Iberian Peninsula to the indus

Kultbild) 
offers evidence and
 
confirms the 
involvement of the plank-shaped figurines in the ritual procedure. 
Although, it is not easy to say, who or what these plank-shaped figurines rep-
resent, the fact that they appeared in the northern part of the island at a time of 
significant social change, associated with the wealth followed by the expansion of 
copper production and long-distance trade, cannot be ignored. the elaborate tombs, 
the imported goods and metal objects deposited as burial gifts, along with the mor-
tuary rituals, may suggest that a social group used these plank-shaped figurines as 
symbols of their identity and social status.
With the transition to the late Bronze Age, this type of plank-shaped figurine, which 
continued its existence with increasing naturalism, was replaced by a female, nude 
type with modelled breasts and accentuated genitals, thus emerging as an amalgam 
of the much older type dating back to the chalcolithic period and the new concepts 
that reached the island at that time from the levant.
Z-K.E.
1
Archaeological sites mentioned in the text, such as 
Bellapais – Vounous, lapithos Vrysi tou Barba and Am-
belikou – are in areas that are not currently under the 
effective control of the government of the republic 
of cyprus.
Bibliography
: dikaios 1940, pls. Vii, Viii; campo 1994, 
p. 145; talalay, cullen 2002, pp. 181–195; Keswani 
2004, p. 140; Knapp 2013, pp. 337–344; mina 2016, 
pp. 63–70; Webb 2016, pp. 241–254; Georgiou 2017, 
p. 84, figs. 13, 15, 16, 20
γ;
Webb 2017, pp. 5–21.
1
Model of cult place with celebrants in 
an enclosure
Vounous-Bellapais, Cyprus
Late III millennium BC 
Red polished terracotta
Department of Antiquities Cyprus, 
Nicosia
2
Model of infant in cradle
Cyprus
Ca. 2000–1600 BC
Red polished terracotta
Following pages
Air view of the excavations
at Khirokitia, Southeast Cyprus

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133
132

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135
134
24
antHropoMorpHic 
ScHeMatic figure
Cyprus, Sotira-
Teppes
Late Neolithic period (V–IV millennia 
BC)
Limestone, H. 16.5 cm
Department of Antiquities Cyprus, 
Nicosia, inv. 106
Bibliography:
Dikaios 1961, pp. 201-
202, pls. 91.106, 102.106; Buchholz 
& Karageorghis 1973, p. 160, 465, 
no. 1695; Bolger 2003, p. 85, fig. 4.1; 
Knapp 2013, p. 183, 240, fig. 47.
The figurine repertoire of Neolithic 
and Chalcolithic Cyprus includes 
a number of works that express a 
characteristic ambiguity in terms 
of gender and symbolism. Some 
of these combine both vulvic and 
phallic features, such as the famous 
Chalcolithic “Lemba Lady” (
see cat. 
27
), while others, like this figurine from 
Floor III of House 5 at the Neolithic 
settlement of Sotira-Teppes, have a 
more accentuated phallic character, 
although the vulvic is also suggested. 
This figurine has thus been described 
as dimorphic, representing both penis 
and vulva. In whichever way these 
objects may be viewed, the tendency 
to express ambiguous and vague 
meanings to the body is obvious. This 
sexual ambiguity can be seen through 
the combination of male and female 
genitals, through the dual “reading” 
of a figurine as male or female, 
or through the silencing of some 
anatomical traits and the accentuation 
of others. Sexual ambiguity may 
indicate that prehistoric societies 
were organised on the basis of more 
than two genders, or that there was 
flexibility for individuals to cross from 
one gender category to another. 
Perhaps this ambiguity expressed the 
notion that people were made up of 
both male and female elements and 
therefore it could be understood as 
an attempt to bridge the differences 
between the two genders.