Animal Figurines Research Articles

Laden Animal Figurines from the Chalcolithic Period in Palestine

Animal figures laden with receptacles of several types have been found in Chalcolithic Palestine. Executed in various materials (basalt, pottery, and on a wall painting), animals and containers ali...

Ritual and Ceremony at Neolithic Ain Ghazal (Jordan)

Ain Ghazal is one of the largest Early Neolithic villages in the Near East, covering some ten to eleven hectares in extent. In 1983 a cache of twenty-two human statues and busts was discovered which will provide an unparalleled foundation for investigating early art and symbolism during this crucial period of cultural development. These human figures, as well as smaller human and animal figurines and two plastered skulls from Ain Ghazal, are briefly described and compared with similar evidence from elsewhere in the Near East, and implications concerning social organization and religion are discussed.

Arkæologiske undersøgelser på Oman halvøen

Arkæologiske undersøgelser på Oman halvøen

Arabiens arkæologi

Arabiens arkæologi

The Dating of Horses on Stands and Spectacle Fibulae in Greece

In Evolution, I tried to date tripod-cauldrons by the development of their shape and decoration, and by the style of human and animal figurines upon them, particularly by the style of horses on tripod-handles. I now want to compare tripod-horses with horses on stands, but first I must examine the foundations, and cast a glance at dating evidence afforded by fibulae.In my former study I ventured to tamper with the order laid down by Furtwängler. Not unnaturally, some of his successors at Olympia resisted. They have not met my contention that tripods with solid legs and handles show a consistent development in section from solid to flat, in decoration from simple to elaborate, but they still find it necessary to insert elaborate plated tripods, decorated with advanced horses, into the sequence, so that late solid tripods can imitate their patterns. Plated tripods cannot go in the middle of the series, as Furtwängler said, because too many solid tripods are hybrids between his classes I and III. Hampe puts plated tripods before the decorative period of solid tripods and equates the horses of the last-named with Boeotian rabbits of the seventh century. A horse is a horse and rabbits are different. Early seventh century horses are not at all like rabbits. Let him look again at his own Boeotian brooches.

Research Items

Excavations at Tepe Hissar, Persia, 1931 The work of the joint expedition of the University Museum and the Museum of Art, Philadelphia, at Tepe Hissar, near Damghan in northern Persia during the season of 1931 is described by Dr. E. F. Schmidt, with numerous illustrations in the Museum Journal (Philadelphia), 22, No. 4. The Damghan region contains a number of occupation sites, but, so far as at present ascertained, the only prehistoric site is Tepe Hissar. Three phases of culture were distinguished in the period of occupation, which, as equated with the contemporaneous culture epochs in Mesopotamia, extend from the early Sumerian to early Kassite times, or in"Anatolia from the Red Pottery Age to the consolidation of the Hittite Empire. Occupation ceased at about the middle of the second millennium B.C., when Period III abruptly came to an end, and the site was unoccupied for about two thousand years until the palace of a Sassanian noble was erected on the marginal debris of the ancient towns. Stratum I was sounded in platforms cropping out from below the later deposits. It is characterised by wheel-made painted pottery, and already belongs to the metal age, as is indicated by daggers, points and pins. Many stone objects were still in use. The pottery is decorated with simple geometrical designs and conventionalised animal designs. Great numbers of seal-shaped ornaments are characteristic. The burials were contracted, and in all periods adorned with an incredible number of small beads. In Stratum II a foreign grey ware displaces the painted pottery? but Period I forms persist, though the decoration disappears. Metal work increases, copper mace-heads, nails, bracelets and anklets of wire appearing. Period III appears to grow out of Period II, but with the addition of western culture traits. Tentatively this period is attributed to the first half of the second millennium B.C. Silver vessels are found only in this stratum, and, with them, exquisitely moulded vessels of alabaster and other stone. Copper seals show elaborate patterns and cylinder seals point to a connexion with the west. Animal figurines faithfully represent the originals. Conventionalised female effigies are also found. The mortuary equipment of certain graves is lavish and suggests a dominant social caste.