DISCOVER. HISTORY.

The “Little Women” of Berbati

FEMALE FIGURINES

Objects of Popular Cult

During excavations of the Mastos Hill in the 1930’s and 1950’s, fragments of 139 well-produced female figurines were documented, that were most likely part of the production in the Potter’s workshop and might have been destined for distribution within the region and perhaps even beyond. Another 7 complete figurines were found in two chamber tombs during excavations in the 1930’s. The parts of seven female figurines were assembled during the Berbati-Limnes survey and in 1999 several female figurines were found during a survey covering the whole of Mastos.

Small female terracotta figurines are the most common type of Mycenaean cult objects. They have been known since the rediscovery of the Mycenaean world in the late 19th century. Substantial numbers were found during Schliemann’s excavations at Mycenae and Tiryns.
The figurines made their appearance at the end of the 15th c. BC (LHIIIA1) and continued to be used until the end of the 12th c. BC (LHIIIB). They were developed in the Peloponnese, apparently from Minoan prototypes, for the emergent Mycenaean elite.

Traditionally, the figurines have been viewed as evidence for popular cult, distinct from the state-sponsored cult practiced inside the palace citadels or as grave goods, typically associated with child burials-perhaps placed in tombs as divine nurses, or otherwise as attendants for the dead.

The figurines are typically small in size (on average 10 cm high), freestanding and easily held in the hand, suggesting that handling them would create a close or intimate relationship between figurine and owner. Specific characteristics, primarily clothing, have been emphasized in some detail with fine lines of reddish-brown or brown-black paint, while the actual physical form of the human body (facial features, arms) are reduced and schematized.

FEMALE FIGURINES

The Three main Types

The figurines are classified into three main types according to a typological system based upon the distinct gestures made by their arms and the resulting resemblance to Greek letters: one with the arms folded over the chest (T-Tau figurines), one apparently with hands clasped below the stomach in a bras bas position (Φ-Phi figurines), and the third with arms raised on either side of the head (Ψ-Psi figurines). A variation, especially for the phi and tau figurines, is the so-called “kourotrophos”, representing a female holding an infant.

The type of female figurine (phi, tau and psi) appears to have changed over their long period of use, perhaps reflecting shifts in female social roles through time, or at least of those roles deemed socially significant for representation.

It has been suggested that the three gestures referred to distinct social roles: mothering or nurturing and possibly fertility for the phi figurine, the commanding authority and remote presence of the tau figurine and the expressive, active communication of the psi figurine.

The earliest forms were naturalistic, which were restricted in production and circulation to LH IIIA1. These were quickly superseded by the phi figurine and the earliest “kourotrophos”, also in LH IIIA1.

The Phi figurine continued to be in use until the 13^th century BCE (LH IIIB), when they fell out of production. Psi figurines emerged in the late 14^th century (LH IIIA2), and variants of this type persisted in production and consumption until the late 11^th century BCE (Late LH IIIC).

MYCENAEAN STANDARDS

The Mastos Figurines

The figurines found in the area of the Potter’s workshop at Mastos have a chronological range of LH IIIA1 to LH IIIB and include almost all the known types, with the majority belonging to the Psi type figurines.

The Mastos figurines exhibit a varied range of material and a combination of both standard types and pieces that display an unusually high degree of local inventiveness. Standard-type figurines seem to be more or less confined to the Psi type figurines.

Most of the figurines are wearing a “polos” (tall headress) and are thus assignable to LH IIIA2 through LH IIIB. The high amount of Psi type figurines also corresponds with the peak of production activity at Mastos in LH IIIA2-LH IIIB1, a period that also matches the time when the larger building complex was built at the site of the Potter’s workshop.

Thus, it appears that the production of female figurines at Mastos started out on a small-scale, when the Berbati Valley was still an independent, self-governing region in late LH IIIA1/Early LH IIIA2. As the region was annexed by expanding Mycenae in LH IIIA2-LH IIIB1, the workshop’s organization at Mastos changed and a gradual conformation of the figurine production to Mycenaean standards as well as an intensification of production can be observed.

A fairly large number of small-sized figurines, including three genuine miniatures, was also recorded. Each of these three miniatures represents a very nice example of its respective type: one Proto-Phi, one Phi-B and one Psi figurine.

The quantity of female figurines from the Mastos area is unexpected and equals or even surpasses the amount of female figurines found at some well-known Mycenaean centers. It is therefore most likely that Mastos managed a surplus production of pottery already during the Early Mycenaean periods, a tradition that continued into the LH IIIB2 period, and there are indications that figurines became produced for an external market in LH IIIA2, around the time of the introduction of Psi type figurines.

However, the predominance o Psi type figurines could also be explained by the possibility that the Mastos workshop specialized or at least concentrated on the Psi type figurines, reflecting production directives or simply mere fashion.

There is the thrilling possibility that Mastos may have been one of the main suppliers of figurines in the wider region, at least during LH IIIA2-LHIIIB1.

BERBATI FIGURINES

Chamber Tomb Figurines

During the first season in 1935, the Swedish team excavated a chamber tomb, in which three complete, somewhat unusual Psi figurines and a seated figurine were found. The end of the arms of the Psi figurines were described as thickened into a rounded extension, so as to be more “hand-like”. Unfortunately all three Psi figurines went missing during WWII. Only the seated figurine was recovered and is today on display at the Archaeological Museum of Nafplio.

The four figurines found in the chamber tomb that was excavated by Person in 1935.
*From Holmberg E., A Mycenaean Chamber Tomb, 1983*

During the 1936 excavation of the Western Necropolis by Säflund, four female figurines of the “Phi type” were found in Tomb II and associated with the funerary gifts of an infant burial. The tomb was dated to LH IIIA period and the figurines were one Proto-Phi, two Phi-A and one Phi-A kourotrophos (carrying a suckling child). They were found together with the milk teeth of a child and glass beads. The “kourotrophos” figurine is on display at the Archaological Museum of Nafplio.

The four figurines found by Säflund in Chamber Tomb II of the Western Necropolis
From Säflund, G. (1965), “*Excavations at Berbati 1936-1937″*

Bibliography

French, Elizabeth (1971). “The Development of Mycenaean Terracotta Figurines”. The Annual of the British School at Athens. 66: 101–187.

Holmberg, E.J. (1983), “A Mycenaean chamber tomb near Berbati in Argolis“, Acta Regiae Societatis scientiarum et litterarum Gothoburgensis. Humaniora, 21, Göteborg

Säflund, G. (1965), “Excavations at Berbati 1936-1937″, Stockholm studies in classical archaeology, 4, Stockholm

Schallin A.L.(1996), “The Late Helladic Period”, The Berbati-Limnes Archaeological Survey 1988-1990, ActaAth-4°, 44, Stockholm

Steel L. (2020), “Little women”: Gender, performance, and gesture in Mycenaean female figurines, Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, Volume 58

Weiberg, E. (2009). Production of female figurines at Mastos, Berbati. In: Schallin, A.-.L., Pakkanen, P. (Eds.), Encounters with Mycenaean Figures and Figurines. Swedish Institute at Athens, Stockholm, pp. 61–75.

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