The broken figurines
A new approach to the ritual use of the Valdivian Venus figurines
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.18807297Keywords:
intentional breakage , experimental archaeology, symbolic behavior , breakage studiesAbstract
The study of the rituals in which the figurines known as Venus of Valdivia were used, has focused on deciphering their meaning and symbolic contents, through iconographic analysis and comparison with ethnographic cases. This work focuses, however, on reconstructing the possible script that these rituals would have followed, based on material evidence and the analysis of archaeological contexts. As part of this process, the supposed intentionality in breaking the figurines for ritual purposes comes into question. In an attempt to shed some light into this topic, experiments on figurine breakage were carried out with the objective of determining which figurines could have been subject to intentional fragmentation. Although the experiments allowed us to identify certain patterns of intentional breakage and fragmentation, it was not possible to categorically distinguish between intentional or accidental fragmentation.
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