Sculpture of a woman in dress
The front part is made roughly. The face is flat, turned slightly to the right. There are eyes connected with the nose line, the mouth is slightly marked. The chin is massive. Shoulders are narrow, sloping. Breasts are flat, sagging. The abdomen is separated by the same deep lines as the breasts. Hands are thin, well marked. On the left hand we can see transverse lines (bracelet-?). Legs are tightly compressed, separated by a straight line. The pelvis is wide, the ischial parts are carefully modeled.
The headdress is covered with nine vertical rows of C-shaped signs. In the zone of the thighs, there are seven individual hole-like indentations made with a burin, encircling the sculpture (legs) from the both sides and back side — the line runs from the shoulders at a distance of 33.38-42.18 mm.
Manufacturing technique
Probably two tools were used while creating this sculpture: a knife (as a knife, a push-plane, a cutting tool) and a burin. Planning marks are marked on the back of the thighs, on the upper chest and on the back. Calf muscles are distinguished by planning. Traces of scraping are marked on the outside of the thighs. Details of the face, arms and legs, grooves in the area of the female womb are carved with a cutter. The carving with a knife as a cutting tool is marked by the same grooves that were made beforehand with a burin. Traces of planning on the sides of the channels for smoothing the profile are noted (this phenomenon is most typically observed on the contour of the chest, vulva, and the part of the humeral hollow from the back). There are no drilling marks on the front. Eyes, nose, mouth are made with a cutting tool. The contours of the head and neck are made with a planing knife. The hairstyle (separate caverns) is made with a burin haphazardly.
Use-wear traces
Use-wear traces are not found.
Storage location
The State Hermitage MuseumInventory number
370/748The Museum KAMIS
https://www.hermitagemuseum.org/wps/portal/hermitage/digital-collection/25.+archaeological+artifacts/1401511Size
| (мм) | |||||||||
| General parameters of the item | Head | Body | A lower part of thighs | Womb | Shoulders | Waist | Face | Thighs | |
| Length | 93.25 | ||||||||
| Thickness | 15.27 | 18.97 |
19.67(thighs) 9.53(legs) |
||||||
| Width |
18.07(neck) 16.94 |
25.35(shoulders) 23.38(waist) |
28.65(thighs) 14.37(legs) |
16.30 | 25.35 | 23.38 | 14.06 | 28.65 | |
Material
IvoryDating
19-23 th years BPCulture
Mal'ta-Buret' archaeological cultureThe author of the excavations
Gerasimov M.M.1929
Publications
Abramova Z.A. Izobrazhenie cheloveka v paleoliticheskom iskusstve Evrazii / AN SSSR. IA. - L.: Nauka, 1966, S.196, tabl VII, 1
Abramova Z.A. Paleoliticheskoe iskusstvo na territorii SSSR // SAI, vyp. A 4-3. M,- L.: Izd-vo AN SSSR, 1963, S.45, tabl. XLIV, 6 i XLV, 5
Gerasimov M.M. Mal'ta. Paleoliticheskaya stoyanka (predvaritel'nye dannye): rezul'taty rabot 1928/29 g. – Irkutsk: Vlast' truda, 1931, S.21, tabl.16
Gerasimov M.M. Raskopki paleoliticheskoj stoyanki v s.Mal'ta // Paleolit SSSR: Materialy po istorii dorodovogo obshchestva. M.- L., 1935. - Izv. GAIMK - Vyp. 118, S.88, ris.6
Lbova L.V. Simvolicheskij interrakcionizm mal'tinskoj antropomorfnoj paleoliticheskoj skul'ptury // Iskusstvo Evrazii. - 2018. - №2(9). - S. 18-32
Lbova L. Technological Features of Decorated Ivory Artifacts in the “Classic” Collection from the Mal’ta Site (Siberia, Upper Paleolithic). Annales d’Université Valahia Targoviste, Section d’Archéologie et d’Histoire. – Tome XIX. – 2017. – p. 7-17
