Prehistoric Figurines Representation and Corporeality in the Neolithic [Paperback]

Fully illustrated, Prehistoric Figurinesbrings a radical new approach to one of the most exciting, but poorly understood artefacts from our prehistoric past. Studying the interpretation of prehistoric figurines from Neolithic southeast Europe, Bailey introduces recent developments from the fields of visual culture studies and cultural anthropology, and investigates the ways in which representations of human bodies were used by the pre-historic people to understand their own identities, to negotiate relationships and to make subtle political points.

Bailey examines four critical conditions:
* figurines as miniatures
* figurines as three-dimensional representations
* figurines as anthropomorphs
* figurines as representations.

Through these conditions, the study travels beyond the traditional mechanisms of interpretation and takes the debate past the out-dated interpretations of figurines as Mother-Goddess as Bailey examines individual prehistoric figurines in their original archaeological contexts and views them in the light of modern exploitations of the human form.

Students and scholars of History and Archaeology will benefit immensely from Bailey's close understanding of the material culture and pre-history of the Balkans.1. Introduction 2. Miniaturism and Dimensionality 3. Hamangia 4. Anthropomorphism: Dolls, portraits and body parts 5. Cucuteni-Tripolye 6. Visual Rhetoric, Truth and the Body 7. Thessalian 8. Subverting and Manipulating Reality 9. Conclusions

There is certainly much of interest here, Many of the sources that Bailey brings to bear are completely novel to existing scholarship on prehistoric figurines, and they yield some real insights. The book itself is engagingly written and well illustrated. Discussions of the diverse sources make for a lively read. Cambridge Archaeological Journal

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