Anthropomorphic pebble of Riparo Gaban – Trento (TN)

The card was edited by Elvira Visciola

Anthropomorphic pebble of Riparo Gaban – Trento (TN)

The card was edited by Elvira Visciola


During the work of arranging the roof of the excavation area, which took place in 1973, this pebble was found inside a hollowed niche on the wall, about one meter away from the place where the stone was found. figurine (Venus) of Gaban and the historiated handle. Along with this object were also found a burnt caprovino skull, a large deer spatula and a rectangular bone plate decorated with geometric motifs which has through holes at both ends.

The calcite pebble is of the round phallic type, smoothed by abrasion and engraved with a flint flake. An anthropomorphic figure is represented on the front face with well-defined facial features, the eyes and mouth highlighted with a double concentric oval, the nose connected to the eyebrow arches with a "T" pattern and on the sides two "C" patterned ears ”. Under the face descend two long appendages, perhaps the arms or breasts, which delimit a central space with engraved reticulated lozenges; below a double triangle with opposite vertices and two small ovals connected by a thin line. The context of the find has led to hypothesize the use of the object as a propitiatory offering, but we are not sure of the figure represented: it could be a female figure (for the detail of the pubic triangle) or male or even a fish (the detail of the lip swollen is similar to fish-shaped bone plate). This object is the most problematic found in the Gaban site, since it is difficult to compare it with other finds found on site or in cultural areas of northern Italy. In this regard, Gimbutas reports: “… A stylized fish-shaped statuette found in the most ancient Neolithic layer of the Gaban refuge, in northern Italy, highlights two reticular lozenges on the chest between the breasts of the Deity. A triangle, some V's and a cross band are engraved just below the lattice boxes. Her face has an inhuman round fish mouth and large staring eyes. There is a symbolic correspondence with the Gaban statuette in the egg-shaped sculptures, with half-human and half-fish facial features, of Lepenski Vir, in northern Yugoslavia, sometimes decorated with watercourse motifs…” (M. Gimbutas, 2008).

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

CARD

Name

Anthropomorphic pebble of Riparo Gaban – Trento (TN)

Subject

Manufactured goodsFemale figurine

Timeline

Both objects in the file come from Neolithic strata, dated to the cultural facies of square-mouthed vessels, more exactly to the initial phase of the Gaban Group, between 5.300 and 4.900 BC cal.

Location of discovery

Archaeological site of Gaban shelter in Trento - Province of Trento

Region

Trentino Alto Adige

Environmental context

Repair

exhibits exhibited

All the objects are exhibited at the Trento Museum of Natural Sciences (MUSE) in Trento, in Corso del Lavoro e della Scienza n. 3 – tel. 0461-270311

State of conservation

Discount

Dimensions:

Pebble L 4,3 x sp 3,0 x h 13,3 cm.; Rectangular decorated plaque L 10,00 x d 0,4 x h 2,5 cm.

Legal condition

State property

REFERENCES

  1. Marija Gimbutas – The Language of the Goddess – Rome 2008;
  2. Luca Benedetti, Emanuela Cristiani, Cristina Dal Ri, Silvia Frisia, Stefano Gialanella and Annaluisa Pedrotti – “The Venus of Gaban. Archaeometric analysis project” - In Alpine prehistory - 46 - Trento 2012;
  3. Gian Pietro Brogiolo Historic landscapes of Sommolago – Mantua 2013;
  4. Annaluisa Pedrotti – “The Gaban shelter (Trento) and the neolithisation of the Adige valley" - In Catalog of the exhibition “Ancestors of Venus 27.000 – 4.000 a. C.” – Milan 2009-2010;
  5. Bernardino Bagolini and Annaluisa Pedrotti – “Shelter Gaban” - in Alberto Broglio - Paleolithic Mesolithic and Neolithic in north-eastern Italy –1996;
  6. Stefano Girardi, Fabio Cavulli, Francesca Voltolini, Alessandro Rizzi, Fabio Remondino, Annaluisa Pedrotti and Lorenzo Gonzo – Laser scanner and digital photography for the modeling and analysis of archaeological sites: the case study of Riparo Gaban – Trent 2006;
  7. Bernardino Bagolini with additions by Annaluisa Pedrotti – Riparo Gaban, prehistory and evolution of the environment – Trent 1980;
  8. Annaluisa Pedrotti – “The Gaban group and the art manifestations of the early Neolithic" – in Andrea Pessina and Giuseppe Muscio – Seven thousand years ago the first bread: environments and cultures of Neolithic societies – Udine 1998;
  9. Stefan Karol Kozlowski and Giampaolo Dalmeri – “Gaban shelter: the Mesolithic layers” - In Alpine prehistory - 36 - Trento 2002;
  10. Mario Giannitrapani – Anthropomorphic Neolithic coroplastic of Italy – Bar International Series 1020 – Oxford 2016;
  11. Bernardo Bagolini – “Figurative aspects and decorative elements in the Neolithic of Riparo Gaban (Trento)" - In Journal of Prehistoric Sciences XXVII – 1972 – p. 345-355;
  12. Paolo Graziosi – “New manifestations of Mesolithic and Neolithic art in the Gaban shelter near Trento" - In Journal of Prehistoric Sciences XXX – 1975 – p. 237-278;
  13. Peter Righini – “Acoustic analysis of the sound obtained from a Neolithic bone artifact of the Gaban shelter (Trento)" - In Journal of Prehistoric Sciences XXX – 1975 – p. 353-359.
Print Friendly, PDF & Email