs comprising collective consumption from the same vessel, but we can only speculate about the original content, which may have been something extraordinary like alcohol or something ordinary like meat, milk or soup. On the other hand, the incised representations with their face away from the vessel wall they were attached to may be seen as guardians of the vessels' content.