The Broken Women: An Experimental Approach to the Ritual Breakage of Valdivian “Venus” Figurines

The Valdivia Culture, which occupied costal Ecuador between 3800 and 1450 BC, was one of the first cultures in the Americas to go through the Neolithic Revolution. One of the better known elements of this culture is their ceramic human figurines, which are commonly referred to as “Venus” Figurines because most of them are female representations. Academic studies about them have mainly focused on trying to explain the faction that they played in the Valdivian society. The idea that the figurines were intentionally broken as part of rituals and ceremonies has been very influential for these studies. However, the evidences presented so far to support this idea are rather weak. This thesis is an attempt to find further evidence through the use of experimental replication and experimental breakage of figurines. 65 different tests were made, each of which was an attempt to break a figurine with one of nine selected methods, two of which reflect accidental breakage while the rest reflect...Show moreThe Valdivia Culture, which occupied costal Ecuador between 3800 and 1450 BC, was one of the first cultures in the Americas to go through the Neolithic Revolution. One of the better known elements of this culture is their ceramic human figurines, which are commonly referred to as “Venus” Figurines because most of them are female representations. Academic studies about them have mainly focused on trying to explain the faction that they played in the Valdivian society. The idea that the figurines were intentionally broken as part of rituals and ceremonies has been very influential for these studies. However, the evidences presented so far to support this idea are rather weak. This thesis is an attempt to find further evidence through the use of experimental replication and experimental breakage of figurines. 65 different tests were made, each of which was an attempt to break a figurine with one of nine selected methods, two of which reflect accidental breakage while the rest reflect intentional breakage. The broken figurine replicas were then compared with archaeological figurines from the collections of Alexander Hirtz and the museum Casa del Alabado to establish how they were broken. It was not possible to determine which specific method was used to break each archaeological figurine because the patterns left by the different breakage methods are not distinctive enough. However, it was possible to determine a fifth of the reference collection was probably broken by a “strong” impact, which likely reflects intentional breakage. Nevertheless, under the current state of knowledge, it is not possible to be certain about the practice of the ritual breakage of Valdivian “Venus” Figurines.Show less

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The Broken Women: An Experimental Approach to the Ritual Breakage of Valdivian “Venus” Figurines