(© Dominique Bossut, Inrap)
Inside a kiln whose roof had collapsed,
archaeologists excavating at the site of
Villers-Carbonnel on the banks of the
Somme River in northern France, uncovered
a rare terracotta female figurine. According
to project archaeologist Françoise Bostyn,
the discovery is exceptional due to both
the completeness and rarity of this type
of female representation at Middle Neolithic
sites. Bostyn believes that the figurine,
which shows evidence of burning, broke
into pieces during firing. It is likely that her
team was able to recover all the fragments
because the object was never removed from
the kiln. The figurine, which measures just
over eight inches long, was created by the
Chassey culture, named for the site where
evidence of the culture was originally found.
The Chassey culture flourished in central
and southern France between 4200 and
3600 b.c. Similar figurines have been found
at other Chassey sites. According to Bostyn,
the stylistic unity of these female representations
probably reflects some sort of shared
ideology and can be considered a mark of
the cultural identity of the Chassey people.