Mendeley  

Zotero  

Sadeghi S, Rashidi Mofrad N, Afkhami B, Feyzi F. (2024). A Comparative Study of Female Figurines of the Bronze Age in Eastern Iran (Case Study: Shahr-e Sukhteh and Teppe Hesar). Athar. 45(106), 5-28. doi:10.22034/45.106.1
URL: http://athar.richt.ir/article-2-1295-en.html

Abstract
In the Ancient East, human and animal figurines of the Bronze Age were discovered abundantly. Different figurines made of clay, stone, bone, etc., of any age require careful and meticulous research. These materials data can reveal a hidden aspect of the rituals, thoughts, customs, and social and biological concerns of the people creating them. Figurines can be found in most historical eras of human civilization. In this study, we seek to analyze and compare the figurines found in the Northeast and Southeast of Iran. The study adopted a descriptive-analytic approach, and library research was used to collect data. In order to gain a better understanding of the figurines in the region, the main objective of the current study is to evaluate the figurine functionality and, ultimately, relate the results to the community and the people of those living in eastern Iran. The results indicated that human figurines of northeastern and southeastern Iran were identical regarding their sculpturing style, despite the geographical difference between their origins, i.e., Shahr-e Sukhteh and Tepe Hesar. The figurines are made stylized, simply, and non-realistically and their only difference is their baking time. In the Northeast of Iran, the figurines were baked better than those of southeastern Iran. Regarding their functionality, the figurines are identical in both cultural domains, and they were made relating to birth and fertility, similar to those found in Central Asia dating back to the Bronze Age, such as Altyndepe.
Keywords: Figurine, Female, Bronze Age, Shahr-e Sukhteh, Tepe Hesar.

Introduction
In the Bronze Age, cultural, technological, social and economic processes had gained speed and expansion compared to the Chalcolithic period. Bronze Age cultures in Iran spanned from about the early third millennium BC to the middle of the second millennium BC, i.e. about 1500 years, which is not well known in the written archaeological works of Iran. Of course, this does not mean that the cultural remains of this period have not yet been discovered, but on the contrary, the volume of information related to this period is sufficient to determine its various dimensions within the framework of the Bronze Age. Cultural artifacts obtained from eastern Iran, of any type, color and type, always require a careful and meticulous look. Among the countless objects discovered in these two cultural areas, a wide range of works called figurines with special forms and construction techniques are known.
 A distinctive feature of figurines is that they have human or animal body parts such as the head and hands, and sometimes parts such as eyes, ears, and also human sexual organs such as the penis. A human figurine is sometimes called anthropomorphic, meaning human-like, which is interpreted in the Oxford dictionary as "a symbol of God in the form of a human." In addition to material and cultural data, figurines can reveal hidden corners of the religion, thoughts, customs, and biological and social concerns of their people.
What attracts the attention of archaeologists and researchers the most is the function and true meaning of these figurines. The functions presented regarding these cultural data include being toys and their educational function, respect for ancestors and the dead of early societies, worship of ancestors and spirits of the past, birth, childbirth, and burial. Most researchers have emphasized the religious aspect of the figurines to date or due to the prominent features of certain organs of a number of figurines, have considered them to be symbols of fertility and fertility Goddesses, who are also considered representations of the gods worshipped at that time.
 The distribution and abundance of these cultural data indicate the importance of these artifacts for Bronze Age societies, and recognizing the form of these works is important in identifying the culture of the societies of this period. 
The aim of this research, in addition to the visual analysis of these data in the areas under study, is also to analyze their role and function; the research community includes female figurines in the two sites of Tepe Hesar and Shahr Sokhteh belonging to the Bronze Age period. The samples examined in this research include various types of pottery, bronze, stone, etc., which indicate the importance of these artifacts in Bronze Age societies.

Discussion
In order to answer the main research question, “What are the similarities and differences in the Bronze Age figurines in southern and northeastern Iran in terms of form? And what functions did the female human figurines of these two cultural areas include?” Archaeological and historical sources and references were analyzed and evaluated. The figurines of both the Burnt City and Tepe-Hesar sites include female specimens and are made of various bronze, stone, and clay materials, which are introduced and compared in the following.
1- Female figurines of Burnt City
Female human figurines in Burnt City are more diverse than male and animal figurines, and different classifications have been presented. A large number of female figurines have been found from the second period of Burnt City. These figurines can be placed in the following three categories: a. Sitting, simplified with a protruding belly, b. Half-body with hands on the belly, c. Standing, protruding belly, long legs and prominent breasts.
2- Female figurines of Tepe-Hesar
Given their abstraction, they have a special reference to female protrusions, which emphasizes the concept and birth of these mother goddesses. One of the most prominent examples is a figurine made of simple gypsum marble whose body anatomy is such that the body is made of two incomplete cones and in the middle of its chest there is a prominent button-like part and is divided into two parts by a slit in the middle and is an embodiment of female breasts (same) and the anatomy of the body is very simple and without details.

Comparison of the anatomy of the figurines
 By comparing the figurines found in Tepe-Hesar and Shahr Sokhteh in terms of structure, form and appearance, the similarities and significant influences that these figurines had on each other can be seen. One of these similarities is that they are all women, have feminine features and very simple makeup with few decorations (necklaces and earrings).

Function of the figurines
Almost all female figurines have nudity in common, and the emphasis is on the large breasts and abdomen, and most importantly, on the woman being pregnant and giving birth, and not just showing her being a woman. As can be easily understood from the comparison of the female statues found, the parts related to fertility, namely the breasts, abdomen and pelvis, are the center of attention, and the head and hands are secondary and summarized. In a way, which is also true in most figurines of both studied sites, a theory is also true; therefore, in Shahr Sokhteh and Tepe Hisar, figurines with prominent breasts and no heads were made, which displayed an image of childbirth and pregnancy.
   
Conclusion
One of the most interesting and strange findings of archaeologists in Iran and many parts of the world is human figurines, the production of which began in previous millennia and continued until historical periods. Since the number of human figurines is greater than that of animal figurines, the attention of many researchers has been drawn to this issue and detailed studies have been conducted on them; but researchers have not yet reached a common opinion in this field. In the Bronze Age, the production of female figurines reaches its peak. This research has examined Bronze Age figurines in the cultural areas of Shahr Sokhteh and Tepe Hisar. The results of this research show that the gender of most of these figurines is female and their body anatomy is mostly made in an abstract and simple way, and some are on the border between realism and abstraction.
The figures lack details and the only difference is in their firing. In Shahr Sokhteh, the firing of the figurines was very crude and primitive, so that they are mostly rough and easily broken and destroyed, while in Tepe Hesar, the firing of the figurines is relatively more appropriate. Regarding the function of these works, it can be noted that because these works emphasize female organs (breasts, protruding abdomen and pelvis), they have aimed to symbolize childbirth and fertility. In a way, by creating female figurines in various positions such as fertility, childbirth, etc., they have established a connection between the fertility of these figurines and the yield and fertility of the land. A feature that is also observed to a large extent in the figurines of the Central Asian bronze sites.
 Finally, it can be said that in the Bronze Age, social communication and interactions between the northeast and southeast expanded, and accordingly, a significant interaction is seen in the culture and art of the people of these regions, and this is reflected in cultural data, especially figurines.
The most important reasons for the stylistic similarity of female figurines from southeastern Iran with its northeast, southern Turkmenistan, and Pakistan are related to matters such as trade, cultural diffusion, migration, and the importance of women, fertility, and childbirth in the culture and worldview of the people of these regions.