What was the purpose of the Tlatilco female figurine?
Function: To depict the female figure and signify its importance. Possibly an idol or physical manifestation/representation of a deity.
What is the form of the Tlatilco female figurine?
Sculpted some three millennia ago in the Valley of Mexico, this figurine belongs to a group of ceramic effigies known collectively as the Tlatilco “pretty ladies.” Depicting females with large heads, small waists, and prominent hips, these handheld sculptures present a fairly standardized body type and are typically …
Where were the Tlatilco figurines found?
Central Mexico
Tlatilco figurines are wonderful small ceramic figures, often of women, found in Central Mexico. This is the region of the later and much better-known Aztec empire, but the people of Tlatilco flourished 2,000–3,000 years before the Aztec came to power in this Valley.
What is the purpose of figurines?
They probably had religious or ceremonial significance and may have been used in many types of rituals. Many are found in burials. Some may have been worn as jewelry or intended to amuse children.
What are Tlatilco figurines?
Tlatilco figurines are wonderful small ceramic figures, often of women, found in Central Mexico. This is the region of the later and much better-known Aztec empire, but the people of Tlatilco flourished 2,000–3,000 years before the Aztec came to power in this Valley.
Why is the female figure so predominant in Paleolithic art?
Women are prominent in Paleolithic art for the same reason that animals are so prominent — they are central parts of the world view of those societies, and therefore of their artists. In another article we will look at how the representation of women changed with their loss of status after the Neolithic Revolution.
What is the difference between figure and figurine?
Generally speaking, a figurine is the actual physical object whereas figure is what it represents. An Easter Bunny figure = a representation of an Easter Bunny.
What was the purpose of the Venus figurines in prehistoric times?
The Venus figurines are statuettes depicting obese women that, up until now, were thought to have been associated with fertility and beauty. A recent study published in “Obesity” has suggested instead that the figurines are totems of survival in extreme conditions.
What is a Tlatilco figurine?
Tlatilco female figurine. Central Mexico, site of Tlatilco. 1200–900 B.C.E. Ceramic. Double-faced female figurine, early formative period, Tlatilco, c. 1500–1200 B.C.E., ceramic with traces of pigment, 9.5 cm. high (Princeton University Art Museum)
Are there any two-headed female figures from Tlatilco?
This figurine not only shows an elaborate hairstyle, but shows it for two connected heads (on the single body). We have other two-headed female figures from Tlatilco, but they are rare when compared with the figures that show a single head.
What did the people of Tlatilco call themselves?
Tlatilco figurines, c. 1200–600 B.C.E., ceramic, Tlatilco, Mesoamerica (present-day Mexico) (includes examples from the National Museum of Anthropology as well as the Female Figure at the Princeton University Art Museum) We don’t know what the people here called themselves.
How many bodies have been found at Tlatilco?
Archaeologists have found more than 340 burials at Tlatilco, with many more destroyed in the first half of the 20th century. Tlatilco figurines are wonderful small ceramic figures, often of women, found in Central Mexico.