Animal Bodies and Ontological Discourse in the Greek Neolithic

The present article tries to assess the ways that animal bodies were represented in the Neolithic of Northern Greece. Contending that representations always have a material presence (be they spoken, depicted or anything else), an attempt is made to sort out how the specificity of this presence constitutes a frame of reference for the deployment of social action. Animal representations seem to be particularly related with certain materials, especially clay, and certain objects, mostly clay vessels. It is suggested that these objects allow animals to be incorporated in social action in a very specific manner, one that is further defined by the contexts of their use.     

马家窑文化人物形象分区分期及同时期区域对比研究

马家窑文化包含丰富的不同工艺、纹饰人物形象,本研究在人物形象分类的基础上,首先对马家窑文化人物形象进行了考古学分期、以及人物形象区域分布研究,其后选取东部、中亚地区同时期的人物形象作了对比研究。研究发现:马家窑文化人物形象可分为两期,一期以动物拟人纹与人物形体纹为主,其中,鲵人纹与舞蹈纹是此期特色,器口人面塑中出现了哭泣、惊讶的面部表情。二期出现蛙人纹,大量其他彩绘人物形体消失,继承一期以器口作人面的技法,对面部的五官塑造更加细致,表情更加多样,出现了精致又寓意非凡的裸体人像彩陶壶。马家窑文化人物形象可分为三区,从东往西传播与发展;与东部、中亚同时期人物形象对比,马家窑文化人形象种类和技法更具本地源流,且与其他地区异中有同。本研究为研究马家窑文化的来龙去脉、以及不同文化间相互交流提供参考和依据,对后续分析文化人物形象内涵等均有重要意义。     

Articulate Bodies: Forms and Figures at Çatalhöyük

This paper examines the materializing practices of bodies at the Neolithic site of Çatalhöyük. We focus on the clay and stone figurine corpus (over 1,800 total, with over 1,000 of those being diagnostic), but also consider other media such as wall paintings and sculptured features, as well as the skeletal evidence. This paper is the first attempt to analyze particular bodily characteristics in the Çatalhöyük figurine repertoire from a perspective that investigates, rather than assumes, a priori the representational priorities of their makers. Within a wide range of anthropomorphic and abbreviated figurines, we find that specific areas such as the stomach and buttocks were often clearly delineated and emphasized, whereas demarcation of primary sexual characteristics was typically downplayed. These traits and their material “prominence” might underscore specific bodily areas that have generally been overlooked as potential sites of articulation and attention. Our work challenges older assumptions that figurines were always engaged in projects of either deification or self-making. Instead, we suggest that these body types might mediate other kinds of social concerns and practices.     

Material Matters: Representation and Materiality of the Harappan Body

In the Indus Civilization (ca. 2600–1900 BC), a society with no readable texts and few larger-scale representations, terracotta figurines were the most common representations of the human body. This paper explores the unique construction of the material representations of bodies and other material culture from Harappa, a major Indus site now in Pakistan. Hand-modeling representations of human bodies from dual clay pieces, sometimes decorated with bone pigments, suggests a focus on the process and ideological rather than practical choices in the materialization of the Harappan human body. For the Harappans, material matters as they engage physically with their world and embody themselves and their worldview.     

河南孟津县上店村唐代壁画墓

2010年4~5月,洛阳市文物工作队在孟津县上店村清理了1座唐代土洞墓。墓葬由墓道、过洞、天井、壁龛、甬道、墓门、墓室等组成。壁龛内出有较多盛唐时期的彩绘骑马俑、立俑和陶猪、狗、马、牛、鸡、羊等遗物。该墓葬的发掘,为研究洛阳地区盛唐时期大型墓葬的形制、出土器物组合、制陶工艺等提供了实物资料。