DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.42779#0037
16 PREHISTORIC PERIODS
objects far more artistic than those usually produced in the
islands.
The Cycladic idol as we know it seems to have evolved
from the very simple type found in the earlier settlements of
Troy. In origin it is probably Anatolian. Certainly what
seem to be the most primitive types, shaped like fiddles, are
found at Troy. These are made of marble as a general rule,
though sometimes of slate1 or other hard materials.
The same fiddle-types are found in the Cyclades. They
seem to have been made by taking a simple rectangular slab
of marble, removing two rectangular pieces from the corners
so as to leave a protruding neck, and then cutting a simple
indentation on each vertical side to make a waist.
But the ingenuity of these island artists was considerable.
The same general process was applied with greater imagi-
nation and observation, and slowly a less geometric and
schematic representation of the human figure emerged
(Fig. 3). But, once the fuller type was fixed, variation was
rare. As a rule the only element that varied was the size.
Thus we have typical island female idols that vary from
3 inches in height to nearly 5 feet2 with little or no variation
in appearance or method of manufacture.
With so large a number of a fixed type available for study
and with every size to examine it is not difficult to see how
they were made. The marble was first selected as a rect-
angular slab. It was then trimmed to the outline of a human
figure with arms folded, legs together, and feet slightly apart.
The head was erect and given, as a rule, a slight tilt back-
wards. The division between the legs gives the clue to the
process of manufacture of the whole. It is effected by
abrasion with a wedge-shaped tool which cuts a simple groove
into the marble surface. Sometimes the pressure of the tool
1 Schliemann, Troy (1875), p. 36, No. 17.
2 See Tsountas and Manatt, The Mycenaean Age, p. 257, fig. 132. The
head of one still larger has been found in Amorgos (P. Wolters, Ath. Mitth.
xvi, p. 46). No. 6195 in the National Museum (see Stais, Guide, p. 211)
measures 0-59 m. in height, and was found at Spedos.
objects far more artistic than those usually produced in the
islands.
The Cycladic idol as we know it seems to have evolved
from the very simple type found in the earlier settlements of
Troy. In origin it is probably Anatolian. Certainly what
seem to be the most primitive types, shaped like fiddles, are
found at Troy. These are made of marble as a general rule,
though sometimes of slate1 or other hard materials.
The same fiddle-types are found in the Cyclades. They
seem to have been made by taking a simple rectangular slab
of marble, removing two rectangular pieces from the corners
so as to leave a protruding neck, and then cutting a simple
indentation on each vertical side to make a waist.
But the ingenuity of these island artists was considerable.
The same general process was applied with greater imagi-
nation and observation, and slowly a less geometric and
schematic representation of the human figure emerged
(Fig. 3). But, once the fuller type was fixed, variation was
rare. As a rule the only element that varied was the size.
Thus we have typical island female idols that vary from
3 inches in height to nearly 5 feet2 with little or no variation
in appearance or method of manufacture.
With so large a number of a fixed type available for study
and with every size to examine it is not difficult to see how
they were made. The marble was first selected as a rect-
angular slab. It was then trimmed to the outline of a human
figure with arms folded, legs together, and feet slightly apart.
The head was erect and given, as a rule, a slight tilt back-
wards. The division between the legs gives the clue to the
process of manufacture of the whole. It is effected by
abrasion with a wedge-shaped tool which cuts a simple groove
into the marble surface. Sometimes the pressure of the tool
1 Schliemann, Troy (1875), p. 36, No. 17.
2 See Tsountas and Manatt, The Mycenaean Age, p. 257, fig. 132. The
head of one still larger has been found in Amorgos (P. Wolters, Ath. Mitth.
xvi, p. 46). No. 6195 in the National Museum (see Stais, Guide, p. 211)
measures 0-59 m. in height, and was found at Spedos.