Gravettian Anthropomorphic Figurines : Formal Attributes of the Grimaldi Figures
All of the 15 sculpted representations from Grimaldi appear anthropomorphic. The overall inventory with sexual/reproductive.
Specimen Sex Status
- La Tête négroïde (broken)
- Le Polichinelle F pregnant
- La Figurine non décrite (broken)
- L'Hermaphrodite F pregnant
- Le Losange F pregnant
- La Femme au goître F pregnant
- La Statuette en stéatite jaune F pregnant
- La Femme au cou perforé F pregnant
- Le buste (broken) F
- Le Figure (possibly animal)
- La Figurine en ivoire brun F pregnant
- La Figurine aplatie F
- La Figurine en ivoire à l'ocre rouge F pregnant
- La Figurine double F pregnant
- La Fémelle à deux têtes F pregnant
Table 2: Sex and reproductive status attributions for the 15 Grimaldi sculptures.
Attribution shows an obvious predominance of pregnant women among complete figurines (Table 2). Three of the 15 have two faces sharing the same body. In two cases these are human heads back to back, while a third juxtaposes a human head with that of an animal. The three cases of two-faced figurines is, so far as I am aware, unique to Grimaldi. It is also worth noting that the several cases of blank visages are very explicit; that is, faces are not simply absent, empty faces are very carefully constructed.
