Anatolia: Bronze and Iron Ages - The Ashmolean Museum

ANCIENT NEAR EASTERN TERRACOTTAS
mouth is an incised slit with vertical incisions below on the chin (“beard”); the ears and what was originally
a major protrusion (“polos”) on the head are broken off; the upper body is flattened, with triangular shape
accentuated by projecting shoulders; attenuated arms extended down either side of the body with the hands
grasping the knees; incised lines on the upper arms and shoulders; incised crossing straps and what may be
a necklace; pointed breasts with incised nipples; genitals represented by an incised rectangular with incised
dots inside it; short lower body with stump legs.
AN1910.697: H: 9.7cm. obtained at Izmir (“Smyrna”) by D.G. Hogarth as from the area of Thyateira
(Akhisar: map in Korfmann 1979).
Ormerod 1912–13, 54–5, fig. 3; Korfmann 1979, 190, 197, pl. 29; Obladen-Kauder 1996, 276, n.737).
Three miniature vessels (AN1910.694–6) were acquired with this figurine; but there is no evidence of a
direct association.
Korfmann (1979) was the first to place this figurine in its chronological and cultural context by
comparison with terracottas from Demircihüyük, to the north west of Akhisar, whence it was reported
to have come. Akhisar is some thirty-five kilometres south of Yortan (east of Pergamon), where in 1901
French archaeologists excavated an extra-mural cemetery yielding finely made pottery of Troy I–II type,
comparable in some cases to the miniature vessels reported with this figurine. The parallel figurines at
Demircihüyük, were attributed to levels L and K (Korfmann 1979, 187, 191; see now Obladen-Kauder
1996). Surviving undamaged heads of comparable figurines from other west Anatolian sites of the Early
Bronze Age allow for reconstruction of a cylindrical projection at the back of the head, behind the diskshaped
face (cf. Korfmann 1979, fig. 1: 1, 3; fig. 3,5,6). A very similar, more complete figure of the same
seated type as no. 383 is illustrated as from Çikick, some two hundred and fifty kilometres east of Akhisar,
by Korfmann (1979, fig. 6). It is difficult to establish whether the projection is a headdress or whether it
is the hair dressed into a high knot, or a combination of the two (cf. Obladen-Kauder 1996, 267). There
is no certainty as to whether such figurines represented a goddess or a female member of the local
community (cf. Obladen-Kauder 1996, 257–9). Korfmann (1979) identified her as a goddess.
(ii) Iron Age
384. Upper part of a warrior, broken off at the waist; baked; crudely modelled by hand;
burnished, chocolate brown fabric wears a partly broken conical helmet or leather cap;
pierced eyes; pointed nose; roughly indicated mouth, chin and beard; spear held in right
hand, round shield with boss in left.
AN1911.311 (“bought in the bazaar at Isbarta”, southwest Turkey) H: 6.9cm W: 3.3 cm.
Ormerod 1912–13, 53–4, fig. 2a.
This figurine is so crudely made that little may be said about it beyond an attribution to the
mature Iron Age, when the warrior’s equipment is most readily paralleled; but whether it is
of the Achaemenid Period, or somewhat earlier, is uncertain. There are no obvious grounds for doubting
its antiquity.
385. Horse-rider: male; head detached from body when acquired; baked; handmodelled; coarse
orange fabric with polished slip originally; head, nearly globular, has large ears, prominent eyes
beneath arched brows, passing directly into a prominent straight-edged nose; mouth slightly
indicated; chin damaged; wears a prominent “Phrygian” cap, depressed at the sides, with a
high ridge front to back; the left arm and the right below the elbow are missing; the width and
distortion of the groin indicate that it was made to be mounted as a rider; the trunk of the
body is a flattened cylinder; very worn surface, but simple geometric designs in black are still
evident in traces on the top and sides of the back, indicating a garment; black is also still
evident on the eyes and cap rim; at the base of the back is a broad triangular patch of brown
colour. Myres (AN1903.399) thought this might indicate a “saddle”, of which there may also
be painted traces at the front. It could, however, simple indicate the groin area of the costume.
AN1909.943 (“from the Hammam or hot springs 1½ miles east of Keuhne, near the site of
MITHRADATEION on the border between Galatia, Cappadocia, and Pontus... secured by Mr Anderson”
(Myres 1903, 378–9); given by J.W. Crowfoot. H: 20.5cm. W: 6.3cm (base).
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