Iberian Peninsula to the indus

S.L., M.F.
Bibliography
gombrich 1973; Atzeni 1975–1977 (1978); Antona 
ruju 1980; Atzeni 1981; Pitzalis 1982; trump 1983; 
lilliu 1988; Castaldi 1991; ferrarese Ceruti 1992; gui-
laine 1994; Contu 1997; Antona 1998; lilliu 1999; 
relli 2000; mussi, melis 2002; mussi 2003; lugliè 
2004; Paglietti 2008; Pessina, tiné 2008; Cicilloni 
2009; usai, lo schiavo 2009; melis 2012; Paglietti 
2012; soro 2012; martini 2016; martini, sarti, Vis-
entini 2017.
Following pages
Necropolis of Anghelu Ruju, 
3200–2800 BC, burial chambers, 
archaeological site near Alghero, 
Sassari province, Sardinia, Italy

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90
IN ARRIVO

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92
6
Seated figure
WitH Head ornaMent
Sardinia, Cuccuru s’Arriu, Cabras 
Tomb 386
Neolithic period (V millennium) 
Limestone, H. 17 cm, W. 9.7 cm
Polo Museale della Sardegna – Museo 
Archeologico Nazionale, Cagliari, inv. 
182227
Bibliography:
Santoni 1999.
This statuette belongs to the grave 
goods found in the hypogeum 
burials of Cuccuru s’Arrius (Cabras, 
Oristano), brought to light during 
emergency excavations in a Middle 
Neolithic context, associated with the 
contemporaneous village with huts. 
The thirteen tombs appear as small 
artificial caves with a shaft entrance 
and an oven-shaped burial cell. This 
statuette comes from tomb no. 386 
and was found grasped in the right 
hand of the deceased, who lay in a 
huddling position with knees bent. As 
offers to him were found four vessels, 
fifty bone assegai, parts of what seems 
to be a chlorite necklace, several stone 
artefacts and a nucleus of obsidian, 
and two oyster valves (placed in one of 
the vessels).
The ritual nature of the burial is 
highlighted by the use of red ochre. 
The image expresses the woman’s 
maternal role; its well-defined, 
harmonious formal structure comprises 
two volumes (lower extremities and 
torso+arm) which form a solid mass 
denoting a standing pose, on which 
sits the cylindrical volume of the 
head. The two legs, identified as 
the unusually well-defined, plump 
thighs, are harmoniously joined with 
the discrete, smaller volume of the 
buttocks and also with the obese 
triangle of the pelvis, in a sort of 
volumetric and geometric (cylinder-
triangle) rhythm that does not 
interrupt the transition to the rough, 
massive volume of the torso. The arms 
extend rigidly along the sides and 
merge with the lower extremities at 
the level of the hands.
The cylindrical volume of the head 
stands out from the volume of the 
body, both for the manner of its 
construction and for its distinct 
height as compared to the maximum 
dimension of the object. The face 
is nondescript, and all identifying 
individuality is nullified by the simple 
T design of the face (the line of the 
eyes orthogonal to the line of the 
nose). The head, with its flattened 
top, is adorned with a low cylindrical 
cap created with three horizontal 
bands. From this 
polos
, two fringed 
bands come down and rest on the 
shoulders, starting from elegant ear-
covers decorated with lozenges and 
garlands; a third band of equal length 
reaches the back of the neck and the 
top of the back. The flattening may be 
conditioned by an actual typology of 
hairstyle or cap related to specific roles 
or status (hypotheses that cannot be 
documented archaeologically). In terms 
of the form, however, the flattening 
serves to give greater emphasis to the 
head, abruptly ending the volume that 
must not project upwards any further so 
as not to detract from the solidity of the 
body mass. In addition to conferring 
a sense of abundance, opulence and 
corpulence to the female image, the 
detail of the protruding chinstrap also 
focuses perception more directly on 
the face.
S.L., M.F.

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95
94
7
feMale geoMetric figure
Sardinia, Turriga (Senorbì) 
Late Neolithic (passage V–IV millennia 
BC)
Marble, H. 43 cm, W. 18 cm
Polo Museale della Sardegna – Museo 
Archeologico Nazionale, Cagliari, inv. 
135887
Bibliography:
Thimme 1980, no. 1; 
Lilliu 1999, fig. 31.
This white marble statuette, one of the 
finest in the repertoire of small female 
statuary of the Neolithic period, was 
located in the sacred area of the 
village inside a circular stone structure 
(presumably, a sort of 
temenos
), and 
thus in a probable sacred-ceremonial 
context. It has been assigned to the 
Ozieri facies of the Recent Neolithic. 
The figure, which can be taken as an 
example of the cruciform typology, 
is distinguished by its formal balance 
and by the perfect symmetry of its 
construction. Virtually two-dimensional 
thanks to the use of the plaque-
support, the structure is perceived 
in three geometric modules. The 
long basal appendage – a sub-conic 
volume with an elongated trapezoidal 
silhouette – projects the architecture 
of the statuette longitudinally. It also 
anticipates the vertical tension of the 
long neck (extended by two shallow, 
oblique, convergent incisions on 
the torso) that terminates at the top 
of the head. This tension is further 
emphasized by the elliptical face and 
triangular pilaster-type nose.
The verticality of the figure 
is interrupted by the surface 
corresponding to the torso and arms, 
which are joined in a trapezoidal form 
jutting out on both sides. On the 
quadrangular flat surface, the main 
focus of the statuette, are two breasts 
(rather large with respect to the overall 
repertoire) placed exactly in the 
middle of the vertical dimension of 
the object. The slight protuberance of 
the buttocks and two breasts, gender 
attributes, are elegantly cited through 
precise geometry by subtraction, with 
no emphasis on a maternal function. 
The abstraction of the female body 
composed in an extremely essential 
synthesis imbues the figurine with 
a great iconic power, in which the 
subject’s female gender, represented 
nude, prevails over her appearance as 
a mother. 
The Senorbì example is one of the few 
existing intact figures, and thus one of 
the few whose original construction can 
be assessed without any hypothetical 
reconstruction. It represents a variant of 
the cruciform plaque typology, which 
can be identified by the pose (standing 
or sitting), the presence or absence of 
clothing (a skirt), the morphology of the 
arms (a horizontal or oblique plaque, 
with no expanded lateral projection), 
the overall contour (also rhomboidal), 
and particular facial features. The 
prestige of this statuette within the 
context of Sardinian production also 
derives from the formal balance of 
the construction generated by the 
relationship of the sizes of the three 
geometric modules. In fact, the 
mathematical rapport between the 
length of the upper section (torso and 
arm+neck and head) and the lower one 
(pelvis+lower limbs) is near the value of 
the Greek 
phi
, equal to 1.6180339887 . . 
. (the golden section or golden number, 
etc.).This irrational number indicates 
a specific relationship of dimensions, 
which, in antiquity (including pre-
Greek) and other historical epochs 
(from the Renaissance to Fibonacci’s 
“recursive succession”), characterized 
architectural and figurative structures, 
which were thus perceived as