Paleolithic female figurines

[ArabellaScott]

Just spent some time reading up on ancient female figurines, and thought maybe FWR would find some of the material interesting.

https://archive.org/details/shamansqueensfig0000nels

Shamans, queens, and figurines : the development of gender archaeology

"Sarah Nelson, recognized as one of the key figures in studying gender in the ancient world and women in archaeology, brings together much of the work she has done over three decades into a single volume. The book covers her theoretical contributions, her extensive studies of gender in the archaeology of East Asia, and her literary work on the subject. Included with the selections of her writingtaken from diverse articles and books published in a variety of placesis an illuminating commentary about the development of her professional and personal understanding of how gender plays out in ancient societies and modern universities and her current thinking on both topics"--

https://archive.org/details/2744349/page/n1/mode/2up

Self-Representation in Upper Paleolithic Female Figurines

Interesting paper suggesting that the exaggerated forms of many female figurines may be explained by the viewpoint of a woman looking down at her body.

'This study explores the logical possibility that the first images of the human figure were made from the point of view of self rather than other and concludes that Upper Paleolithic ''Venus'' figurines represent ordinary women's views of their own bodies. Using photographic simulations of what a modem female sees of herself, it demonstrates that the anatomical omissions and proportional distortions found in Pavlovian, Kostenkian, and Gravettian female figurines occur naturally in autogenous, or self-generated, information. Thus the size, shape, and articulation of body parts in early figurines appear to be determined by their relationship to the eyes and the relative effects of foreshortening, distance, and occlusion rather than by symbolic distortion. Previous theories of function are summarized to provide an interpretive context, and contemporary claims of stylistic heterogeneity and frequent male representations are examined and found unsubstantiated by a restudy of the originals. As self-portraits of women at different stages of life, these early figurines embodied obstetrical and gynecological information and probably signified an advance in women's self-conscious control over the material conditions of their reproductive lives. '

Women in prehistory
by
Ehrenberg, Margaret R

'The search for prehistoric woman. Anthropological evidence. The behavior of other animals and primates. Archaeological evidence. -The earliest communities. The role of women in human evolution. Women in modern and Paleolithic foraging societies. Matriarchy, patriarchy, or equality. Mother goddesses or Venus figurines? -The first farmers. The discovery of agriculture. The expansion of agricultural communities. -The Bronze Age. Was Minoan Crete a matriarchy? Burials, grave goods and wealth in north-west Europe. A trade in women? Rock art in the Alps and Scandinavia. -The Celtic Iron Age. Domestic organisation in Iron Age Britain. Decoration on Hallstatt pottery and bronze vessels. -Literary sources. Prophets and priestesses. Descent and marriage patterns. Women in war. Tribal chiefs and commanders in battle '

https://www.suppressedhistories.net/articles/notvenusfigurines.html

'They are not Venus Figurines' by Max Dashu

'The term “Venus figurine” is also widely used, which imposes an alien interpretative framework, not only because of its eurocentrism, but because it projects a narrow presumption of “sex object” onto iconography that has a far broader range of meanings and ceremonial uses. Some will say, “But Venus was a goddess — what’s wrong with that?” Few people are even aware that the naming itself originates from the Marquis de Vibraye’s sardonic description of a small paleolithic statuette found in 1864 on his Laugerie-Basse estate in Dordogne. The classically-educated aristocrat called her a "Vénus impudique,” seeing her as “immodest” in contrast to the Roman archetype of Venus Pudica.

Thanks for the recs.

This book also looks interesting - starts off with a chapter on Marija Gimbutas:

https://archive.org/details/invisiblewomenof0000fost/

'The prehistoric female principle: the goddess of old Europe. The theory of Marija Gimbutas Identifying bias in research Intangible evidence: the role of language, oral transmission and myth Tangible evidence: prehistoric art, the visual image, sign and symbol Northern hemisphere: the prehistoric goddess figurines of old Europe Hunter-gathering, the first horticulture and agriculture Three prehistoric civilisations The Indo-Europeans: 'Civilisation' and history begin. The first Indo-Europeans: the beginning of 'civilisation' and written history The first changes to women's status Indo-European philosophies: their development and effects The hidden and new worlds: prehistories, the female principle and Indo-European influences. Hidden worlds: Africa Hidden worlds: the Indian subcontinent Hidden worlds: China, Korea, Japan Hidden worlds: Thailand and Indonesia New worlds: Australia New worlds: Oceania New worlds: the Americas

Oh, and they have Civilisation of the Goddess, too.

https://archive.org/details/civilizationofgo0000gimb_x0c5

'Presents evidence for the existence of an agrarian earth goddess- worshiping civilization in Old Europe that was destroyed by horse-riding, patriarchal, sky-god-worshiping warriors from the east. A panoramic survey of the Neolithic culture of Europe before the Indo-Europeans. With over 600 photographs, drawings, maps, and charts

Ta-daa!

https://archive.org/details/prehistoryofsexf00tay_zn9

Also:

https://archive.org/details/whitegoddess0000unse_q9h4

Fascinating thread. It's a lot later, but these Roman mosaics are also very interesting for what they tell us about women's pastimes. Good commentary here.

https://www.wondersandmarvels.com/2013/11/ancient-roman-girl-athletes.html

D'you mean The White Goddess? Also his Greek Myths?

@Snowypeaks
There is a fair number of penis related carvings and art- although a penis figurine is a bit more fragile than a figurine showing women’s anatomy…can be easily snapped..or snapped off. As you can see from the cave paintings, both sexes are portrayed in the act.

There isn’t really any evidence as to what prehistoric people thought because all we have are the material remains, no writing.

And yes, while there is evidence that in some cultures women were warriors, that doesn’t mean they were equal or part of a matriarchy. In many cultures, the warriors/soldiers are the convicted criminals, slaves, the lowest caste, or the working class from ancient times to modern times. Leaders of soldiers were more likely to have status, whether they actually fought or not.

Cultures where the gender roles differed from us- such that roles we associate with men being for women- like fighting isn’t evidence of matriarchy.

Take for example also working in the fields/farming and house building. In many cultures these are women’s work, in others these are men’s work. But either way, in all cultures we have patriarchy. So we cannot assume archaeological evidence of women hunting, fighting and so on is evidence of equality or matriarchy.

The references linked all date from a period of archaeology and prehistoric theorising that was very Euro-centric and made the error is assuming

• what ever artefacts survived from prehistory must be important rather than simply made from durable material
• the male roles we associate with power and status, were also roles that had power and status in prehistory- this was before interdisciplinary work was a thing so no one thought to look at other cultures where some gender roles were the opposite from European traditions and yet women were still oppressed.

The earth goddess to sky god trend is more linked with shifts in relative importance of pantheons of deities of the ancient civilisations (for which we do have written evidence), rather than prehistory.

Excellent thread, thanks @ArabellaScott and all who've contributed reading material.

There is a fair number of penis related carvings and art- although a penis figurine is a bit more fragile than a figurine showing women’s anatomy…can be easily snapped..or snapped off. As you can see from the cave paintings, both sexes are portrayed in the act.
Many cultures have phallus fertility symbols which would be no more fragile than the Scottish figurine we saw upthread. The fact that so many of these female figures have been found suggests that they were very common indeed. And that the women had enough status to make it worthwhile making them.

There isn’t really any evidence as to what prehistoric people thought because all we have are the material remains, no writing.
If you mean the Scythian tribes, we have the reports about them from people who did write, and the oral traditions. Why can we draw inferences from a cave painting but not from a figurine? Or the ubiquity of a particular type of figurine?

And yes, while there is evidence that in some cultures women were warriors, that doesn’t mean they were equal or part of a matriarchy. In many cultures, the warriors/soldiers are the convicted criminals, slaves, the lowest caste, or the working class from ancient times to modern times. Leaders of soldiers were more likely to have status, whether they actually fought or not.

Cultures where the gender roles differed from us- such that roles we associate with men being for women- like fighting isn’t evidence of matriarchy.

I didn't say the Scythian tribes were a matriarchy - I said the society was equal.

These nomadic and semi-nomadic tribes covered by the generic name "Scythians" lived in a vast area all the way from north-west China to the Urals, to the Black Sea and modern-day Iran from 5000-4000BC into a couple of centuries AD. A burial of a female cavalry general from Thrace has even been found in Roman Britain. They hunted, expanded their territory, stole each other's horses, defended their territories, migrated, etc. There is no evidence of castes. Women enjoyed sexual freedom and equal status with men. The children were brought up pretty much gender-neutral - kids were on a horse practically from birth, riding on their own from the age of 5. Fighting was not a punishment or a menial task - it was a way to achieve high status. Women led hunting or raiding bands - all-women or a mixture of men and women. I refer you to what Mayor says about the rite of passage for girls - of killing a man. The women formed a minority of the fighters but their grave goods were among the richest. They were buried with their horses, bows and arrows, sometimes swords as well. and prized possessions, and occasionally with their children. There is evidence on their skeletons of healed war wounds, injuries consistent with falling off a horse, etc. The name the tribes were originally given means the tribe whose women are equal to the men. Greek writers refer to this sex equality over and over again. There are sagas and songs about great queens in the Circassian language or dialect.

With DNA testing now available, many previously excavated burial sites have been revisited and the graves found to contain female skeletons, not male. In one case, it had been thought that a male warrior had been buried with the burned skeleton of his wife - as it was suttee or similar. The warrior had weapons etc and the other skeleton didn't. It turned out after testing that the warrior was a woman and the burnt skeleton was of a man. Either sex might be buried with mirrors, needles and leather, dyes, weapons or jewellery. Tattoing seems to have been a women-only thing, though.

A detail which I thought was lovely was that men and women used the same spears, with the same length of blade at the business end. But the handles of women's spears were filed down for their smaller hands. Proper "lady spears"!

Anyway, lots more of the book to go...

I could spend the next month looking at all the material here.

Another very good non fiction book is 'when God was a woman' by Merlin Stone.

Thank you for this, so interesting.

Been digging in my own shelves. Two more interesting books:

Edit to add: Cult if the Mother Goddess, E O James and Goddess by Adele Getty

Place marking in thread as I never go back to saved threads

Completely out of my period/not my thing, but I do so love MN threads like this with everyone merrily geeking out. It’s like sitting in a virtual Buttery. With better food, including when I’m not eating…

https://archive.org/details/bloodbreadrosesh0000grah
I haven't read this in years, I think I'll have to get it off the shelf again.

Just thought that I'd add that there are lots of 'fat lady' statues from the neolithic period on display in the National Museum of Archaeology in Valletta, Malta (I was in Malta earlier this year). This paper mentions the 'sleeping lady' figure which is particularly interesting because of her natural-looking snoozing position on a couch and she has a pleated skirt and an unusual hair style. https://fenici.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Sharon-The-female-figure-in-Neolithic-Malta.pdf

Interesting article. The author is keen not to infer that the plethora of female figurines is necessarily evidence of a matriarchy, because the figurines on their own don't justify that inference. I agree. But it seems almost perverse to say that those figurines could be male or female. I think it's pretty obvious that they are meant to be women - possibly older women who had nursed several children. But I'm not an expert.

Snowy - I'd say that the vast majority of them are female but one or two of them I saw could be a bit sumo-wrestler sort of shape where only the bottom half was there. I thought it was interesting that there were only holes where the head should be sometimes and that possibly there were interchangeable heads.

Post menopausal females again?

I don't remember anything about them when we had our Maltese megaliths lecture in second year on college. Unforgettable because of the description of the geological structure of Malta as 'like a giant cheese sandwich'. Our professor had several idiosyncratic practices, one of which was that in second year the main curriculum should be divided up into areas that we would present ourselves, with supervision and advice from the lecturers. The woman who did the Malta talk was a mature student whose day job was domestic science teacher. We all laughed, but we never forgot the substance of that lecture - teaching experience tells!

Thanks, MTCoffeepot.
The missing heads thing is quite intriguing, isn't it? I'm inclined to see it as part of the symbolic nature of the figurines. Shaped like an exaggerated version of a woman - most of them - and representing fertility? So any woman (or man) could put her own personal carved head on it and thus access its power?

There isn’t really any evidence as to what prehistoric people thought because all we have are the material remains, no writing.

”If you mean the Scythian tribes, we have the reports about them from people who did write,”

No I don’t mean the Scythians as they are not prehistoric, but ancient. Prehistory is defined as the time before writing was invented. So you see we only know how the Scythian society was seen by other cultures from the writings of ancient historians, which have their own problems btw and cannot always be taken as unbiased & objective. In many cases the Ancients would literally write propaganda about other neighbouring peoples to justify going to war with them.

The same with your Thracian general- we are in history then not prehistory.

I am not saying we can only infer from cave paintings, I am saying that most of what we infer is by necessity speculative.

We do have long running cultural issues with presuming our noble prehistoric ancestors lived in an Eden of sorts where the ills of more recent times did not exist- such as patriarchy.

Sorry I meant to delete quote before posting.

I lost patience with Graves many years ago. In, I believe, the preface to the White Goddess, he described the difficulty he had getting it published. One publisher,after turning it down, was found in his wardrobe, hanging, after some auto erotic activity which had gone badly wrong. Graves attributed this to the activity of the goddess, as a punishment. I wasn't prepared to go along with any of his hypotheses about her after that. "Go on then, do your worst" I said to the imaginary character, and unless she is responsible for my being single into my 70s, she has proved to be non-existent.