Clay figurines of Ripoli – Corropoli (TE)

The card was edited by Giusi Di Crescenzo

Clay figurines of Ripoli – Corropoli (TE)

The card was edited by Giusi Di Crescenzo


In the list of various terracotta objects found in the Village of Ripoli, Giuliano Cremonesi defines the clay statuettes as "Probable idols".

"The clay figurines are all of figulina clay and highly fragmented. Among the most interesting is the one found in hut 8 and is a large, slightly flattened cylinder covered with thin irregular streaks and with two pairs of thin engraved lines that meet in an X shape on one face; another was found in hut 9 and is formed by a large curved ribbon with a conical expansion at the base where two small symmetrical conical ashlars were placed.” (from Giuliano Cremonesi, 1965).

In reality, from the photo of the statuette of hut 8 shown on page 34 of the essay by Fugazzola and Tinè - to which we are referring in our article - the sign is clearly a V and not an X, "… graphically the most direct way of rendering the pubic triangle… This expression and its recognition are universal and immediate, but it is nevertheless surprising how soon this “shorthand” trait crystallized to become, through countless ages, the hallmark of the Goddess Bird.” (from Marija Gimbutas, 2008, p.3). And indeed the figurine bears a striking resemblance to the image of a bird and the stylized profile reveals a beak-like prominence.

The statuettes brought to light all have a strong Balkan affinity as suggested by the use of the tongue arms. This type of arms, associated with different ways of making the head, is currently documented in the groups widespread in central Italy, Ceramica Impressa adriatica, catignano and Ripoli and northern Italy, during the end of the 2007th beginning of the XNUMXth millennium BC (from Renata Grifoni Cremonesi & Annaluisa Pedrotti, XNUMX).

That the new farming communities adopted models of statuettes deriving from the Middle East and Anatolia suggests, as Renata Grifoni Cremonesi writes that “... the spiritual ideological orientation in this first phase was based on a supra-regional communication system shared by the painted ceramic groups ..."

From the initial phases of the Ripoli culture, anthropomorphic handles also emerged, including twins as well as fragments of feet and legs.

About double or twin images and symbols, Gimbutas writes in the chapter “The Power of Two”: “… Ancient European cultures to express intensification used images of doubles to signify progressive duplication and therefore power and abundance. This can be seen in the frequent use of double images … even Goddesses … which suggests the cyclical character of the Goddess in her summer and winter aspects – young and old or two goddesses in the sense of two sisters or mother and daughter …” (from Marija Gimbutas, 2008) highlighting – as Vicki Noble observes in her book the Double Goddess – matrilineal descent in the broadest sense, i.e. the transmission of property and knowledge.

"The origin of the double Goddess dates back to the Paleolithic something like 25000 years ago in the engraved oval of Laussel … Such representations cannot be accidental, in fact they are attested in numerous tombs.” Vicki Noble writes: “… the figures of the Double Goddess represent in a profound way the entire female biological cycle in its yin and yang components and its shamanic relationship with life on this planet and with human evolution … the organic cycles of nature which are the basis of ancient religion of the Goddess, expressed archetypically through the body of every woman as the repetitive alternation of ovulation and menstruation …"

Although in central Italy the number of female figurines is lower than in the south of the peninsula, as written by Maria Antonietta Fugazzola and Vincenzo Tinè - observing the discrete uniformity and repetitiveness of the representation of the female image within individual cultural horizons - "… the basic religious ideological theme can actually be that of a 'female monotheism'. The complex of Italian female statuettes would therefore seem to be interpreted as a repertoire of cult images. In more detail, these figures must have often been intended for personal and family use - as suggested by the frequent discovery also in domestic contexts - and not only collective by a social group (as in cases of burial in cult caves) ...” (by Maria Antonietta Fugazzola Delpino and Vincenzo Tinè, 2002-2003, vol. 93-94, pp. 19-51).

Historical Notes

For the historical notes see report "The Culture of Ripoli"

CARD

Name

Clay figurines of Ripoli – Corropoli (TE)

Subject

Female figurine

Timeline

The various excavation activities carried out within the Corropoli site have been able to demonstrate that the beginnings of the Culture of Ripoli date back to the last centuries of 5000 BC and continue throughout the Neolithic, up to about 3500 BC

Location of discovery

Corropoli – Province of Teramo

Region

Abruzzo

Environmental context

External area

exhibits exhibited

Currently no finds are on display, but their placement is expected in the new layout of the exhibition section dedicated to prehistory of the Luigi Pigorini National Prehistoric Ethnographic Museum in Rome in Piazza Guglielmo Marconi 14 - Tel. 06-549521.

State of conservation

discreet

Legal condition

State property

REFERENCES

  1. Giovanni Capellini The Stone Age in Val Vibrata – extract from the Memoirs of the Academy of Sciences of the Institute of Bologna – 1871;
  2. Giuliano Cremonesi – “The village of Ripoli in the light of recent excavations" - In Journal of Prehistoric Sciences – vol. XX 1965;
  3. Giuliano Cremonesi – The cave of the Pigeons of Bolognano in the context of cultures from the Neolithic to the Bronze Age in Abruzzo – Gardens 1976;
  4. Maria Antonietta Fugazzola Delpino and Vincenzo Tiné – “The clay female figurines of the Italian Neolithic. Iconography and cultural context” - In Bulletin of Italian palethnology – 2002-2003 – pp. 19-51;
  5. Marija Gimbutas – The civilization of the Goddess – edited by Mariagrazia Pelaia – alternative press/new balances 2012;
  6. Marija Gimbutas – The language of the Goddess – The Owls of Venexia, 2008;
  7. Renata Grifoni Cremonesi – “Ideological and funerary aspects in the culture of Ripoli and in central-southern Italy" - In Conference "The full development of the Neolithic in Italy" – Finale Ligure (SV), 8-10 June 2009;
  8. Renata Grifoni Cremonesi and Anna Maria Tosatti – Rock art of the Metal Age in the Italian peninsula Location of sites in relation to the territory, symbols and interpretative possibilities – Access Archeology 2017;
  9. Renata Grifoni Cremonesi and Annaluisa Pedrotti – “The art of the Neolithic in Italy: state of research and new acquisitions" - In XLII scientific meeting of the IIPP Prehistoric art in Italy. – Trento, Riva del Garda, Val Camonica, 9-13 October 2007;
  10. Mario Giannitrapani – Anthropomorphic Neolithic coroplastic of Italy – Bar International Series 1020 – Oxford 2016;
  11. Vicki Noble – The Double Goddess – The Owls of Venexia, 2005;
  12. Andrea Pessina, Mauro Rottoli, Tiziana Caironi, Elena Natali – Newsletter of the Archeology Papers of Abruzzo 3/2011 – Ripoli Research in the Neolithic village;
  13. Concezio Rosa – Studies of prehistory and history;
  14. Mario Improved – The prehistoric village of Ripoli –1990;
  15. John Robb – The early Mediterranean Village. Agency, Material Culture, and Social Change in Neolithic Italy – Cambridge University Press, 2007;
  16. Italico, Research center for making, conserving and enhancing art – Ripoli, Culture, art and tradition of a civilization – Study, research and documentation papers 1/2013;
  17. Pia Laviosa Zambotti – The oldest European agricultural cultures – Giuseppe Principato publishing house, 1943.