Experimental Archaeology Workshop Terracotta Female Figurines from the Ancient Near East (The Levant and Mesopotamia, II–I Millenium B.C.E.)
Abstract
From April 8 to May 14, 2015, over a six-week period, an Experimental Archaeology Workshop financed by the Franco-German University Saarbruecken and by the University of Strasbourg (Excellence Initiative IdEx) took place at the University of Strasbourg, France.
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1From April 8 to May 14, 2015, over a six-week period, an Experimental Archaeology Workshop financed by the Franco-German University Saarbruecken and by the University of Strasbourg (Excellence Initiative IdEx) took place at the University of Strasbourg, France. Its educational and scientific goal was the achievement of practical and theoretical insights into terracotta figurine production. This included raw material processing, kiln construction, tool manufacture, and mold production, as well as the creation of original models, and the casting and firing procedures involved in the creation and mass production of terracotta figurines. A kiln was reconstructed that was based on a kiln excavated from the temple area in Mari (Syria), and the original models for the figurines that were reproduced have been brought to light at sites in Syria, Judah, and Jordan. This workshop was a project launched by the Franco-German Figurines Project (FGFP), organized by Regine Hunziker-Rodewald and Isabelle Weygand (University of Strasbourg), and Marlies Heinz (University of Freiburg, Germany). It was directed by two local potters Catherine Remmy and Amélie Trahard (Semencerie, Strasbourg), and by the ceramic technologist Maria-Louise Sidoroff, who is associated with the Mudayna-Thamad Regional Survey Project (Director: P.M. Michèle Daviau) in Jordan. The workshop sessions were documented by the videographer Jean-Charles Mougel in an 8-minute video (https://vimeo.com/150722204) that has been entered into the 17th Researchers' Film Festival 2016 in Vandœuvre-lès-Nancy that is organised by CNRS (Centre national de la recherche scientifique) and the University of Lorraine.
Fig. 1–Figurine of an Ammonite drummer type molded on the front and trimmed on the back. Before drying and firing, the facial features, the hair and the jewelry can still be enhanced by hand. The model of this figurine is an Iron Age II figurine found on the Amman Citadel, Jordan.
©Jean-Charles Mougel, Semencerie Strasbourg.
Fig. 2–Two figurines of the Judean Pillar Figurine (JPF) type. Their heads have been made in a mold and their bodies have been hand modelled. The original of these figurines is an Iron Age II figurine found in Lachish, Israel.
List of illustrations
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| Title | Fig. 1–Figurine of an Ammonite drummer type molded on the front and trimmed on the back. Before drying and firing, the facial features, the hair and the jewelry can still be enhanced by hand. The model of this figurine is an Iron Age II figurine found on the Amman Citadel, Jordan. |
| Credits | ©Jean-Charles Mougel, Semencerie Strasbourg. |
| URL | http://journals.openedition.org/acost/docannexe/image/818/img-1.jpg |
| File | image/jpeg, 108k |
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| Title | Fig. 2–Two figurines of the Judean Pillar Figurine (JPF) type. Their heads have been made in a mold and their bodies have been hand modelled. The original of these figurines is an Iron Age II figurine found in Lachish, Israel. |
| URL | http://journals.openedition.org/acost/docannexe/image/818/img-2.jpg |
| File | image/jpeg, 100k |
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| Title | Fig. 3–Hand-modeled figurine. This reproduction was based on an original from the 2nd millennium B.C.E. that was excavated in 2006 by Pascal Butterlin in Mari, Syria. |
| Credits | ©Jean-Charles Mougel, Semencerie Strasbourg. |
| URL | http://journals.openedition.org/acost/docannexe/image/818/img-3.jpg |
| File | image/jpeg, 95k |
References
Electronic reference
Régine Hunziker-Rodewald, “Experimental Archaeology Workshop Terracotta Female Figurines from the Ancient Near East (The Levant and Mesopotamia, II–I Millenium B.C.E.) ”, Les Carnets de l’ACoSt [Online], 14 | 2016, Online since 15 April 2016, connection on 14 December 2025. URL: http://journals.openedition.org/acost/818; DOI: https://doi.org/10.4000/acost.818
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