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Rethinking Figurines: A Critical View from Archaeology of Gimbutas, the 'Goddess' and Popular Culture
Abstract
In almost all of its variants, the Goddess movement has appealed to and uses archaeological materials, especially those that it claims to be images of females: female figurines or statuettes and female motifs on ceramics or other media.l Above all, images from the European Upper Palaeolithic and Neolithic periods (c. 40,000 to 5,000 years ago) are claimed to represent fertility and other positively-valued attributes2 and thus are often taken as material and symbolic evidence for the existence of a world in which females, as a generic category, were valued positively. We entered into a more thorough discussion of the use of archaeology in these contemporary social movements in an earlier version of this paper in which we drew attention to the rich literature, the complexity of the issues, and the variety of participants and views involved in what for the purposes of discussion we have termed the 'Goddess movement'. Here, we shall focus on the use of the Upper Palaeolithic and complexity of the issues, and the variety of participants and views involved in what for the purposes of discussion we have termed the 'Goddess movement'. Here, we shall focus on the use of the Upper Palaeolithic and Neolithic (c.40,000 to 5000 years ago).
Ruth Tringham and Margaret Conkey (1998) Rethinking Figurines: a critical analysis of Archaeology, Feminism and Popular Culture. In Ancient Goddesses: The Myths and the Evidence, edited by C. Morris and C. Goodison, pp. 22-45. British Museum Press, London.
... For the Central European LBK, could the humanshaped figurines (mostly female) or anthropomorphic vessels be an expression of religion? To explain the female figurines, the hypothesis of the Great Goddess in a female-dominated society developed by Marija Gimbutas (Gimbutas, 1989 and is no longer tenable (Tringham and Conkey, 1998). However, as they come from houses or pits alongside houses, it is likely that they testify to a domestic cult practiced in a corner of the dwelling (Bánffy, 2017). ...
The invisibility of women in history and archaeology is frequently emphasised. Studying gender is one of the ways to go beyond this observation as social sciences regularly state that gender systems shape the entire social body. Indeed, roles and gender relations between men and women and social groups are regulated by norms transmitted by educative systems and religious doctrines. These norms and rules permit the functioning of the political systems and are transcribed in institutions and deployed in social organisation. Thus, the study of gender leads to the study of society as a whole. Moreover, the existence of gender is mainly material. The differences between women and men are substantiated by clothing and jewellery, division of labour, places and spaces, bodily postures, technical tools and process, etc. Based on this framework, a methodology is proposed to investigate gender in archaeology and, in particular, Neolithic women from the Linearbandkeramik culture. It consists in defining the aspects of gender perceptible in the archaeological data, then to confront them with the manifestations of gender reported by the social sciences and thus to evaluate the gaps between the “living” gender and the gender as it appears in the archaeological data. The results allow us to highlight several women groups, by comparing with other social groups, notably the group of men with adze. The latter is the most cohesive with its own traits
in terms of diet, local origin and roles. Women are more diverse and further study is needed to identify the diversity of the LBK women. In addition, this study shows that archaeology gives only a very incomplete picture of gender. In terms of the division of labour by sex, only a few tasks have been highlighted. Many other aspects, such as sexual rights and lineage systems, the gender of spaces, religion, cult, myths, narratives and cosmogony, which are central elements of gender regimes, will likely remain unknown. However, there is room for improvement as archaeological gender studies are not just a binary study of men and women. In this respect, there is a need to explore the social variability in terms of identity, roles and status of the LBK population as a whole, particularly of groups of women.
... In the 1960-1970s, other ways of interpreting figurines were proposed, its diversity and multifunctionality were repeatedly noted (Griaznov, 1964;Ucko, 1968;Masson, Sarianidi, 1973;Antonova, 1977, p. 92-97), but the authority of venerable researchers turned out to be so high that serious criticism of their ideas became possible only after their death (Meskell, 1995;1998;Tringham, Conkey, 1998;Lesure, 2011 etc.). ...
The study of anthropomorphic figurines of the Neolithic and Copper Ages has long required the development of a methodology based on a system of evidence. Otherwise, we will always be faced with interpretations that have the character of ‘anecdotical explanations’ and with attempts to construct universal schemes. The nature of
Prehistoric Art is not much different from the modern art we are familiar with, if we consider art as a communication technology that forms a system of connections and social institutions, and objects of art as intermediaries in this communication. The differences will only be in the degree of preservation of materials and the availability of
comments from performers and contemporaries, as well as at the level of development of technology and organization of the social environment. Therefore, objects of prehistoric art can be successfully considered in the context of art studies, where the
methodology is based on the sequence: formal study-iconography-iconology. In the interpretation of archaeological finds, beside the archaeological typology, reconstruction of the archaeological and social context, as well as the correct use of structural analogies, play an important role.
... Meanwhile, many scholarly publications reviewing and critiquing her approach were being published. These criticisms peaked after her death in 1994, and many archaeologists started doing contextual analysis in order to disprove the Goddess interpretations (Goodison and Morris 1999;Hamilton et al. 1996;Meskell 1995;Talalay 1994;Tringham and Conkey 1999). They did so for two reasons. ...
Prehistoric anthropomorphic figurines are probably one of the most widely discussed and possibly the most poorly understood archaeological objects of all. The engendering of Anatolian prehistory using figurines and visual representations of people has not progressed much beyond defining which figure is male or female or, in most cases, which figure represents a god or goddess. This article aims to take apart the Mother Goddess theory and discuss how it was created and why it is problematic for feminist scholarship. Many interpretations of figurines have been proposed in previous decades; they incorporate such concepts as embodiment, materiality, and gender. As a case study, this paper concentrates on Köşk Höyük, a central Anatolian Late Neolithic and Chalcolithic site, with the aim to have a broader look at the visual imagery. The anthropomorphic representations on relief-decorated pottery and the figurines found at Köşk Höyük have typically been interpreted as representations of gods and goddesses, despite ongoing critiques of the Mother Goddess theory. This paper analyses representations of gendered identities, based on visual media, in order to gain a better understanding of the function and use of such representations.
Keywords: Neolithic, Chalcolithic, Anatolia, figurines, Mother Goddess, performativity, gender
... Scholarly criticism since the early 1990s of the essentialist world of the "Great Goddess of Life, Death, and Regeneration" as constructed by Gimbutas and others may also have had its share in this decline (e.g. Tringham and Conkey 1998). ...
As of 2022, most of Turkey’s World Heritage properties are or include archaeological sites or landscapes featuring places of religion and ritual of past and often present significance and use. This chapter focuses on two of them—Çatalhöyük and Ephesus—to highlight their similarities and differences in terms of the continuities in the discontinuity and discontinuities in the continuity of their spiritual significance and ritual use, which have transformed them into associative cultural landscapes through placemaking practices. This was through public archaeology at Çatalhöyük where New Age “Goddess communities” were numerically the most important among special interest groups by the restart of scientific research in the 1990s; and through spatial segregation of local ritual users, spiritual pilgrims, and cultural tourists of diverse ethnicity at a number of religious sites scattered in the landscape, following dramatic changes in the user profile before the House of Mary and Isa Bey Mosque have become the most densely-used components for ritual use at Ephesus. The concluding comparative evaluation of these strategies reveal their success in avoiding the risk of tension and conflict, as a sound basis for establishing mutual respect of values and constructive dialogue towards building a shared sustainable future.
Iberia provides a solid foundation for expanding the study of the earliest examples of human images, clothed and accompanied by diverse objects.
Their association with the social codes in the European Neolithic and Chalcolithic adds relevant information. Powerful links between the continental plains and the Near East are compatible with the Palaeolithic and Mesolithic roots of many of the objects. Likewise, they are compatible with the personality of each of the areas with the greatest population densities. Their relationship with materials such as clay, the observations of female genitalia and the detail of maintenance activities
that seen on the figurines, confirm that some of these figures transmitted cultural codes related to women. However, a single hypothesis for the whole chronological and geographic repertoire, and for the different representation of gender and ages, is too limited. Any satisfying hypotheses must consider their marked multifunctionality and therefore their polysemy.
The synchrony detected in the Iberian Peninsula between figurines as the most familiar formulae and the presence of decorated megaliths, rock-shelters, rocks and stelae, as the most visible and social evidence, is a basic element to understand the role of the portable images. From group codes to individual representations, their use repeats social systematics expressed in other symbols in European Late Prehistory. Roots in the past were established by symbols recuperated from
old ancestors, which were enriched by diverse raw materials (including ivory and gold). They became support for the power of emerging lineages related to new leaders
In this article, I describe one of the objects I encountered while working briefly in the National Museum of Kosova: the Goddess on the Throne. In addition to being an important Neolithic artifact, this enigmatic figurine has become the symbol of Prishtina, Kosova. Empirical evidence from the Balkan Neolithic can help theorize aspects of the goddess’s usage andmeaning, but little can be known definitively (for example, the perceived gender of the figurine). Nevertheless, I aim to track how it could have been used then, and how it is being used now. Paradoxically, the figurine’s significance and meaning (as a “goddess” deity) exist in direct contrast to the lived reality of contemporary Kosovar women. My case study invokes the material object as agent of its own narration through tracking historical processes that destabilize notions of linear time, connecting the past to the present in interesting, sometimes disconcerting, ways. I use the method of critical fabulation, specifically the medium of poetry, to reveal key points of rupture surrounding the goddess’s role as a modern symbol, but also to demonstrate how poetic exercises can serve as alternatives to museum labels. This approach aims to decenter fixed notions of cultural identity, femininity, and time, and recenter the valuable contradictions that live within the elevated status of certain cultural icons.
Marija Gimbutas (Gimbutienė) is a renowned archaeologist who specialised in European prehistory. This paper explores her life and work, including her personal biography, showing how her upbringing in Lithuania shaped her academic interests and orientations. This paper also reviews her professional achievements and contributions via the lenses of seven aspects of her academic life, namely her time in higher education, her work on Lithuanian folklore and symbolism, her explorations of Old Europe during the Neolithic, her Kurgan Hypothesis and engagement with Baltic studies, her excavations in southeast Europe, her work on the Goddess, and her symbolism work. It also examines academic and popular reactions to her writing and her influence on scholars and public discourse. Keywords: Gimbutas, Neolithic, history of archaeology, Goddess, figurines.
V.1. The Flaked Stone Assemblages
(Catherine Perlès – Lygeri Papagiannaki)
The Platia Magoula Zarkou flaked stone assemblages were studied simultaneously from a technological
and a traceological perspective, aiming at documenting diachronic changes in raw material
procurement strategies, techniques of production, tool types and tool uses throughout the Middle
Neolithic and during the Middle to Late Neolithic transition. Five phases have been identified on
this basis. The first four show indisputable continuity in all aspects, although long-term trends can
also be observed. The last phase, dated to the early Late Neolithic, differs more markedly. The
assemblages are small in number, which can be attributed to the absence of local raw materials,
and to the fact that, despite a location that could have appeared as favourable, PMZ seems to have
remained in a marginal position vis-à-vis radiolarite and obsidian exchange networks in Thessaly.
Three modes of procurement of the tools can be identified: first, a domestic, unskilled production
of flakes from river pebbles. The high proportion of flakes and flake tools compared with blades
and bladelets is indeed one of the specificities of the PMZ assemblages. Second, a restricted local
production of obsidian bladelets by itinerant specialists; third, a limited trade in chert and honeyflint
blades. Given the limited access to raw materials, the rate of retouched tools is high, and the
tools were often intensely curated. Sickle inserts predominate in the first three phases but decrease
afterwards, as do inserts on flakes, predominant in the earliest phases. A progressive diversification
of the toolkit can be observed throughout the sequence. Hide working is the best-represented
activity after harvesting, but the tools used are varied – end-scrapers, flakes, blades – and unspecialised.
In phase 5 the proportion of obsidian becomes insignificant but the typological composition
is more balanced and the range of materials worked more diversified: cereals, wood, hide.
Weapons are also rare, with only a few trapezes and transverse arrowheads in phases 3 and 4, and
tools related to butchery are absent. All the tool types found at PMZ are known from other sites
in Thessaly, albeit often rare: for instance, the transverse arrowheads, the sickle blades shaped
with an end-scraper front and the sickle inserts on thick-backed flakes. The good representation
of these rare tool types at PMZ, together with the absence of others such as splintered blades,
sets it apart from the other settlements and contributes to reinforce the impression of a marked
idiosyncratic continuity, especially in the Middle Neolithic. The interplay between raw material
availability, the activities performed at PMZ and the tool types that were chosen to perform these
technical tasks gives a strong and distinct personality to the PMZ flaked stone tool assemblages.
Building upon the idea of Douglass Bailey that prehistoric figurines represent
actual individuals, it is suggested here that their makers represented people
in the manner they perceived them, following the role models familiar from
their own society. This further implies that, on the grounds of certain indicators,
it may be possible to identify social differences depending on the age,
sex/gender, and possibly other modes of inequality. An attempt is made here
to define the criteria identifying the markers – indicators of inequality, such as:
representations of hair style and jewellery, size of figurines, as well as the correlation
between these indicators and the details on the figurines’ bodies pointing
to their sex/gender or age. In the assemblage from the site Pavlovac-Čukar, the
correlation has been established between the representations ascribed as male
and massive bangle bracelets and belts, indicating that adult male individuals of
higher status were marked out by the number of bangles and the way of wearing
the belt. A similar suggestion is proposed concerning the large-size figurines,
marked with incisions perhaps representing tattoo marks, with looser breasts,
indicating the possibility that older women obtained higher social status than
the young ones. It is worth noting that in the case of the Vinča figurines little
attention is paid to the representation of hair style, although it has been established
that in the preindustrial societies, hair is an important indicator of social
status, even more than jewellery. Hair length, specific hair styles, as well as
various ornaments placed here, indicate sex/gender and social differences, various
group and individual identities, as well as aesthetic ideas. Two heads from
Čukar, as well as the one from Predionica, perform specific hair styles – hair
shorter, reaching just below ears, and the crown is shaven. Bearing in mind that
these figurines may show portrait characteristics, it may be suggested that these
individuals may have achieved higher social status.
Çukuriçi Höyük 4. Household Economics in the Early Bronze Age Aegean is a pioneering interdisciplinary account of households and socio-political organization in Aegean prehistory, written by a socio-cultural anthropologist embedded in a team of prehistoric archaeologists. Sabina Cveček applies methods of historical anthropology to address key issues in discussing households and socio-political organization at the dawn of the Bronze Age Aegean and beyond. By navigating through the “dwelling perspective” at two prehistoric mound sites, namely Çukuriçi Höyük in western Anatolia (Turkey) and Platia Magoula Zarkou in Thessaly (Greece), Cveček scrutinizes the conflicting relations between metanarratives and site-based archaeological contexts, complemented by historical ethnographic accounts. This unique interdisciplinary contribution will appeal not only to specialists in Aegean prehistory and historical anthropologists, but also to scholars in the social sciences and humanities. It may inspire scholars to recognize the unparalleled value of archaeological materiality in addressing non-state imagined communities, alongside historical, ethnographic, and other written sources.
ResearchGate has not been able to resolve any references for this publication.