Iberian Peninsula to the indus

J.C.
Following pages
Excavations at Mohenjo-Daro, 
Pakistan, major centre of the Indus 
Valley culture
Bibliography
Possehl 1982; Jarrige 1988; Jarrige (C.), Jarrige (J.-
F.), Meadow, Quivron 1995; Jarrige 1997; Kenoyer 
1998; Jarrige 2005; Jarrige (J.-F.), Jarrige (C.), Quiv-
ron 2013.

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262
ELIMINARE QUANTO SEGNALATO

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265
264
100
Standing feMale Statuette
Indus, Balochistan
Mehrgarh VII style (ca. 2700–2500 BC)
Terracotta, H. 15 cm, W. 6 cm
Ligabue Collection, Venice
Bibliography:
Ligabue, Rossi-Osmida 
2006, p. 185.
This terracotta female figurine with a 
bald head, thin nose, incised eyes and 
eyebrows, broad shoulders, bent arms, 
broad hips and straight cylindrical legs 
is a rare example of a complete item 
of this category. Heads of this type 
have been found in numerous sites of 
Balochistan, in particular in the Kachhi 
plain at Chhalgarhi, associated with a 
comparable female fragmentary body, 
or at Pirak (unstratified). Many were 
excavated at Mehrgarh in level VII B 
(ca. 2700 BC), in particular one item 
attached to a male torso with broad 
shoulders. A carefully modelled female 
body found in the same level with a 
thin wash covering the applied parts 
was associated with one head of this 
type. The occurrence of bald-headed 
figurines calls to mind the funerary 
figurines from Shahdad, from a group 
of graves older than those which 
belong to the late Bronze, and which 
P. Amiet associates with Presargonic 
art. There are also striking similarities 
with some stone sculptures from 
Mesopotamia in the third millennium, 
in particular from Tello, Tell Asmar and 
Mari. Such parallels foresee the links 
which one will try to establish between 
the later head of Dabarkot, the 
“king-priest” from Mohenjo-daro, the 
stone heads found in Helmand and at 
Mundigak. The question of exchange 
networks – obviously associated 
with phenomena of influences and 
diffusion from the point of view of 
symbolism and ideology – may explain 
the emergence of types which, at 
Mehrgarh, even if they are part of the 
same craft tradition, are linked with 
phenomena which can be outlined all 
over Middle Asia.
J.C.

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EPIloGUE

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268
RHytHM, VARIAtIon, CREAtIon
I
n the course of this voyage, it is hoped that the reader has experienced the haunt-
ing presence of the selected figures, the rhythm of individual bodies, the quasi 
musical variations on images, similar but unique. there are exactly a hundred 
anthropomorphic and three-dimensional statuettes, schematic or realistic. 
of the many cultures encountered on the way from the Atlantic to India, some 
have not been included. Civilizations famous for their figurative art are absent be-
cause their 
floruit
took place long before our time limits, such as neolithic Malta or 
the Balkans, where forceful figures were created as early as the late seventh mil-
lennium (
fig. 2
). the levant and Elam (in southwest Iran) are also absent, for lack 
of borrowable pieces. In several cases, the difficulty of borrowing significant pieces 
ruled them out: one regrets the absence of ivory figures from the negev (
fig. 3
) which 
linked predynastic Egypt with the levant: but these pieces are extremely fragile and 
the circulation of ivory is nowadays submitted to strict rules. 
Geographic limits, by necessity, had to be drawn. the Atlantic in the west is the 
natural border of the old World; to the east, the limit might have been pushed to 
China, along the routes that were to become the silk Road, millennia later. the Indus, 
Head of reclining feMale 
figure
Late Spedos type
Cyclades
Early Cycladic II period (2700–2300 BC)
Private Collection, Paris
(cat. 20, detail)
1
Sumerian Lyre player and 
banquet guest
Shell, lapis lazuli and colored stones
Detail from the Standard of Ur, Royal 
cemetery of Ur, South Mesopotamia, 
Iraq 
2600–2400 BC
The British Museum, London

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270
however, midway between the Mediterranean and the Far East, was a major cultural 
boundary during the transition period selected here, 4000–2000 BC. 
some of the questions raised at the beginning, mainly what these far-away cul-
tures may have had in common, have hopefully found answers. one material evi-
dence is the presence of exotic stones which circulated over great distances during 
the period, like lapis lazuli, which exists in only one part of Afghanistan (at least 
for the old World: other sources are in latin America). the stone was sought after 
on account of its bright blue colour, evocative of the purity of the sky and Heavens, 
and was exported to the west for carving jewellery and statuettes: examples from 
the oxus culture (
cat.76, 82
), Mesopotamia (
cat. 70-71
), and Egypt (
cat. 45
) are pre-
sented here. sources of rock crystal are more numerous than those of lapis lazuli; 
nevertheless a number of crystal artefacts were produced in countries where the 
stone had to be imported from afar (cat. 
61, 72
). obsidian, a natural glass found in 
several volcanic regions, was an excellent material to create sharp blades; it was 
also used to carve figurines (cat. 
60
). one major obsidian source is in Anatolia, from 
where it was exported during the neolithic period towards Greece, the levant and 
Egypt; another source is in sardinia which exported it as far as the Iberian peninsula. 
Another raw material which circulated over long distance by land and sea routes is 
ivory, taken from the tusks of several species beside the elephant: ivory from hippo-
potami living in Egypt and coastal levant was exported in the negev (fig. 
2
), Cyprus 
and the Greek islands. tusks from Indian elephant travelled through Central Asia, 
the Indian ocean and the Persian Gulf and reached Mesopotamia, alongside lapis 
lazuli and carnelian stones. 
Craftsmen, technologies and ideas travelled long distances along the same routes 
as the raw materials. Copper alloy artefacts (
cat. 76, 91, 92
) are evidence of the 
emergence of metallurgy and the circulation of metallic ores. the arts of vitreous 
materials, commonly designated as faience and glass, were developed in Egypt and 
syria-Mesopotamia, and were adopted by the oxus civilization 
(cat. 89, 90 and 98
) 
to create vessels, jewellery and figurines.
on the immaterial level, music was an important link between cultures. Complex 
musical instruments, like the harp and the lyre, were invented during the third 
millennium BC, probably in Mesopotamia: variants were developed across time 
and space, as far west as the Cyclades and Greece, as far East as Central Asia and 
China. the example on view (
cat. 21
), a harp player from the Cyclades, is a reminder 
of the lost art of sound in the ancient world. numerous images depicting musicians 
and dancers were discovered in Egypt, Mesopotamia or Greece. A few instruments 
survive, like the several lyres from the Royal tombs of Ur, decorated with mosaic 
panels and bulls heads, are contemporaries of our Cycladic harp player. little is 
known of the music that was played, but literary sources are rich on the religious and 
social circumstances which were accompanied by musical instruments and dancing. 
Banquets and formal wine drinking to the accompaniment of music and dance were 
held in ancient societies to celebrate special events in the year, holidays, victory 
over enemies, and so forth. dancers would whirl into an ecstatic trance, a condi-
tion assumed to put performers in contact with the gods, as for the mystic whirling 
dervishes. the gods, responsible for the creation and harmonious working of the 
cosmos, ruled with Measure. Measure is number and Rhythm. By achieving rhythm 
in music, men would approach the realms of the gods. In a similar way, the artists 
who constructed the carefully rhythmed figures selected here, using well-balanced 
volumes, emulated the gods in the act of Creation. 
C.A.
2
Female figure 
Vinça Culture, Romania-Serbia 
(V millennium BC)
Incised and painted terracotta,
Ligabue Collection, Venice, inv. CL 545
3
Male figure 
Bir Es-Safadi, Negev, Israel
3300–3000 BC
Hippopotamus ivory
Musée du Louvre, Paris 

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272
Origin of stones mentioned
in the catalogue

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GEnERAl BIBlIoGRAPHy

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277
276
Al-Ghabban (A. I.), Andr
é
-Salvini (B.), Demange (F.),
Juvin (C.), Cotty (M.), eds.
2010