Prehistoric Figurines. Representation and Corporeality in the Neolithic, 2005, 256 p. -

Fully illustrated, this book brings a radical new approach to one of the most exciting, but poorly understood artefacts from our prehistoric past. Studying the interpretation of prehistoric figurines from Neolithic southeast Europe, the author introduces recent developments from the fields of visual culture studies and cultural anthropology, and investigates the ways in which representations of human bodies were used by the pre-historic people to understand their own identities, to negotiate relationships and to make subtle political points. He examines four critical conditions : figurines as miniatures, figurines as three-dimensional representations, figurines as anthropomorphs, figurines as representations. Through these conditions, the study travels beyond the traditional mechanisms of interpretation and takes the debate past the out-dated interpretations of figurines as Mother-Goddess as the author examines individual prehistoric figurines in their original archaeological contexts and views them in the light of modern exploitations of the human form.