Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean (17.2005(2007))

TELL ARBID

SYRIA

pierced through the right stub arm.
Another figurine has a deep slot in the
damaged underside, presumably intended
for mounting purposes (cf. below, Type 3,
Fig. 3, top]. All of the figurines discovered to
date can be identified most probably as male
representations. Only one is dated with
precision, coming from layers attributed to
a late phase of Ninivite 5 culture, which
translates into the end of the first half of the
3rd millennium in absolute terms. The
remaining examples of this type come from
disturbed assemblages encompassing the
3rd and 2nd millennia BC.
Schematic standing figurines with stub
arms and separated legs have been recorded
at a number of sites in the Jazirah region
(northeastern Syria).2 They differ from the
Tell Arbid examples by a greater fastidious-
ness of execution and longer stub arms.
More frequently they have female gender
traits and jewelry either incised, impressed
or applied. The heads are usually worked in
detail, the eyes characteristically resembling
coffee beans, the hairdo and jewelry done as
appliques on the top and sides. Figurines of
this type are dated to the second half of the
3rd millennium BC: the Early Dynastic III,
Akkadian and Post-Akkadian periods. Only
fragments of such figurines have been
recorded on Tell Arbid.
The type is also present in southern
Mesopotamia, where its appearance has been
assigned to the beginnings of the Early

Dynastic, that is, the beginning of the 3rd
millennium. One of the earliest is a female
figurine with stub arms and some have
pierced holes through the stub arms,
making them a parallel for the above
described group of figurines from Tell
Arbid.3
Other Tell Arbid figurines, representing
a different group of Type 1, are characte-
rized by a plastic, even naturalistic mode-
ling of the body and limbs {Fig. 1, bottom].
Like the previous group, they, too, have only
male genitals marked. These figurines come
from a context dated to a late phase of Early
Dynastic III. Male figurines with similarly
naturalistic body modeling and marked
genitals are known from Tell Brak and
Mari.4
TYPE 2
Figurines assigned to this type are
characterized by far-going stylization. Their
form is generally referred to as violin-
shaped, terminating in a triangular, pointed
base. They present broad hips and dis-
proportionately short legs separated by an
incision. The pubic triangle is incised and
filled with either incised dashes or dots
{Fig. 2). The context, in which figurines of
this type were discovered, are not well
dated; the illustrated one was found in a dis-
turbed late Early Dynastic III context.
Female figurines with parallel traits
made an appearance in Mesopotamian

2 Tell Bevdar: M. Debruyne, G. Jans, V. van der Stede, "Small Finds from the Acropolis (F Field)", in: M. Lebeau,
A. Suleiman (eds), Tell Beydar. The 1995-1999 Seasons of Excavations. A preliminary report, Subartu X (Brepolis
2003), 203, 208, Pis I, XI, nos 6343-M-l. 6902-M-l, 32374-M-l; L. Milano, E. Rova, "Tell Beydar - Field 1:
Preliminary Report of the 1999 Season", in: Subartu X, 376-377, Fig. 22, no. 9189-M; Tell Brak: H. McDonald, "Third-
millennium clay object", in: D. Oates et al., Excavations at Tell Brak, vol. 1 (London 1997), 269-270, Figs 286-287,
Type I, nos 5, 4, 7.
3 H. Frankfort, Progress of the work of the Oriental Institute in Iraq 1934/35. Fifth Preliminary Report of the Iraq
Expedition (Chicago, Illinois 1936), 73, Fig. 57 a,e.
4 L. Badre, Les figurines anthropomorphes en terre cuite a l'Age du Bronze en Syrie (Paris 1980), 284, PI. XXX/1;
J.-Cl. Margueron, Mari. Metropole de l'Euphrate au Ille et au debut du lie milenaire av. J.-C. (Paris 2004), Fig. 413/5.

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