The Role of Color in Neolithic Figurines

Color is an abstract phenomenon with an important role in the shaping of the world, the description of the world and in visual relationships. The science and knowledge of making color and the use of color in different ways, an endeavor that has been guided by nature, is rooted in very ancient times: seeing the light of the moon, the sun, the stars and the variety of color in flowers, animals and colored soils, caused early man to try to make use of natural and man-made pigments in order to be able to achieve color and light. The history of color in sculpture is also a long one... from the first jewel and colored-stone covered statues of gods and goddesses and the paintings that use natural colors that can be seen inside cave dwellings to contemporary sculpture. Color was first used only for decorating the bodies and dwellings of early man. With the passage of time and by looking upon nature as a guide, color became an important element in the shaping of what later became known as art. Early man used color as an effective, decorative and symbolic element in different contexts: tattooing the body and painting corpses, as a means for decorating or as a sign of respect toward religious beliefs and rites, and painting caves in order to reach a greater mastery over nature. Early man used color and decorative designs to make different utensils and objects as beautiful as he could on one hand and on the other hand, he found colored designs to be a good medium for the transfer of ideas. Among these usages, coloring figurines was the most important field in the use of color by early man; an activity that made use of various methods. Female figurines, usually found in a sitting position, are the most numerous figurines that are left from Neolithic times and are sometimes seen with color. In Iran, these colored figurines have mostly been found in areas such as the Haji Firouz hills, in Yanik-tepe and in the burnt city. These artifacts sometimes have similarities with the painted figurines that can be found in archeological sites in other parts of the world, for instance in sites such as Catalhoyuk in Turkey. This, to some extent, confirms the presence of shared beliefs and ideas in different cultures. In these figurines, color is usually used in different markings such as zigzagging lines, V-shaped waves or signs that are mostly symbolic in nature. Color in Neolithic figurines is considered to be a symbolic language that shows the special beliefs, ideas and concepts of each culture. The important place of color in the life, the beliefs, the ideas and finally in the art of Neolithic people, a role that is primarily symbolic, is the main concern of this article. Experts in archaeology have previously studied and analyzed colored figurines, but in this article the classification of these artifacts and finding an answer for the reasons that color is used in them from a sculptural point of view is addressed.