Violin-shaped figurines - thus named because their
profile resembles that of a violin or fiddle - are the most
common type of schematic representation of the
human body in the Early Cycladic I period. Developed
from the violin-like figures of the Neolithic Age (5300-
3200 BC), they are usually small, very thin, with a long
rod-like projection denoting the head and neck, and
two wide notches at the sides forming the "waist" of
the body. Several examples feature an incised pubic
triangle, while more rarely modeled breasts appear,
indicating the female sex of the figures. The illustrated
example features the pubic triangle as well as incised
creases in the area of the "waist". Similar creases or
wrinkles are also present on later naturalistic figurines
and are usually interpreted as signs of a post-
parturition state. However, incised creases occur
sometimes on male figurines too, casting doubts on
this interpretation.
The Cyclades, a group of islands in the southwestern
Aegean, comprises some thirty small islands and
numerous islets. The ancient Greeks called them
kyklades, imagining them as a circle (kyklos) around
the sacred island of Delos, the site of the holiest
sanctuary to Apollo. Many of the Cycladic Islands are
particularly rich in mineral resources—iron ores,
copper, lead ores, gold, silver, emery, obsidian, and
marble, the marbles of Paros and Naxos among the
finest in the world. Archaeological evidence points to
sporadic Neolithic settlements on Antiparos, Melos,
Mykonos, Naxos, and other Cycladic Islands at least as
early as the sixth millennium B.C. These earliest
settlers probably cultivated barley and wheat, and
most likely fished the Aegean for tunny and other fish.
They were also accomplished sculptors in stone, as
attested by significant finds of marble figurines on
Saliagos (near Paros and Antiparos). In the third
millennium B.C., a distinctive civilization, commonly
called the Early Cycladic culture (ca. 3200–2300 B.C.),
emerged with important settlement sites on Keros and
at Halandriani on Syros. At this time in the Early Bronze
Age, metallurgy developed at a fast pace in the
Mediterranean. It was especially fortuitous for the Early
Cycladic culture that their islands were rich in iron ores
and copper, and that they offered a favorable route
across the Aegean. Inhabitants turned to fishing,
shipbuilding, and exporting of their mineral resources,
as trade flourished between the Cyclades, Minoan
Crete, Helladic Greece, and the coast of Asia Minor.
- (CB.233)
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