More than 300 of the prehistoric clay figurines were found by British
archaeologists in Greece
A TEAM of
history-lovers from Britain
have unearthed over 300 prehistoric clay figurines in one of the biggest
archaeological finds in south-eastern Europe.
The archaeologists, from Southhampton
University, helped make the landmark discovery at a Neolithic archaeological
site in central Greece believed to have dated from between 5800 – 5300 BC.
The figurines, which were found scattered all
over the site of Koutroulou Magoula – located around 160 miles from Athens – are considered a
major discovery in understanding the ancient Neolithic people.
The site – roughly four times the area of a football
pitch – had been occupied by an advanced community of a few hundred people who
made architecturally sophisticated houses from stone and mud-bricks.
The figurines are believed to not only have
been considered aesthetic art, but were also used to convey and reflect ideas
about a community’s culture, society and identity.
“Figurines were thought to typically depict the
female form, but our find is not only extraordinary in terms of quantity, but
also quite diverse – male, female and non-gender specific ones have been found
and several depict a hybrid human-bird figure,” says Professor Yannis
Hamilakis, Co-Director of the Koutroulou Magoula Archaeology and Archaeological
Ethnography project.
"We still have a lot of work to do
studying the figurines, but they should be able to give us an enormous amount
of information about how Neolithic people interpreted the human body, their own
gender and social identity and experience," he added.
The Neolithic period is widely considered a
significant age in the development of human technology, where behavioural and
cultural characteristics progressed alongside the birth of agriculture.
Correspondingly, archaeologists at the
Koutroulou Magoula site have discovered evidence of farmers who kept domestic
animals, used tools and had connections with settlements in the nearby area.
In addition to excavation, the archaeological
project has engaged in a series of events examining the importance of
Koutroulou Magoula in contemporary communities – including communal celebrations
with food, drink and dance – ensuring the site is an important feature in the
social and cultural life of the area.