Idols in exile : making sense of prehistoric human pottery figurines from Dos Mosquises Island, Los Roques archipelago, Venezuela
This dissertation examines the 'social reality' of the prehistoric figurines recovered on the tiny coral island of Dos Mosquises, located off the Venezuelan coast. There, over three hundred figurine specimens altogether with numerous other items of material culture were recovered by the author during systematic excavations. The site was interpreted as a temporary camp where Queen Conch (Strombus gigas), turtle, fish, birds and salt were processed/consumed, between ad. 1300 and 1500. The vast majority of the artefacts, including figurines, were not local products, but related to the Valencia culture from the north-central Venezuela mainland. In South America and the Caribbean, prehistoric figurines are traditionally approached as objects of ancient art or cult, or as typological devices. I reject both the a priori assumptions of figurine meaning/function that neglect the particular socio-historical contexts of their creation/use, and the epiphenomenological approach to these artefacts. Drawing from Social Theory, Material Culture Studies, Contextual Archaeology, Sociology of Knowledge and some traditional procedures of artefact analysis, I generate an 'integrative' approach that combines analyses of the form
Mackowiak de Antczak, Maria Magdalena
Idols in exile : making sense of prehistoric human pottery figurines from Dos Mosquises Island, Los Roques archipelago, Venezuela. This dissertation examines the 'social reality' of the prehistoric figurines recovered on the tiny coral island of Dos Mosquises, located off the Venezuelan coast. There, over three hundred figurine specimens altogether with numerous other items of material culture were recovered by the author during systematic excavations. The site was interpreted as a temporary camp where Queen Conch (Strombus gigas), turtle, fish, birds and salt were processed/consumed, between ad. 1300 and 1500. The vast majority of the artefacts, including figurines, were not local products, but related to the Valencia culture from the north-central Venezuela mainland. In South America and the Caribbean, prehistoric figurines are traditionally approached as objects of ancient art or cult, or as typological devices. I reject both the a priori assumptions of figurine meaning/function that neglect the particular socio-historical contexts of their creation/use, and the epiphenomenological approach to these artefacts. Drawing from Social Theory, Material Culture Studies, Contextual Archaeology, Sociology of Knowledge and some traditional procedures of artefact analysis, I generate an 'integrative' approach that combines analyses of the form
exile making_sense prehistoric_human pottery figurine island archipelago venezuela examines social_reality prehistoric figurine recover tiny island locate coast figurine specimen altogether numerous item material_culture recover author systematic excavation site interpret temporary camp queen turtle fish bird salt processed vast_majority artefact include figurine local product relate culture north_central venezuela mainland south america caribbean prehistoric figurine traditionally object ancient art cult typological device reject priori assumption figurine meaning_function neglect particular socio_historical context creation use artefacts drawing social_theory material_culture studies contextual_archaeology sociology_knowledge traditional procedure artefact analysis generate integrative combine analysis form