Prehistoric Clay Figurines, Including Human-Bird Figurines, Unearthed at Koutroulou Magoula

Posted on January 7, 2013

Archaeologists from the University of Southampton studying a Neolithic archaeological site in central Greece have helped unearth over 300 clay figurines. The researchers say some of the figurines (like the one pictured above) are of hybrid human-bird forms. It also bears some resemblance to a dog, but the archaeologists says it is humand-bird. The figurines were found at the site of Koutroulou Magoula near the Greek village of Neo Monastiri.

Archaeologists say Koutroulou Magoula was occupied during the Middle Neolithic period (c. 5800 - 5300 BC) by a community of a few hundred people. These people made architecturally sophisticated houses from stone and mud-bricks.

Professor Yannis Hamilakis, co-director of the Koutroulou Magoula Archaeology and Archaeological Ethnography project, said in a release, "Figurines were thought to typically depict the female form, but our find is not only extraordinary in terms of quantity, but also quite diverse - male, female and non-gender specific ones have been found and several depict a hybrid human-bird figure. We still have a lot of work to do studying the figurines, but they should be able to give us an enormous amount of information about how Neolithic people interpreted the human body, their own gender and social identity and experience."

You can find out more about the project here and here (PDF)

ARCHAEOLOGY