Anthropomorphic Representations in the Cucuteni-Tripolye Culture

by Dan Monah

Dan Monah (11 February 1943 – 21 September 2013) was a specialist in the Neo-Eneolithic of Romania and, in particular, of the Precucuteni-Cucuteni-Tripolye cultural complex, last affiliated with the Iași Institute of Archaeology of the Romanian Academy. His core body of work, consisting of seven books and more than one hundred articles published, primarily deals with coroplastic analysis as a mean of insight into the religion and art of the Neo-Eneolithic communities. With a unique approach to the study of what he formally named ‘the religious life of Cucuteni-Tripolye communities’, Dan Monah was a staunch critic of the dominant cultural-historic paradigm and its natural interpretative the supremacy of typological description, the Cartesian ranking of religious systems from simple to complex, and the avoidance of ‘unclassable’ occurrences. The present volume embodies his vision applied to the analysis of the Cucuteni-Tripolye anthropomorphic representations, resting on two structural an in-depth knowledge of a large body of history of religion literature, and an almost exhaustive inventory of the Cucuteni- Tripolye anthropomorphic representations, the result of over three decades of personal, patient and meticulous examination of the archaeological data. For those in his wake, Dan Monah’s open and unprejudiced approach to the prehistoric imagery enclosed in this book constitutes a solid cornerstone on which further work can be built. Its pages should be turned, if not on account of the wealth of information inside, but for the author’s pleasant and refreshing style at least.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Chapter History of Research

Chapter Conditions of Discovery

Chapter Materials and Techniques

Chapter The Statuettes and Figurines of the Cucuteni A Phase

Chapter The Statuettes and Figurines of the Cucuteni A Phase

Chapter Statuettes and Figurines of the Cucuteni B Phase

Chapter Violin-shaped Pendants

Chapter Anthropomorphic Pots

Chapter Ceramics with Anthropomorphic Decoration

Chapter Anthropomorphic Objects

Chapter Garments, Footwear, Jewellery, and Hairdos

Chapter Great Religious Themes

Figures

References

Index

454 pages, Paperback

Published August 9, 2016