I wish now to illustrate the insight that can be gained by analyzing in detail a group of figurines with the above operational scheme in mind. I will focus in particular on 15 anthropomorphic figurines from Grimaldi (Liguria), Italy, 7 of which had never been analyzed or published (Bisson and Bolduc 1994; Bisson and White 1996). In concluding, I will attempt to place these in a broader European context with respect to the technology of figurine production, use and disposition.
The 15 objects (Figure 10) in question were recovered from the sites of Barma Grande and the Grotte du Prince between 1883 and 1895 by Louis Jullien. Presently, 7 of them are in the Piette Collection at the Musée des Antiquités Nationales at Saint Germain-en-Laye outside Paris, 1 of them is in the Peabody Museum at Harvard, and the remaining 7 are in private hands in Montreal, where Jullien emigrated in 1898.