This figure appears to resemble those made throughout the Aegean basin during the prehistoric period, including in the region of ancient Anatolia (present-day Turkey), where this figure is thought to...
This figure appears to resemble those made throughout the Aegean basin during the prehistoric period, including in the region of ancient Anatolia (present-day Turkey), where this figure is thought to have originated. This stylised figure, most likely representing the female form, displays a circular body decorated with incisions crowned by an elongated neck with stylised head.
It is usually understood by scholars that this figure is linked with fertility and the life cycle, a central spiritual concern in the ancient Mediterranean. In fact, what can only be understood as a stylised representation of pregnancy is the main characteristic of this figurine.
A culture very much related to that of the Cyclades existed in the Levant during the later Neolithic period. A preference for highly schematic and reductive figurines, predominantly female, is also very common to both. These female figurines represent in all probability the Mother Goddess and are linked to notions of fertility, while their schematic simplicity is typical of the Neolithic Age, when they were made in a variety of materials. The fact that such figurines have been unearthed in urban surroundings and small domestic shrines suggests that they were used for daily worship purposes.