Figurines and Rituals. Discussing embodiment theories and gender studies.

RIVISTA DEGLI STUDI ORIENTALINUOVA SERIE


Organo scientifico del

DIPARTIMENTO DI STUDI ORIENTALISAPIENZA, UNIVERSITÀ DI ROMA

*

Direttore responsabileRaffaele Torella

*

Direttore scientificoRaffaele Torella

Editor-in-ChiefFranco D’Agostino

Comitato scientificoGiovanna Calasso, Federica Casalin, Ciro Lo Muzio,

Giorgio Milanetti, Filippo Salviati,Lorenzo Verderame, Maria Gioia Vienna

Segretaria di redazioneFrancesca Gorello

*

Pubblicato con il contributodi «Sapienza», Università di Roma

SAPIE NZA, UNIVERSITÀ DI ROMADIPARTIMENTO DI STUDI ORIENTALI

APPROACHING RITUALSIN ANCIENT CULTURES

QUESTIONI DI RITO:RITUALI COME FONTE DI CONOSCENZADELLE RELIGIONI E DELLE CONCEZIONIDEL MONDO NELLE CULTURE ANTICHE

Proceedings of the Conference, November 28-30, 2011, Roma

EDITED BY

CLAUS AMBOS AND LORENZO VERDERAME

SUPPLEMENTO Nº 2ALLA RIVISTA DEGLI STUDI ORIENTALI

NUOVA SERIEVOLUME LXXXVI

P I S A · R O M AFABRIZIO SERRA EDITORE

2013


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issn 0392-4866isbn 978-88-6227-591-0

isbn elettronico 978-88-6227-592-7

SOMMARIO

Preface 9Claus Ambos, Lorenzo Verderame, Introduction 11Claus Ambos, Mesopotamische Baurituale aus dem 1. Jahrtausend v. Chr.

Nachträge und Verbesserungen 17Claus Ambos, Rites of passage in Ancient Mesopotamia: Changing status

by moving through space: Bit rimki and the ritual of the substitute king 39Emanuele M. Ciampini, La dinamica del rituale di Hathor nel tempio

della dea a File 55Federico Contardi, The Reception of Royal and Divine Rituals by In-

dividuals in Egypt of the First Millennium 79M. Erica Couto-Ferreira, The River, the Oven, the Garden: the Female

Body and Fertility in a Late Babylonian Ritual Text 97Agnès Garcia-Ventura, Mireia López-Bertran, Figurines & Rit-

uals. Discussing Embodiment Theories and Gender Studies 117Pietro Giammellaro, The beggar on the threshold. Spaces, ritual cross-

ings and social identity in the Homeric epic 145Harold M. Hays, The End of Rites of Passage and a Start with Ritual

Syntax in Ancient Egypt 165Patrick Maxime Michel, Ritual in Emar 187Nicola Modena, Lost in Description: The Missing Rituals of the Queen

at the Court of Ancient Israel 197Davide Nadali, When Ritual Meets Art. Rituals in the Visual Arts versus

the Visual Arts in Rituals: The Case of Ancient Mesopotamia 209Andreas H. Pries, On the use of a grammar of rituals. Reflections from

an Egyptologist’s point of view 227Anne-Caroline Rendu Loisel, Noise, Light and Smoke: the Sensory

Dimension in Akkadian Rituals. A General Overview 245Marta Rivaroli, The Ritualization of War: the Phases of Bellum and

their Sacral Implications 261Giulia Torri, Susanne Görke, Hittite Building Rituals. Interaction

between their Ideological Function and Find Spots 287Lorenzo Verderame, Means of substitution. The use of figurines, ani-

mals, and human beings as substitutes in Assyrian rituals 301

FIGURINES & RITUALSDISCUSSING EMBODIMENT THEORIES

AND GENDER STUDIES

Agnès Garcia-Ventura* · Mireia López-Bertran**

This paper aims to analyse from an embodiment and gender perspective differentgroups of clay figurines from the ancient Mediterranean area and Mesopotamia. Onthe one hand, the word “embodiment” focuses on the corporeal dimensions of humanactivities and seeks to put the emphasis on corporeality, that is, the flesh; as on manyoccasions the studies of body result in being disembodied and abstract. Moreover itstresses the figurines as processes and not as static objects. On the other hand, as re-gards gender studies, we apply some approaches from post-feminist and queer studies,specifically those related to the concepts of hetero-normativity and their criticism ofthe dual sex and gender systems. In all, we propose not only to study specifically thebody and the gender roles that figurines create and represent, but also to open up newpossible readings and to reflect on some of the issues that are not explicit but implicitin all archaeological remains.

1. Introduction1

his paper aims to analyse from an embodiment and gender perspectivedifferent groups of clay figurines from the ancient Mediterranean area

and Mesopotamia. We will focus specifically on Punic figurines from Eivissa(Puig des Molins cemetery, Illa Plana and Es Culleram shrines); Sardinia (Bitiaand Neapolis votive deposits); and some other figurines from Tell Asmar(from the different temple and palace locations of ancient Ešnunna) (Fig. 1).All of them have already been studied in depth by us in previous publications.2

It is our intention to gather together the most significant figurines of eachsite to analyse them from the perspective of gender and embodiment theories. As we have already studied these terracotta figurines in their owngeographical contexts (Fig. 2), we are now turning our attention to viewing

* Institut Universitari d’Història Jaume Vincens Vives, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain.** Spanish Ministry of Education and Culture /FECYT. Archaeology, School of Humanities, Uni-

versity of Glasgow, Scotland.1 We wish to thank Claus Ambos and Lorenzo Verderame for inviting us to take part at the work-

shop and for inviting us to contribute to this volume. We would also like to thank Claudia Suter for as-sisting us in the preparation of this paper, which we presented at the workshop. We are also in debt toJaime Vives-Ferrándiz, who has helped us in the preparation of some of the images included in the work.

2 Regarding Illa Plana, see López-Bertran, 2011 and 2012; regarding Puig des Molins, Es Culleram andIlla Plana, see Garcia-Ventura & López-Bertran, 2009a and 2009b, as well as López-Bertran & Garcia- Ventura Las terracotas de instrumentistas en la Ibiza Púnica (in preparation), and López-Bertran & Garcia-Ventura, 2012; regarding Neapolis and Bitia, see López-Bertran 2007: 180-205; regarding Tell Asmar, seeGarcia-Ventura & López-Bertran 2010.

T

118 agnès garcia-ventura · mireia lópez-bertran [2]

them from an alternative perspective, that is, as active material culture in theconstruction of themes of gender and corporeality. These perspectives mightbe useful in presenting our interpretations of rituals. Indeed, their study hasa wide scope as the different presentations during the workshop have shown;from semiotics to critical studies of ancient conjurations.

The link between the figurines and rituals is quite certain, because most ofthe terracotta figurines have been found in tombs, being part of the gravegoods or as votive deposits connected to shrines and temples (see Fig. 2). Ourapproach to rituals is strongly connected to their material and practical (sensuBourdieu) dimension (Bell 1992; Bourdieu 1977). Rituals are not abstract ex-periences, but rather concrete practices that people do in different contexts.People perform rituals with and through their bodies; singing, praying orwalking are ways of creating rituals.3

3 For an archeological case, see López-Bertran & Garcia-Ventura 2008, especially pp. 30-31.

Fig. 1. Maps showing the sites mentioned; top left, map of the island of Eivissa;top right, map of the island of Sardinia; and below, map of Ancient Mesopotamia

(adapted from the Oriental Institute Map Series).

[3] discussing embodiment theories and gender studies 119

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We stress the corporeal dimension of rituals thanks to the concept of ritu-alisation (Bell 1992: 88-93). Ritualisation is useful because it avoids the diffi-culties that archaeologists face in defining rituals (Kyriakidis 2007b: 289; In-soll 2004: 10). It is generally agreed that the traditional definition of rituals asirrational activities, which are clearly divorced from everyday actions, is un-helpful (Brück 1999; Bradley 2005). Thus, the ritualisation concept stresses themateriality of rites; it emphasises the need to interpret them in terms of ac-tivities and to take into account to what extent, and in what ways, they differfrom other practices. This is highly significant because in many cases, the ma-terial culture associated with ritual performances is the same as that found ineveryday contexts (Kyriakidis 2007a: 16). Therefore, ritualisation focuses onthe idea that daily practices and rituals are closely connected; ritual practicescan be common actions which, for particular reasons, are intentionally over-emphasised through the formality of the activities, their invariance, and thecare taken in their performance.

Another important issue that arises in considering the materiality of rit-uals is their connection with bodies and senses (Skeates 2010; Hamilakis etalii 2002). Rituals are embodied activities, physical actions which heightenthe exploitation of the senses. As bodily practices, rituals are defined as per-formances. Using the performance perspective is useful because it rein-forces the transformative capacities of rituals as well as their sensory andcorporeal features (Inomata & Coben 2006; Mitchell 2006). The basic re-quirements for rituals to become performances are the important role ofan audience and the presence of material and bodies in motion. In all, thestress on the kinetic features of rituals underlines that they are embodiedpractices and so avoid the abstract and general assumptions that the stud-ies of rituals have had.

The clay figurines which we are dealing with are good examples to useto demonstrate this understanding of rituals. They shed light on two material and corporeal issues: firstly, how they help us to understand whatpeople used to perform in rituals; and secondly, how the figurines were engendered in rituals as well. What follows here is a brief explanation ofthe embodiment and gender theories and their application to different case-studies.

2. Embodiment and Figurines: more than representations

In archaeology, the body has been studied following anthropological ideasthat mainly analysed it as a symbol and as an agent (Reischer & Koo 2004).On the one hand, bodies as symbols are studied as texts upon which socialmeanings are inscribed; thus as passive elements ruled by the mind followingthe Cartesian dichotomy that began with ancient Greek philosophers such asPlato and Aristotle (Meskell 1996: 2; Mitchell 2006: 385; López-Bertran 2007:


14-16). On the other hand, bodies as agents emphasise the active role of bod-ies in creating and participating in social dynamics, because our bodies medi-ate in our relationship with the world around us. These premises are basedon the phenomenology of Merleau-Ponty (1945) that expresses how our bod-ies are the medium for having a world, and Bourdieu’s (1977) notion that thebody structures both how we act and how we perceive (Montserrat 1998: 4;Meskell & Joyce 2003).

From these ideas arises a key concept which is very useful in archaeology,that is, embodiment (Csordas 1994). This word focuses on the corporeal di-mensions of human activities and seeks to put the emphasis on corporeality,that is, the flesh; as on many occasions the studies of body result in being dis-embodied and abstract. Within this framework, a self that acts on the worldnecessarily does so through the medium of the body ( Joyce 2005: 142). Ar-chaeologists have used the embodiment insights, especially in examining therepresentations of bodies from an art-historical perspective and in genderstudies, to describe the relationship between the physical body and the givenor performed genders (Boric & Robb 2008: 1-2). Recently, some scholars havepointed out that an emphasis on human bodies has neglected the relationshipbetween humans and non-humans such as animals or objects (Boric & Robb2008: 4).

One of the common ways to study figurines is as given representations ofa concrete reality; thus, we assume that our terracotta figurines may be rep-resenting the people who visited shrines in a ritual attitude (singing, praying,or dancing amongst others). We are not only interested in decoding what fig-urines represent, but also in achieving a holistic understanding of them (Bai-ley 2005: 17-24). From this standpoint, figurines are not passive objects, but canbe seen as material culture in motion, as material full of live (Bailey 2005;Nanoglou 2005; Joyce 2007; Meskell 2007). In our case, as material culture thatactually plays a role in rites.

One example we have studied from this perspective is a group of figurinesfrom Illa Plana (Eivissa) (Fig. 3). This sample is represented holding oil lampsin their hands, gathered in their arms or on their heads. It seems likely thatthese figurines were multifunctional; they not only represented people, butthey were also used as oil-lamps to burn oils or other substances in the con-text of the ritual performances. Therefore, we maintain that these terracottafigurines themselves participated in rituals through their use as oil-lamps, oreven as characters performing specific activities. Thus, the figurines wouldhave been used in some kind of interaction with and among devotees at a rit-ual. What about the other types of figurines? Although it is not as clear as theprevious case, we argue that the tri-dimensionality and the size (between 18and 22 cm long) of the figurines make them easy to see, touch and move, sothat, before being deposited, people might have used them to play with or asdevices to perform stories or legends.


Therefore, human terracotta figurines not only represent the bodies ofpeople who visited the shrine and performed rituals, but they also provide uswith important information about the activities and practices of their cre-ators and users. Thus, when they are used and moved by people, they can beunderstood not merely as objects, but as material undergoing a process oftransformation. In addition, objects can be apprehended at a tactile level, andto take a sensory reading of them is a useful methodology (Weismantel 2012).These approaches in their entirety stress the figurines as processes and not asstatic objects.

This framework of analysis is based on the idea that figurines are muchmore than simple representations of a given reality. Representing is to citesomething else, but the materiality of the figurines allows them to becomenew entities besides the objects they might be imitating (Nanoglou 2009a:186-187 and 2009b: 157; Meskell et alii 2008: 141). The figurines are more thanrepresentations, because they help the people who create and use them to un-derstand and negotiate their own world, so the terracotta figurines influencedpeople’s lives and decisions and embodied social norms (Clark 2009: 232). Forinstance, the materiality of the anthropomorphic figurines might have im-pact upon the people’s experience and understanding of their own bodies(Nanoglou 2008: 316). What follows is an attempt to look at the figurines fromthis perspective of materiality.

Fig. 3. Figurines holding oil-lamps (Illa Plana, Eivissa) (adapted from the catalogueof Almagro Gorbea 1980: (1) 25.8 cm long, (2) 20.8 cm long, and (3) 19.2 cm long).


2. 1. Musical performance and figurines

Music, dancing and sounds might be quite significant in rituals, as anthropo-logical works as well as the ancient written sources show (López-Bertran2007: 161-162).6 However, it is difficult to assess the importance of these prac-tices for several reasons: first of all, because music is an ephemeral art andleaves us with few remains from the majority of its manifestations (for ex-ample, singing); secondly, because sometimes it is difficult to identify whatwould have been used as an artefact to produce sound; thirdly, even being ableto recognise some artefacts as musical instruments in visual imagery, as theywere usually made of perishable materials like wood, their preservation isscarce.

Despite all these difficulties, it is still possible to make some proposals con-cerning ancient music and musical performance. Some figurines that we havealready studied (from Illa Plana & Puig des Molins) shed some light on theseissues, especially when studying them from an embodiment perspective. Weargue that the corporealities of the figurines strengthen the bodily abilities toproduce sounds; so that the figurines might be embodying how the peopleproduced sounds, which were highly significant in rituals (López-Bertran &Aranegui 2011: 88-91). The way some sensory organs, for example, mouthsand ears, are represented, together with the body decoration of some ofthem, are strategies to study the soundscape of rituals.

Most of the Phoenician and Punic terracotta figurines from Illa Plana(Eivissa), and Bitia and Neapolis (Sardinia) have large, open mouths; it is as ifthey were singing, praying, or mourning (Fig. 4). The human voice is one ofthe oldest ancient musical instruments. Some scholars link the first stages oflanguage with the first stages of music; abilities that emerged in humansmany thousands of years ago (Mithen 2005: 28-61 and 195; cf. Beament 2005:12, for disagreement with this hypothesis). Whatever its origins, singing is away of preserving traditions, of transmitting ideals and education, of lament-ing and communicating. As a communicative device, singing may have ac-companied ritual performances and may have played an explanatory role.Thus, we should imagine musicians in Antiquity being, at the same time,composers, singers and players, without the boundaries and distinctions con-sidered usual to us nowadays.7 Despite this fact, from the examination ofsome Sumerian proverbs, it is clear that there were some differences as a goodsinger had higher prestige than a player. As an example, amongst others, wequote the excerpt of one of these proverbs: “A disgraced singer becomes a

6 For a review of the written sources related to the Phoenician and Punic music, see López-Bertran& Garcia-Ventura (2012 and in preparation).

7 See Pruzsinszky (2007) regarding this situation in Mesopotamia, which takes Sumerian terminolo-gy into consideration.


piper / A disgraced Kalûm-priest be-comes a flutist” (Gordon 1959: 211,proverb 2.54).8

It is likely that singing, praying orlamenting would have been repeatedthroughout the rituals producing ageneral murmur that might help toget in touch with other-worldly beings. The fact that some of the earsof these figures are faithfully repre-sented reinforces the importance ofthe sense of hearing (López-Bertran2007: 163). Furthermore, some terra-cotta figurines are touching their earsand they might be indicating the carein hearing or the search for amplify-ing some kind of sound and music(Lawson et alii 1998: 124).

Moving to another instance, wehave studied in detail the sample ofmusician figurines in Punic Eivissa(López-Bertran & Garcia-Ventura i.p.and 2012), and we have stressed thatthe body decoration of some musi-cian figurines would have also hadsignificant acoustic properties. In-deed, some of them are rich in deco-rative clothing, shoes, jewellery, hair-styles and makeup (Fig. 5) (AlmagroGorbea 1980; San Nicolás 1983 and1984). Interestingly, some are manu-factured in a kinetic attitude as they go down on their knees trying to give theimpression of dancing. Thus, dancing and playing pipes or drums withbracelets might entail that their tinkling accompanied the musical perform-ances, producing additional sounds all of which are important to the creationof a ritual atmosphere and ritual sound and music. The repetition of thesesounds tends to be synchronized, reinforcing the feeling of community membership.

8 Some variations in the translation are offered by the Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Litera-ture (E.T.C.S.L.): “A disgraced singer becomes a flute-player. A disgraced lamentation priest becomes apiper” - (http://etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/cgi-bin/etcsl.cgi?text=t.6.1.02#). They are probably the result ofthe usual confusion in the use of the terms to translate words that relate to musical instruments.

Fig. 4. Figurine with large, open mouth(Illa Plana, Eivissa) (adapted from

the catalogue of Almagro Gorbea 1980:19.8 cm long).


2. 2. From Pointing Out to Touching:Recovery Rituals in Bitia and Neapolis

The figurines of Neapolis and Bitiahave been extensively studied as ex-amples of “therapeutic votives”, asthey are sick people searching for re-covery.9 It has been stated that theterracotta figurines pointed out, us-ing their out-stretched arms, eitherthe sick parts within the body or theexterior parts where the pain wasmanifested (Galeazzi 1986: 196). Forthe Neapolis sample, it has been no-ticed that a large amount of materialtouched their eyes, suggesting thefigurines represent people sufferingfrom trachoma (Zucca 1997: 133-134;Pesce, quoted by Moscati 1991: 48-49). This approach considers the ges-tures of the figurines as symbols ofthe disease (Galeazzi 1986: 193).

Following the materiality and em-bodiment approaches (see above), weoffer an alternative explanation forthe physicality of the figurines. Wefocus our attention not on the armsbut on the hands (López-Bertran2007: 180-199). The care in represent-ing the hands is a strategy to materi-

alise the importance of touch in healing rituals (Fig. 6). The idea of pointingout instead of touching denies the importance of bodies as social agents andwe argue that the hands are embodying the sense of touch and are related tohealing practices. Figurines have big hands in order to indicate the importanceof touch as a way of healing. Gestures are ways of constructing and conceiv-ing of either the disease or the recovery; thus, we argue that in the healing rit-uals, gestures are not symbols, but are themselves part of the recovery process.

It is well-known that diseases are a mix between biology and culture (Hsu2002: 6) and that traditional medicine conceives illnesses as punishment ofother-worldly beings, ancestors, or due to spells (Foster 1976; Levinson 2004).

9 See Galeazzi 1986; Moscati 1989; Zucca 1997: 133-134; Moscati 1992: 70-72; Garbati 2008: 81-85.

Fig. 5. Highly ornamented musicianfigurine (22.5 cm long) (Puig des Molins,

Eivissa) (photograph MAEF).


Thus, rituals, religion and magic are involved in the recovery practices; but,can the figurines and the other material from the deposits help us expand onthe rituals carried on in Bitia and Neapolis? Besides the well-representedhands, there is some material that can be associated with the touching sys-tem: in Bitia needles and jugs (Pesce 1965: 35) may be used for containing ormixing perfumes or ointments for massages; the same can be said for the clayvases found in Neapolis (Moscati 1989: 12). In that sense, secretions of fluidslike semen, mother’s milk or even urine could be a way of expelling diseasesand that is why some figurines are touching their genitalia and breasts.

Furthermore, the human voice can also be considered a device against ill-nesses through singing, mourning, complaining, praying or reciting some

Fig. 6. Figurines with well-represented hands (Bitia and Neapolis, Sardinia)(adapted from catalogues of Uberti 1973 and Zucca 1989: (1) 17 cm long, (2) 19 cm long,

(3) 17.1 cm long, (4) 6.1 cm long, and (5) 7.8 cm long).


magical formulas (Carr 2002: 59). The materiality of these curative rituals isanalysed via the modes used to model open mouths and big eyes (Fig. 7).Pesce (1965: 69) has already pointed out how some mouths of the terracottafigurines might be representing the suffering experience. Indeed, both sam-ples (Bitia and Neapolis) show a high number of figurines with open mouthsand eyes, suggesting the importance not only of touch but also of hearingand seeing. Indeed, in comparison with other similar samples from the PunicMediterranean (mainly Eivissa, but also Carthage and Mozia), the number offigurines reinforcing sight and voice is much higher in the Sardinian group offigurines (López-Bertran 2007: 185-192).

Altogether, the modelling of the figurines focusing attention on thehands, mouths and eyes might help to constitute people’s conception of dis-ease and healing. Unfortunately, there are no figurines representing the heal-ers, that is, the specialists to help people to get rid of diseases. Normally,these people embody their identity with make-up, or a special look; thus, itis likely that in Bitia and Neapolis the healers would be either non-profes-sionals or they would not construct their identity through their body ap-pearance. In any case, it is always difficult to distinguish these healers,whether or not they were professional healers, not only in terms of bodyappearance, but also through textual evidence. Boundaries and distinctionsthat appear obvious to us between healing experts and non-experts, medicalor magical practice, amongst others, were perhaps not so clear in Antiqui-ty. Some good cuneiform text examples are still under discussion relating tosome Akkadian terms used to describe these healing practitioners (Couto-Ferreira 2013).

Fig. 7. Figurines with open eyes and big eyes(Bitia and Neapolis, Sardinia, and Illa Plana, Eivissa)

(adapted from catalogues of Uberti 1973, Zucca 1989 and Almagro Gorbea 1980:(1) 14.9 cm long, (2) 20.2 cm long, (3) 22 cm long, and (4) 16.5 cm long).


3. Gender Studies

Moving to the second approach in studying figurines, in many cases, the ini-tial classification of figurines is traditionally by sex. Most studies distinguishonly between men and women (see Barrelet 1968; Frankfort et alii 1940), andthis initial division is made on the basis of the explicit representation of thegenitals and the assumption of certain attributes understood as being attrib-utable to only one sex. This traditional classification is useful for most fig-urines, but also raises a number of questions.10 Let us discuss why.

Firstly, to identify men and women we use the so-called primary sexualcharacteristics (genitalia) and the secondary ones (breasts for women orbeards for men). When genitalia are represented, identification should beeasy, but what about the androgynous figurines that combine breasts andpenises? Indeed, they challenge our readings (Hamilton 2000: 25) and provethat the consideration of breasts as an exclusively feminine attribute is clear-ly influenced by our own preconceptions about what a feminine body shouldbe (Assante 2006: 183; Preston-Werner 2008: 54).

Secondly, even if we reach a consensus on the distinctive attributes of mas-culine and feminine figures, certain images remain indeterminate. The initialbinary classification itself acts to limit a possible wider range of sex and gen-der identities in other times and places. Indeed, we tend to follow our genderexpectations when examining the sources (McCaffrey 2008: esp. 173, 207). Inthis way, we tend to see the masculine bodies as being neutral in contrast tothe feminine ones, which are sexed explicitly. Nowadays, in our choices oftopics, “women” are still considered a research topic as such, while “men” arestill perceived as the universal and generic.11 Despite recognising this startingpoint as being partially coincidental with that of most of the ancient societieshere quoted, we should remain aware of possible biases.

At this point, our proposal is to apply some approaches from post-feministand queer studies, specifically those related to the concepts of hetero-norma-tivity and their criticism of the dual sex and gender systems, to shed light onsome examples. Hetero-normativity is a term that describes our social and academic contexts where an “obligatory heterosexuality” is often assumed.The basic pillar of this heterosexuality defined as something constructed, andnot something natural in these theoretical proposals, is a dual sex and gender

10 For further thoughts and references on the pros and cons of engendering and ungendering, espe-cially when analysing visual imagery, see Garcia-Ventura 2012 (especially pp. 508-509).

11 An example of a relatively recent research work done would be the Dictionnaire de la CivilisationMésopotamienne ( Joannès 2001). There we find the entry «Femme» that refers us to «Mariage» in the ex-planation. On the other hand, there is no entry for «Homme». Despite this situation, the beginning ofthe entry for «Mariage» begins as follows: «Le mariage, dans les sociétés patriarcales du Proche-Orientancien, est en général défini du point de vue de l’époux ou du père de la jeune fille» (pp. 503-504), despitethe lack of an entry for «homme».


system where only men and women exist.12 If gender studies began claimingthe difference between sex (as biological) and gender (as a cultural construct),what queer studies claim is that sex is also a socially and culturally construct-ed category. Recently some studies devoted to history and archaeology ap-plied some of these perspectives with very suggestive proposals (for example,Voss & Casella 2012, amongst others).

Does this mean that we should propose considering ancient societies asnon hetero-normative? Obviously not! Written records and visual imagerypresent a normative context where one of the axes of social organisation isthe classic binary one distinguishing between men and women, but there arealso some exceptions. For instance: this duality is reinforced through mythslike the one of Ištar/Inanna, the goddess of love and war, sex and death andthe only one able to turn men into women and women into men, that is tosay, to subvert the sexual and gendered established order (Teppo 2008: 77-78).We should consider then that the feminine representations we find overallwould be used either by men or by women. Indeed for both genders in a bi-nary and hetero-normative system, it would have been important maintain-ing good relationships with this goddess (Pruss 2002: 545).

So, even in what seems to be a rigid hetero-patriarchal society, there weremyths to break down binaries while reinforcing them. Here we suggest thatwhen doing that, they created new sex or gender categories and this approach does not go as far as the proposal of some feminists and queermovements who claim that more than two sex and gender categories areperformed (Fausto-Sterling 1993; Butler 2004). While Harding defends (1986:126-35), we focus on the sexual difference based on biology; but if gender isperformed as a disguise, then we should also consider other categories seenas ambiguity in a dual system: for example, transgender, intersexuality, oreven asexuality. As far back as the 1970s, Bottéro and Petschow, in the Re-allexikon der Assyriologie entry for «Homosexualität», mentioned that forsome individuals “le genre de vie constituait un véritable état” (p. 463),something similar to what Butler and her followers maintain in some oftheir postulates.

Keeping in mind this theoretical framework and all these arguments, let ustry to look at some of the figurines selected for our discussion. Below weshow some case studies where the traditional primary classification by thedual sex system has been found to be useful. In addition, we present other ex-amples where this classification hinders some interesting readings.

12 See Butler (2004) about the social construction of heterosexuality; and see Haraway (1991) aboutthe concept of “obligatory heterosexuality”. Both scholars quote and present, amongst others, the pro-posals of Monique Wittig regarding the consideration of heterosexuality as, not only a private sexual op-tion, but also as a political category.


3. 1. Ambiguous figurines in Tell Asmar, Bitia and Neapolis

Let us begin with the Tell Asmar figurines (Fig. 8). Here, the ones represent-ed naked with breasts and evident vulvas are considered women. The othersare automatically considered to be men; some of them because of theirbeards as the genitals are not usually represented (only two of them appearwith genitals).13 This imbalance is not casual because, as Bahrani (2002: 56) as-serts: “In Mesopotamia, sexuality, or the erotic, was primarily equated withfemininity in representations. In both texts and visual images sexuality isspecifically linked to the female body, and I would say that more specificallythe focus is on the vulva.” So, women’s bodies are presented as the sexed onesin contrast to rare men represented in images similar to those of that women.In addition, all the women are represented in frontal positions with the vul-vas overemphasised. This position has been interpreted by some scholars assexually appealing and not as a passive one (Bahrani 2002: 56-57; Pruss 2002:543). These ideas have also been reinforced by Lynn Budin (2011: 333-348) whenanalysing kourotrophos images in the Ancient Western Mediterranean. Shesuggests that images of women in this iconography are sexually appealing tomen; they excite men sexually in order to fecundate them.

Besides those figurines where genitals or secondary sexual attributes allowus to classify them in the dual sex-gender system, especially the female ones,some other figurines are fragmentary with no head remaining or there is noclear beard. In these cases, sex is assigned according to the shape of the body;they are considered to be men in spite of the absence of primary or second-ary clear markings. For this reason, concerning these last figurines, we pro-pose a third new group; an asexual group. In our view, as pointed out before,the presence of sex markings is as significant as their absence. As a conse-quence, some figures without explicit representations of genitals or beardscould be considered “asexual” or at least as sexually ambiguous. Indeed, thefact that their sex is unimportant is significant in itself. As Asher-Greve (2008:130) posits: “Since simple linear incisions suffice to render gender unambigu-ous, those instances where ambiguity remains indicate that gender identitywas apparently not always important.”

Fortunately, the potential of ambiguity as a stimulus for thought is nolonger an isolated proposal, as it has recently been considered in a range ofstudies of different Mesopotamian epigraphical and visual sources (Gabbay2008; McCaffrey 2002 and 2008; Teppo 2008; Garcia-Ventura & López-Bertran

13 See Garcia-Ventura & López-Bertran (2010) for the detailed museum and publication referencenumbers of the various kinds of figurine examples quoted herein. Note that among these referencesthere is one error: in all the footnotes where the abbreviation OIC 43 is quoted, it should instead readOIP 43. However, the reference is correct in the final bibliographical list of the quoted article underFrankfort et alii (1940).


Fig. 8. Feminine, masculine and ambiguous figurines (Tell Asmar, Iraq)(adapted from Frankfort et alii 1940: top left: 10.3 cm long; top right: 12 cm long;

bottom left: 11.3 cm long; bottom right: 12.4 cm long).


2010).14 These and other similar studies try to approach the roles of the gen-derless, sexless15 or asexual human bodies represented in the visual recordwithout preconceptions, and raise the possibility of considering these figuresas evidence of third gender categories in Ancient Mesopotamia.16

Another instance of how scholars have tried to engender the figurines froma hetero-normative point of view regards the terracotta figurines from Bitiaand Neapolis. Scholars assume that all figurines would have had genitalia, butin some cases they have been not preserved. In any case, other possibilities re-garding more than two genders are not considered. Engendering the fig-urines in terms of masculine and feminine is so important that the undeter-mined receive one of these categories without a valid argument. Indeed, inmany cases the ones with ornamentation and jewellery are labelled aswomen assuming the sexist contemporary criteria of Western body decora-tion. These interpretations presume a clear explanation of bodies; they aredefined as feminine arenas so that there is a link between bodies and sensesand both are passive elements ruled by the mind, which is connected to men.However, these interpretations fail, especially when confronted with deco-rated masculine figurines (López-Bertran 2007: 200).

The presence of breasts is another indicator used to attribute gender to thefigurines, making an association between women and breasts. But again thisrelation is useless because there are a large number of men with breasts.Thus, the association between men and breasts breaks the traditional relationbetween women, breasts and fertility and opens up new gender categories.Moreover, it may define masculinity in a different way to that of modernWestern assumptions. Men might be concerned about fertility and breaststoo, but maybe not as gender identifiers.

In Bitia, based on the complete exemplars, there are 26 undetermined fig-urines, 26 feminine and 31 masculine. The Neapolis figurines wholly pre-served present 12 asexual pieces, 7 masculine and 5 feminine. The main ques-tion here is why they do not have genitalia represented. The so-calledundetermined or asexual figurines could represent people who simply do notcare about showing genitalia, because they are not significant in these ritualcontexts. That does not imply they do not have any gender (male, female orwhatever), but they are not interested in expressing it in these contexts. Infact, the figurines are modelled with a clay cast, hence their standardised as-

14 A good example, still under discussion, is the Sumerian term gala. This lamentation singer is de-scribed by some scholars as a man working as a lamenter (so in an arena traditionally dominated bywomen), a man clothed like a women to perform some laments or even a eunuch. All these possible read-ings prove that despite the fact that we do not know how to define gala, it is clear that this category doesnot fit into a binary man-woman scenario. For some proposals and the state of the research regardingthis word, see amongst others Gabbay (2008 & 2011), Michalowski (2006) or Teppo (2008: 83-84).

15 For a defence of the use of term “sexless” instead of “genderless”, see Asher-Greve (2008: 138).16 Asher-Greve (2008: 122, 130); Pollock & Bernbeck (2000: 160); Garcia-Ventura & López-Bertran

(2010: 744-746).


pect. However, the most significant parts: genitalia, breasts, hands, arms andhead are hand-modelled and then added to the core depending on the inter-ests of the user. Therefore, the unrepresented sexual traits might be some-thing done on purpose and could represent people who are considered asasexual or infertile, such as children or the elderly.

3. 2. Music player figurines

Let us now move on to the corpus of musician figurines from the cemeteryof Puig des Molins and the cave of Es Culleram, both situated at Eivissa(López-Bertran & Garcia-Ventura, i.p.). Two main kinds of musical instru-ments are hold by the terracotta figurines presented here: double pipes (eightfigurines), and hand-drums (ten figurines). From the eight figurines withwind instruments, six are feminine while two are masculine like. On the oth-er hand we have ten hand-drums players, all of them female. Hence, it is clearthat we have a great female majority,17 perhaps because both instruments areassociated with mourning (Sendrey & Norton 1964: 111-112 and 120) andmourning is mainly associated with women. However, despite pipes beingmainly linked to women, we have examples of two satyrs playing the pipes,which allows us to link this instrument to both men and women and to dif-ferent ritual contexts. Thus, pipes were used in funerary rituals, but also inrituals performed in caves (we have one piper figurine from Es Culleram), andwere played by men and by women, as suggested by the figurines found inboth contexts.

Regarding the exclusive representation of women playing drums, a com-plementary explanation is that percussion instruments were mainly associat-ed with dancing and this activity could be perceived, at least in funerary ritu-als, as associated, again, to lamenting and consequently to women (Sendrey1969: 373). Moreover, mourning makes explicit the link between life anddeath, with women being this link. In this context, then, the drum is also as-sociated with women as a musical instrument associated with fertility and towhat have been considered as fertility rituals (Paz 2007: 86).

Thus, up to this point, the dual men-women system is working, but thereis a particular case in this corpus also, that is, the figurine presented in plateXXVI, 3 by Almagro Gorbea (1980) (Fig. 9). In the end, we decided to omitfrom our corpus this figurine with undetermined sex and holding a small cir-cular object, sometimes identified as a drum. This figurine is always describedas a feminine, naked figurine holding a small drum (Almagro Gorbea 1980:86-87; Tarradell 1974: 68). From our point of view, the sex of the figurine ispurposely undetermined, as genitals are not represented and the breasts, asthey are represented in this figurine, are secondary sexual attributes that

17 Cf. Burgh (2006: 44-105) for this situation in different areas and settlements.


could not be linked to either men orwomen.18 Moreover, the round ob-ject is smaller than the small hand-drums described above and what ismore important, considering the dif-ficulty in identifying this object, isthat the position of both hands is dif-ferent too. In fact, identifying roundobjects as percussion instruments is adifficult task and a question not easyto answer in many examples (seesome example about this controversyin Burgh 2006: 33-36, and in Paz 2007:72-74).

In brief, for all these reasons, wethink that this interesting figurineprobably does not represent a musi-cian and moreover, what is clear to usis that this figurine does not clearlyrepresent a woman or a female fig-urine as was described in the above-quoted studies published somedecades ago. Hence, it provides uswith a good example of the alreadydiscussed presence of ambiguity insome representations.

3. 3. Bird-faced FigurinesTransgender Representations

As a final example, we have defined agroup of figurines from Eivissa (IllaPlana) as transgender representa-tions (seven figurines out of thirty-one) (Fig. 10). This proposal is basedon their physical appearance. Theyare bird-faced,19 have necklaces andhats, and yet have explicit representations of both penises and breasts. Thus,these figures in particular are especially relevant material with which to ex-

18 Cf. studies of figurines of undetermined sex, Garcia-Ventura & López-Bertran (2010); for discus-sion about sexual identities linked to drum playing, cf. Paz (2007: 75-77).

19 The bird-faced figurines appear in the Cypriot Middle Bronze Age, but they are labelled as beingfeminine (goddesses) because of the presence of vulvae and breasts (Lynn Budin 2011: 260-264).

Fig. 9. Ambiguous figurine(Puig des Molins, Eivissa)

(adapted from Tarradell 1974: 29 cm long).


plore themes related to bodies, ritual, and gender identities. Assuming the in-sights provided by theories of performativity (Butler 1996; Butler 2004: 204-231), figures having penises, breasts and wearing masks may not necessarilyrepresent a male gender, but rather a new gender based on the hybridism be-tween human and non-human. In these figurines, we regard gender as a per-formance. Gender is like fancy dress, revealing the idea of an intrinsic and in-ternal sexual identity as false.

Therefore, the figurines illustrate that neither sex nor gender are natural orbiological constructions, but rather cultural ones. Through performance,that is, through the action of wearing masks, necklaces and hats, a new per-sonhood and a new gender is created. Following the same logic, big peniseshave nothing essential to do with masculinity. Anatomical sex as identifiedthrough genitals is not equivalent to gender (Voss 2008: 36).

What is the role of these transgender beings in the ritual practices carriedout in Illa Plana? We argue that they are ritual specialists, embodying this rolethrough their gender and decoration. They may serve in this function for var-ious reasons, for example as a head of family, or for reasons of age or status.

Fig. 10. Bird-faced figurines (left: 24.2 cm long; right: 22.5 cm long)(Illa Plana, Eivissa) (photographs MAEF).


As many ethnographic studies show,20 ritual specialists, such as shamans, aremen who manifest other sexual features, going beyond the bi-polar hetero-sexual scheme to create another gender category (López-Bertran 2011: 51-54;López-Bertran 2012: 96-98).

4. To conclude

We believe that the study of figurines from the perspective of bodies and gen-der renders the results useful in order to stress the fact that rituals are activi-ties carried out by people. It appears very obvious, but we think that some-times we forget the physicality of the past. Indeed, the importance of thestudy of the figurines from the points of view of embodiment and sexualityis undisputed: it is essential to consider the body in Antiquity as polysemic, asit is considered today.21

These figurines have the capacity to build up body agendas in rituals: forinstance, they help to develop how the healing therapies might be in Punicsocieties or how to perform music. As we have argued, they are more thanrepresentations because they might participate in rituals. Thus, we can affirmthat the relationship between people and figurines is reciprocal: when mod-elling figurines, people put their effort in trying to apply their own realities,and, simultaneously, figurines through their body shape, the stress on specificbody parts, or their body appearance (among others) constitute codes or nar-ratives through which people construct social norms such as age, status orgender.

In this direction, we have seen some examples of biological sexual ambi-guity in representations of figurines. This ambiguity allows us to propose theexistence of more than two sex-gender categories. On the other hand, evenwhen dealing with a dual male-female framework, we are able to identify ex-amples of mobility between both of them. Sometimes masculine characterscan assume attributes considered feminine, and sometimes the feminine onesassume the masculine attributes; through the figurines, it could be exempli-fied through body decoration and, as we have shown, through the breasts,considered secondary sexual attributes. However, only taking the figurines in-to account means that it is not possible to determine whether the attributesadopted were perceived as being negative, positive or neither positive nornegative.

Fortunately, some texts exemplify this situation and help us to complete thepicture. In the Ancient Near East, for example, we have the devotees of Ištar/Inanna, who are men dressed as women and wear attributes like spin-dles, also associated with women (Teppo 2008: 80): probably examples of

20 See, for instance, the example of Native American double-spirits in North America (Voss 2008: 39).21 For some reflections concerning, in particular, Ancient Near Eastern studies, see Bahrani (2001: 70-

96) & Assante (2006: 178).


transvestism. On the other hand, we have a Hittite text where soldiers arethreatened with being transformed into women (giving them spindles againas an attribute of femininity) if they do not keep an oath (Goetze 1950: 354).With these two examples, we see that the assumption of feminine attributesby men could be interpreted as being negative (Hittite text) or positive (Ištar/Inanna devotees). Consequently, these are examples of transgressionof the dual system and, at the same time through this transgression, mecha-nisms to reinforce this dual male-female system.

Returning again to our figurines, as we have seen it is dangerous applyingour own sexual and gender roles and our preconceptions to the analyses ofthe material. This tendency is probably inevitable, but it is important to bearit in mind. Today, figurines are often considered as objects of leisure activities(for example, toys, Bailey 2005: 66-88) or of use in certain sexual practices (forexample, female figurines considered as pornographic objects for men)22 typ-ical of our own Western and European context (Masvidal & Picazo 2005: 64;McCaffrey 2002: 379). Indeed, these are some of the possible uses of the fig-urines that are really thought-provoking, but it is important not to restrict ourreadings only to these possibilities.

In all, we have proposed reading figurines from the point of view of em-bodiment and gender studies not only to study specifically the body and thegender roles they create and represent, but also to open up new possible read-ings. Applying these theoretical frameworks would help us to open our mindswhen studying this material and at least, to reflect on some of the issues thatare not explicit but implicit in all archaeological remains.

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Figurines and Rituals. Discussing embodiment theories and gender studies.

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