Art and Symbolism

The Forms and Meanings of the Portable Art of the East European Plain Hunter-Gatherer-Fishers

Bibliographic Data

ID23469772
AuthorsEkaterina Kashina (0000-0002-7068-5741, State Hermitage Museum, corresponding author)
Year2025
Pages736-749
Publication date2025-02-20
Open AccessNo
TypeCHAPTER
VenueOxford Handbook of Mesolithic Europe (SOURCE_BOOK)
PublisherOxford University Press (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198853657.013.43
OpenAlexW4407788728
ISBN9780198853657
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited6

This chapter briefly presents the analysis of northeastern European Prehistoric Holocene hunters’ portable art as a part of the European culture, both material and spiritual, during the period of seventh–third millennia bc. The items’ morphology, raw material/technology, archaeological context, function, and semantic/symbolic meaning are studied. More than 600 pieces are subdivided into three groups: moulded clay pieces, carved (of bone, antler, amber, and wood), and retouched (flint) pieces. The images represent humans, birds, mammals, snakes, and fish. The large number and wide distribution of pieces are the markers of social networks: marriage alliances and gift exchange. Ceramic pieces (sculptures and vessels) reflect some domestic rituals and simultaneously the marital ties between regions via the anthropomorphic sculptures’ face decoration patterns (tattoos?). Carved sculpted pendants were probably connected with personalized beliefs in human ancestors and ancestral totemic animals, among which birds were the most abundant zoomorphic images. Flint pendants probably had the same function and meaning. Elk-headed staffs were an integral part of man-the-hunter’s spirituality. Tools and household items with sculpted finials were probably used in special occasions according to their purpose. All the analysed items suggest that Mid-Holocene hunter-gatherer-fishers beliefs were highly complex and comprised at least ancestral and totemic components. Generally, variations in portable art morphology, design, quantity, and application probably reflect the changing world-view between generations.

Art · Architecture and Cultural Influences · Classical Antiquity Studies · Historical and Literary Studies

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