Ambiguous symbols: why there were no figurines in Neolithic Britain

Documenta Praehistorica

Julian Thomas¹ 

[1] School of Arts, Histories and Cultures, University of Manchester$$

关键词: Neolithic;    figurines;    symbols;    ritual practice;   

DOI  :  10.4312/dp.32.12

学科分类：地球科学(综合)

来源: Univerza v Ljubljani * Filozofska Fakulteta / University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Philosophy

【 摘 要 】

In this paper I discuss the scarcity of representational art, and particularly of representations of the human body, in Neolithic Britain, in contrast with the Neolithic of south-east Europe. My suggestion is that this contrast can be linked with differing notions of personal identity and bodily integrity. In later Neolithic Britain, a complex mode of non-representational decoration developed, which elaborated the practice of making reference to absent persons and things by using deliberately ambiguous motifs, which connected past and present as well as remote locations.

【 授权许可】

Unknown