THE FIGURINES
Lynn Meskell and Carolyn Nakamura
Figure 33. Two very small unsexed human clay figurines with protruding stomachs and buttocks 11848.X1 (a) and 11324.X3 (b). |
This year the figurine team focused on recording basic information for all of the 1526 objects in the miniature shaped object corpus. As a result we were able to perform some preliminary spatial analyses, which allowed us to begin discussing notions of process, context, and circulation of figurines at the site. In addition to finding more of the common abbreviated and zoomorphic types, excavators uncovered some less common and new forms. The 4040 and IST surface scrape uncovered two very small unsexed human clay figurines with protruding stomachs and buttocks (11324.X3, 11848.X1 – Figure 33). Another anthropomorphic stone figurine was found in a midden in 4040 (12102.X1), similar to 10475.X2 from last season, but with the head and neck sawed off. Another midden unit, (10396), in the 4040 produced 11 figurines/fragments (most zoomorphic). Finally, the IST team found a very atypical human clay figurine (12401.X7) that depicts a robust female on the front and a skeleton on the back; the neck has a dowel hole and the head is missing (see Figure 3).
Given the diversity of this collection, we seek to explore the various assemblages and materials as figured lifeworlds. A notion of figurine as process, rather than object or end product is therefore central to our project. Given their specific materiality (portable, three-dimensional, miniature), figurines can render multiple levels of representation and participate in, or even anchor, storytelling activities that mediate issues of memory and identity. We find the wider practices of embedding materials, and the circulation, plastering and defacement of body parts to be evocative gestures that intersect with many figurine practices. These may embody and express particular notions and relations of life and death cycles and we plan to explore these issues and connections more fully in future seasons and publications.
Figure 34. Examples of zoomorphic and simple abbreviated forms. (a) 10396.X2, (b) 10303.X1 (c) 10396.H3 (d) 11391.X3 |
