Anthropomorphic Figurines

From the complexity of the subjects analysed by researchers interested in the Eneolithic period in the East-Carpathian area, a special place is occupied by the funerary rites practiced by the Cucuteni-Trypillia  communities, a topic still open for study. At the end of the 4th millennium B.C.E., the life of the farming communities changed significantly, and the funerary complexes began to occupy a position alongside the household complexes. Our attention is focused on the Horodiștea-Gordinești group, for which four groups of funerary practices have been delineated (graves in tumuli, flat necropolis, intramural graves and reburials in cult pits). All these elements are the result of contacts with communities from regions with a different way of life and spiritual thinking.

The ideas of researchers about the spiritual culture of the Mesolithic and Neolithic eras of Northern Eurasia are based mainly on the results of the study of prehistoric art, represented by two types of monuments of the material culture of prehistoric communities: rock art and portable art. This chapter is a review of modern studies of this large corpus of finds, divided into three main geographical areas: the East European Plain, the Middle Trans-Urals and the Cis-Baikal.

La arqueología ayuda a entender cómo se desarrollaron modelos sociales con desigualdad desde tiempos prehistóricos. Este estudio analiza las identidades de sociedades calcolíticas del sur de Iberia, especialmente grupos de élites emergentes, a través de sus ajuar funerarios. Al analizar datos sobre estatus social, se propone un modelo para entender la organización social en asentamientos como Valencina de la Concepción y Los Millares, donde se observa una cultura material asociada a élites adultas con estatus adquirido en sociedades de rango o segmentarias.

La necropoli ipogeica di Sa Figu è ubicata sul bordo me-ridionale dell'altipiano di Coros, a nord-est dell'abitato di Ittiri (Sassari) ed a breve distanza da un'altra importante necropoli ipogeica a domus de janas : quella di Ochila. Ercole Contu fu il primo a segnalare, in questo sito, ...

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During the first century and a half of its history, archaeology had to rely on surviving objects – for example, jewellery items, weapons, and other tools – in drawing conclusions on the life of prehistoric people, since no
written sources are known from this historical period. Therefore, expanding and enhancing knowledge of one-time people and events by utilising state-of-the-art methods of contemporary sciences represents an exceptional opportunity for archaeology today. New branches emerged from the close collaboration of diverse disciplines. One of them is bioarchaeology, a science similar to forensics (more precisely, crime scene investigation) in many respects, and sharing its main data source: human remains. When completed with behavioural scientific, environmental, and social aspects, this study allows for the biosocial evaluation of archaeological remains, thanks to which one-time people, and not only their bare skeletons, can be the subject of research. This complex approach is adopted in this book: We look at history through a magnifying glass to bring the reader closer to the first half of the two thousand-year-long Bronze Age (2500–800 BC) in the Carpathian Basin. Who they were and how they lived emerges from reconstructed micro-histories of individuals dwelling in the territory of modern-day Hungary sometime during the thousand years after the 26th century BC and before the time of the Trojan War, when the pharaohs of the Great Pyramids ruled in Egypt, and kings resided in the palaces of Minoan Crete.

The Sardinian bronzetti represent a unique iconographic body, today consisting of more than 630 representations of anthropomorphic and zoomorphic figures, boats, nuraghi and diverse tools, weapons, vessels and other objects. They were produced from the FBA until the EIA, when contacts with other Mediterranean regions and with Iberia had intensified and pictorial art became a distinctive cultural expression in many regions. Therefore, they provide insights into distinctive local as well as widely shared symbolisms and intercultural contacts through the representations of archetypical figures and characteristic objects (swords, vessels, armoury). The bronzetti were publicly exposed at sanctuaries and often fixed on stone slabs, where they might possibly have been arranged in evocative combinations. The anthropomorphic figurines include women, sometimes as mothers with their babies, persons offering food, shepherds, sexually ambivalent figures, musicians, a “minotaur”, and supernatural fourarmed, four-eyed warriors. The detailed representations of dress, hairstyle, and weapons might have signalled local identity and social coherence. However, over 50% of the figurines, represent warriors, often with horned headgear, armed with sword and shield, or bow and arrow. The statues from Mont’e Prama from the 10th century BC, which thus far represent the oldest stone statuary in the Mediterranean beyond Egypt, the Levant and Anatolia, shared the same warrior theme and many decorative details with the bronze figurines). Some warrior figurines carry pistilliforme swords, a type that was common in the Atlantic Bronze Age and Iberia in the 11th century BC and some of which have also been found on the island. The typological evolution of swords in the FBA followed the same trajectory in Iberia and Sardinia. It is somehow surprising that Sardinians preferred the Iberian-Atlantic weapons to central European types, considering the closer proximity to the Apennine Peninsula and southern France, and to Aegean types, despite their existing eastern contacts. On the other hand, Mycenaean sword types were represented on statue-menhirs in Corsica. There are almost 150 miniature boats, or navicelle, often with a mast and therefore representing sailing vessels. The navicelle are circumstantial evidence that seafaring played a crucial role in FBA Sardinia. Moreover, boats were part of nuragic cosmology: The symbolic complex of the navicelle incorporated horned land animals (bulls, deer, ram) as figureheads, other land animals aboard (pigs, boar, dogs), nuraghe towers and birds as well as ploughing oxen. There was also a number of clay boat-miniatures, some with zoomorphic figureheads, which seem to have been used as lamps or incense- burners at sanctuaries. Largely contemporary clay models of boats are also known from Crete, Cyprus, where they also have animal figureheads of bulls and birds, from Lipari and the Levant. The Byblos hoard (c. 1500–1200 BC) contained several bronze boats, one of which is steered by a monkey, similar to one Sardinian navicella. This indicates that travel and subsequent intercultural contacts were deeply rooted in Sardinian as well as other Mediterranean communities. It is probable that the display of well-known archetypical images like the (horned) warriors or the female and mother-representations and some possibly integrated figures from other regions like the “minotaur” or the monkey on a navicella together with local Sardinian symbols must have enabled strangers who came to the sanctuaries to relate to some shared myths, cosmologies and beliefs. This would be a reference to practices of innovative, more inclusive ritual activities that incorporated guests and newcomers while maintaining local identity, after the ancestor worship at collective megalithic tombs had decreased. The figurines, miniatures and boat models at the sanctuaries could thus be interpreted as a complex of symbolic representations that – amongst many other local and individual levels of meaning –promoted inclusive, shared and sometimes syncretic social practices and rituals that were frequently related to travel and seafaring.

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The Berikldeebi settlement, located on a hill at the confluence of the Mtkvari and Prone rivers in the Kareli district and studied by Alexander Javakhishvili from 1979 to 1992, has attracted the attention of scientists since the very beginning of excavations. The settlement stands out among archaeological sites in the entire Caucasus region for its complex stratigraphy. Continuous traces of habitation spanning approximately 3,000 years have been confirmed, represented by archaeological cultures from different periods. The earliest layer dates back to the Late Chalcolithic period and is represented by two construction horizons, within this layer, which predates the Common Era, a monumental temple built of mud-brick was discovered, dating to 3800 BC. Its construction techniques and architectural features exhibit similarities with the Mesopotamian culture of the same period, a connection further supported by various ceramic materials found within the same layer. The subsequent settlement layer at Berikldeebi corresponds to the Kura-Araxes culture of the Early Bronze Age. Based on ceramic material, this layer belongs to the early phase of the culture and holds significant importance for studying the origins of the Kura-Araxes culture. At Berikldeebi, the Kura-Araxes layer is followed by the Bedeni culture, which belongs to the early Kurgan period in the South Caucasus. Berikldeebi was among the first settlements where the layers of this period were thoroughly studied and documented. The subsequent Trialeti culture in the South Caucasus is primarily represented by burials, while settlements are rarely attested. This pattern is evident at Berikldeebi, where cultural layers from this period are absent; however, the culture is well represented by tombs built directly within the site’s territory. The final layer, marking the end of the settlement’s occupation, belongs to the Early Iron Age. It is primarily characterized by the remains of stone structures and is associated with the so-called Shida Kartli or Samtavro culture.

The aim of this paper is to rethink the Minoan peak sanctuaries of East Crete from a walking perspective. Walking will be used as a mean of understanding and embodying the landscape of East Cretan peak sanctuaries, as the only way that someone could reach to a peak sanctuary was (and is) on foot. This relationship can be traced both on Minoan iconography, and on a group of findings from the peak sanctuaries of East Crete, the clay models of human lower limbs.*

Tara’s historical associations with the high kings of Ireland give it a unique role in Irish culture. This paper sets out to contextualise that role cross-culturally by drawing comparisons within a broader phenomenology of high-place shrines, particularly those that have royal associations. Presented here, therefore, are two casestudies: one archaeological (the mountain shrines of Bronze Age Crete, the Minoan peak sanctuaries) and one literary-historical (the bamoth high places of biblical Israel). The Minoan archaeological comparison obviously has no direct connection with Ireland, but it may illuminate some of the processes in the evolution and organisation of royal hill-shrines. The biblical casestudy may have other resonances, however, given that Irish medieval chroniclers made conscious efforts to create a biblical genealogy for the high kings who claimed Tara, and played upon its symbolism.

This volume is dedicated to the 70th anniversary of the birth of Sergej Ryzhov, an eminent figure in the Ukrainian archaeological community whose body of work serves as an example to generations of scholars. Included are contributions that deal with archaeological data systematization, attempting to understand the available records and reconstructing complex socioeconomic, migratory and cultural processes in the Neo-Eneolithic period of Southeastern and Central Europe.

This volume is dedicated to the 70th anniversary of the birth of Sergej Ryzhov, an eminent figure in the Ukrainian archaeological community whose body of work serves as an example to generations of scholars. Included are contributions that deal with archaeological data systematization, attempting to understand the available records and reconstructing complex socioeconomic, migratory and cultural processes in the Neo-Eneolithic period of Southeastern and Central Europe.

This volume is dedicated to the 70th anniversary of the birth of Sergej Ryzhov, an eminent figure in the Ukrainian archaeological community whose body of work serves as an example to generations of scholars. Included are contributions that deal with archaeological data systematization, attempting to understand the available records and reconstructing complex socioeconomic, migratory and cultural processes in the Neo-Eneolithic period of Southeastern and Central Europe.

This volume is dedicated to the 70th anniversary of the birth of Sergej Ryzhov, an eminent figure in the Ukrainian archaeological community whose body of work serves as an example to generations of scholars. Included are contributions that deal with archaeological data systematization, attempting to understand the available records and reconstructing complex socioeconomic, migratory and cultural processes in the Neo-Eneolithic period of Southeastern and Central Europe.

This volume is dedicated to the 70th anniversary of the birth of Sergej Ryzhov, an eminent figure in the Ukrainian archaeological community whose body of work serves as an example to generations of scholars. Included are contributions that deal with archaeological data systematization, attempting to understand the available records and reconstructing complex socioeconomic, migratory and cultural processes in the Neo-Eneolithic period of Southeastern and Central Europe.

The paper focuses on comparing raw material procurement strategies for the chipped stone industry between three houses that were excavated at a Linear Pottery Culture settlement in Těšetice-Kyjovice. The selected houses correspond to three size categories: small, medium, and large house. We believe that the refitting method could support the hypothesis that debris reflects household activities, which allows us to propose a new hypothesis about the socioeconomic organization of the Neolithic village taking into account house size and raw material provenance. The longer the house is, the more it seems that its inhabitants are rooted in the local territory. Further research will continue with the aim of better understanding the socioeconomic organization at this site.

The paper examines primary sources, including both archaeological and textual evidence, as well as studies conducted to date on the nature of Kaushambi and its role in the development and dissemination of early Buddhist art. It also assesses the impact on the spread of Buddhist doctrine, religious practices, and cultural norms throughout the middle Ganga Valley and into north India. Careful consideration is given to trade routes and interconnected networks to enhance understanding of the spatial relationships between Kaushambi and other significant ancient Indian Buddhist sites. The study investigates the diversity of Buddhist art evidence found at the site, the challenges of interpreting it, and the interplay between sociopolitical factors, patronage, and art innovation, emphasizing their influence on the evolution of Buddhist art. Furthermore, it focuses on the reasons for the cultural reliance on local terracotta production for artistic sustainability, which has shaped the broader canon of stone art, particularly in the case of Kaushambi.

This article explores the archaeological significance of Area D at Tel Shiloh, where Associates for Biblical Research (ABR) has been excavating since 2017 under the direction of Scott Stripling. The focus is the discovery and analysis of a Late Bronze Age favissa, or cultic deposit, located near the presumed site of the Tabernacle. Excavations have yielded more than 10,000 animal bones, ornate smashed pottery, and an unprecedented number of gold objects, including pendants and jewelry. These finds suggest intentional ritual deposition consistent with Israelite sacrificial practices. Reanalysis of the ceramic assemblage indicates the favissa likely dates to the early Late Bronze Age II, rather than the later Iron Age occupation proposed by earlier excavators. Faunal analysis shows remains are from overwhelmingly from clean (kosher) animals and an unusual concentration of right-sided bones. These discoveries strengthen the case for Shiloh as an early Israelite cultic center and shed light on the world of Hannah, Samuel, and the priesthood, offering fresh synchronisms between archaeology and the biblical text.

Two Late-Roman-Period Figurines from the Sub-Mountainous Crimea (The Archaeological and Mineralogical Research) / Abstract
This paper presents the results of research conducted on two anthropomorphic chalk figurines. These artefacts were unearthed from the burials dating back to the Late Roman Period and were unearthed at the cemeteries of Neizats and Opushki.

La instrumentalización de las mujeres imperiales, como parte de un programa político propagandístico, fue habitual en el Imperio romano. Esto ha sido ampliamente constatado en dinastías como la julio-claudia o la severa; no obstante, las feminae de la domus trajaneo-adrianea han recibido menor atención en este tipo de enfoque. El objetivo de esta comunicación es explorar esta vía, y al mismo tiempo, a ellas a través de la iconografía numismática.

Geoscience communication is next to international geological heritage protection and link up geo-topics with natural and cultural including intangible heritage, a core of UNESCO Global Geoparks (UGGp) objectives. At the end of the 20th century, it started with the format of geo-trails with interpretation panels plus printed books and leaflets as well as guided tours. Even if at that time some geoparks have developed „geo-cartoons i.b.s.” (i.b.s.: in the broadest since (Frey, M.-L., Ciobanu, C., Rodrigues, J. & C. Toma 2024)), they have achieved a new blooming during the last years: 1st and 2nd decade of 21st century, especially in geoparks of the Asia-Pacific Global Geoparks Network. Main action fields seem to be tourism and education. However, detailed data and systematic information is lacking on e.g. which categories of “geo-cartoons i.b.s.” exist, when did UGGps create them, why were they created, which results shows the existence of “geo-mascots i.b.s.” in education and or tourism and which topics are being transmitted to the broad audience with “geo-mascots” or are they used in schools and if when, for which age and in which format? The information on “geo-mascots i.b.s.” in e.g. European Geoparks is scarce, even though many geoparks employ them. Therefore a group of scientists working in UGGps and on science communication started to tackle this topic as it seems to bring in a new perspective in modern IT-related education and tourism activities including „gamification i.b.s.“. The scientific background of this approach is „anthropomorphism“, the attribution of human characteristics to animals, gods, or natural elements, assuming they have human-like features or behaviors. It is interesting to note that characters like this have been used since ancient greek time! Modern versions can be found in the 1970s, such as Olympic Games mascots or in sports, e.g. National Football League mascots like e.g. San Francisco 49ers called: Sourdough Sam. The anthropomorphic characters, ”mascots” are mainly animals, except a few that are human-like. Even if they, in this context, seem to serve for promotion and sale of merchandise like souvenirs, they can also represent meaningful concepts, as seen with mascots for events like the Olympic Games 2024 in Paris. Recent publications indicate that “mascots, cartoons” or “comic figures” can support the communication of complex topics, such as in the field of medical explanations to general audiences. Very few examples exist connected with landscape or geology of a territory in the broadest sense, as so-called geo-mascots? This type has also been used for the 20th anniversary of the Global Geoparks Network in 2024, Figure 1.

     

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This chapter examines the archaeological possibilities for investigating prehispanic foodways and diet through the analysis of a burial recovered in Tomb 1 at Nduatiucu, in the Teposcolula Valley, Mixteca Alta. The burial, first excavated in 1974 by Winter and colleagues(1975) and later re-assessed and radiocarbon dated by Saumur (2017), dates back to the Early Postclassic period (around 1000 A.D.). This tomb is of particular interest as it is a unique, albeit isolated, example of an individual who lived during the period of crisis that characterizes the Early Postclassic period in the Mixteca

¿desechos de ocupación o depósitos rituales). Patricia Horcajada Campos 131 5. Diversidad social y uso de figurillas cerámicas durante el Clásico Terminal en Yaxha, Petén, Guatemala. Laura L. Gámez Díaz 165 6. Escena de las figurillas del Entierro 39 en el Perú Waka': importancia del contexto arqueológico y un posible enfoque de género. Michelle Rich y David Freidel 199 7. Las figurillas de Naachtun: ofrendas dedicatorias y funerarias. Julie Patrois y Philippe Nondédéo 230

Bu proje önerisi, Neolitik ve Kalkolitik dönemlerden itibaren Anadolu'da yaygınlaşan heykelcik, figürin ve idol üretimlerinin biçimsel, işlevsel ve sembolik yönlerini inceleyerek, bu objelerin diğer çağdaş kültürlerdeki örneklerle olan benzerlik ve farklılıklarını ortaya koymayı amaçlamaktadır. Anadolu'daki idol, heykelcik ve figürinler; biçim, işlev ve sembolik anlam açısından dünya arkeolojisinde oldukça özgün bir yere sahiptir.

Bu makalede Anadolu'da Neolitik ve Kalkolitik dönemlerden itibaren yaygınlaşan heykelcik, idol ve figürin kavramları kavramsal, malzeme-teknik ve işlev boyutlarıyla ele alınmıştır. Bu akademik çalışmada "heykelcik" (toy figurine), "idol" (ritüel heykelcik) ve "figürin" (genel temsilci obje) terimleri tanımlanarak, farklılıklar ortaya konmuştur.

Bu çalışma, Anadolu'nun Neolitik ve Kalkolitik çağlarında üretilen figürin ve heykelciklerin estetik değerleri, toplumsal yansımaları ve inanç sistemiyle ilişkili simgesel anlamlarını incelemeyi amaçlamaktadır. Anadolu'nun çeşitli yerleşimlerinde bulunan figürinler, arkeolojik bağlamlarında değerlendirilerek tarih öncesi sanatın bir temsil biçimi olarak ele alınmıştır. Çalışma, sanat tarihi, antropoloji ve arkeoloji alanlarını bir araya getirerek çok-disiplinli bir yaklaşım sunmakta ve figüratif anlatımın kültürel süreklilikteki rolünü tartışmaktadır.

Bu eser, Tülay Çağlar Kadı tarafından üretilmiştir.
“Prehistoric Figurines and Idols in Anatolia: A Study on Belief, Identity, and Aesthetics”
Creative Commons Atıf 4.0 Uluslararası (CC BY 4.0) lisansı ile lisanslanmıştır.

Lisans bağlantısı: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.tr

Atıf Önerisi:
Tülay Çağlar Kadı (2022). Prehistoric Figurines and Idols in Anatolia: A Study on Belief, Identity, and Aesthetics.
CC BY 4.0.

Names and affiliations are reproduced as submitted by session organisers and/or authors. Language and wording of titles and abstracts have not been revised. When consecutive authors share the same affiliation, the affiliation is listed in brackets after the last author in the group.

The paper presents the excavations of 2016 season at the Mycenaean site of Kastrouli, Phokis. The site has been looted in the past decades and excavated in a very limited scale by the Archaeological Service. It is located on the top of a rocky hill and delimited by a fortification wall, probably constructed in two phases, the earliest of which could be Mycenaean. A hybrid rock-cut and built chamber tomb, excavated at the westernmost part of the fortified area, contained an undisturbed commingled burial of at least fifteen individuals. The main pottery shape is the stirrup jar, and the small finds include Phi and Psi figurines, steatite beads, and fragments of gold foil. The period of the original use of the tomb falls between the LH IIIA 2 and the LH IIIC Early or Advanced. There is some evidence that the tomb has been reused in the Middle Geometric Period.

The Lengyel culture (4800-4100 calBC), covering Austria, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland and Hungary, is a hotspot for figurative finds, with especially high numbers occurring in Lower Austria, Moravia and Transdanubia. After the end of the Linear Pottery Culture, anthropomorphic and zoomorphic figurines, vessels and applications appear in huge numbers, which is in stark contrast to post-LBK phenomena further to the west, like Hinkelstein-Großgartach-Rössen and the Stroked Pottery Culture (SBK), where such finds are very rare. However, a more fine-grained analysis of the Lengyel culture figurative objects shows that they are not distributed evenly in the course of time. Rather, they appear in large numbers in the first 200 years of this cultural phenomenon and disappear almost completely after 4500/4300 calBC. The article aims to outline the origin, rise and decline of these objects and offers possible explanations for their appearance and fading, which may be related to larger societal changes.

This article examines the absence of a feminine equivalent to the suffix “Jr.” and its impact on gender representation and equity. The lack of such a suffix reinforces patriarchal hierarchies, limiting women’s visibility in the transmission of names, surnames, and family lineages. This omission creates confusion, particularly in cases of homonymy between mothers and daughters in official documents, a challenge men circumvent through the use of the “Jr.” suffix. Through a literature review, the article highlights how this gap perpetuates sociological and economic inequalities by excluding women from symbolic and legal systems. In response, the term “Juvenile” is proposed as a feminine equivalent to “Jr.” aiming to recognize the direct maternal-daughter affiliation and promote gender equity. The study evaluates the linguistic, cultural, and legal feasibility of this new suffix, suggesting that its adoption could transform societal and legal perceptions of inheritance and women’s symbolic rights. The article concludes that while this proposal represents an initial step toward equity, a multidisciplinary approach is essential to assess its long-term impact across diverse contexts. Furthermore, it encourages future research to explore the acceptance and implications of this change in various domains. This analysis underscores the need to reconsider linguistic and legal structures that perpetuate inequality and advocates for a shift toward a more equitable representation of women in naming systems.

Barber 6. defining community and status at outlying sites during the terminal Formative Period Sarah B. Barber 7. coastal/Highland interaction in oaxaca, mexico: the Perspective from san Francisco de arriba Andrew Workinger 8. Examining ceramic Evidence for the Zapotec imperialism Hypothesis in the lower río verde region of oaxaca, mexico Marc N. Levine 9. From Flesh to clay: Formative Period iconography from oaxaca's lower río verde valley Guy David Hepp and Arthur A. Joyce 10. coastal oaxaca and Formative developments in mesoamerica Christopher A.

This paper presents a snapshot of a neolithic maritime exchange network centred on the Pitted Ware Culture (PWC) site of Tråsättra (circa 2630 to 2470 BCE), located northeast of modern-day Stockholm, Sweden. We used a combination of Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Atomic Emission Spectrometry (ICP-MA/ES) and thin section analysis to study and source the clays used to produce 19 potsherds and 39 ceramic figurines from the site. Our results showed that while all potsherds were made with local clays, 10 of the figurines were made with non-local clays sourced from across the Baltic Sea region, including the island of Gotland and the Åland archipelago. Furthermore, most of the non-local figurines were anthropomorphs, while all animal figurines were made with local clays. We suggest that this striking pattern indicates that the PWC people of Tråsättra were participating in a long-distance trading network comparable to the ritual and prestige focused exchange systems found in many anthropologically known maritime societies. Similar results were also received from the analysis of 14 potsherds and 3 figurines from the nearby Early Neolithic (circa 3620 to 3360 BCE) site of Lappdal, suggesting that the exchange of ceramics was a long-standing practice for fisher-forager cultures in the Baltic Sea region. Our cluster analysis of clay composition also indicates that some figurines may have been traded on the local level, pointing to multiple spheres of economic interaction. We argue that these results highlight the considerable economic complexity that was present in this neolithic fisher-forager society.

As Neolithic figurative finds – that is to say anthropomorphic and zoomorphic figurines, vessels, applications and impressions – were uncovered in Europe and the Near East, it was quickly apparent that they all shared common features over several millennia and thousands of kilometres: they were made of clay, usually depicted women, and were found in settlements. This led to cross-cultural comparisons and, in turn, wide-ranging interpretations regarding the use of figurative representations during the Neolithic. However, this cross-cultural approach eventually met its limits, as regional studies highlighted differences in features and distribution among various cultural groups. Figurative finds
were, in fact, not spread evenly across Europe. While some areas yielded multitudes, others yielded none. This article addresses the challenges of making cross-cultural comparisons, and underlines the need for a quantitative and contextualized approach: introducing a new relational database containing more than 2500 figurative representations from Central Europe and the Balkans, we compare find densities
across cultural groups and regional clusters in order to examine the development of clay figuration in Neolithic Europe.

Στο σπήλαιο έλαβαν χώρα  ταφικές αποθέσεις. Στο βαθύτερο σημείο, τόσο η χρονολόγηση με άνθρακα 14, όσο και η τυπολογική ανάλυση της κεραμεικής έδειξαν ότι ο χώρος χρησιμοποιήθηκε για εναπόθεση νεκρών κατά την Πρώιμη Εποχή του Χαλκού,  τις Υστερομινωική ΙΒ/Υστεροελλαδική ΙΙΑ (ΥM IB/ΥΕ IIA) και την Υστεροελλαδική IIIB έως την πρώιμη IIIΓ πολιτισμικές περιόδους. Μεταγενέστερες επεμβάσεις εντοπίστηκαν δέκα και πλέον αιώνες μετά.
    Αντίθετα, στον τομέα Β, τα ανθρωπολογικά κατάλοιπα, που βρέθηκαν στα βόρεια τοιχώματα του σπηλαίου, σε μία μικρού πλάτους ορθογώνια κόγχη και, ανατολικότερα, κοντά σε μια διαλυμένη ξερολιθιά, προέρχονταν από σώματα που είχαν τοποθετηθεί εκτάδην (αν κρίνει κανείς από τη διάταξη όσων οστών είχαν απομείνει) και δεν ήταν καλυμμένα με χώμα. Οι ανώτερες στρώσεις της αναβαθμίδας έδωσαν χρονολογήσεις που συμπίπτουν με την Ενετοκρατία.
      Στην ίδια την αναβαθμίδα, κάτω από τα επιφανειακά στρώματα, αποκαλύφθηκαν διαδοχικά οριζόντιες διευθετήσεις λίθων και επάλληλες, ανοικτές πυρές, σε μία περίπτωση με ανεστραμμένο αγγείο, πράξη που συχνά ερμηνεύεται ως τελετουργική. Οι βαθύτερες στρώσεις έδωσαν κεραμεική της Εποχής του Χαλκού. Δεν υπήρχαν κατάλοιπα ανθρωπίνων σωμάτων.
    Τέλος, στην αίθουσα Β διασώζονταν μεγαλύτερα τμήματα αγγείων της ‘Ύστερης Εποχής του Χαλκού, συχνά, καλυμμένα με σταλαγμιτικό επίπαγο.
        Είναι σαφές ότι το σπηλαιοβάραθρο, εφόσον επιλέχθηκε για χρήση, δεν μπορούσε να αξιοποιηθεί, όπως συνήθως συμβαίνει,  ως τόπος προσωρινής κατοικίας. Άλλωστε, αρκετά σπήλαια, διαχρονικά,  έχουν χρησιμοποιηθεί ως χώροι πρωτογενών ταφών ή ανακομιδών, ως χώροι φυσικής και νοητικής μετάβασης: «Και παίρνει με και πάει με σ’ ένα μεγάλο σπήλιο/ που ΄τανε μέσα σκοτεινά, δεν του δουδε ο ήλιος».