Vahid Askarpour
Abstract
The paper concerns with an investigation of beginnings and evolution of female figures on the cylinder seals of ancient Susiana plain during the middle of 4th millennium up to the end ...
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The paper concerns with an investigation of beginnings and evolution of female figures on the cylinder seals of ancient Susiana plain during the middle of 4th millennium up to the end of 2nd millennium B.C. The female figures on the cylinder seals considered according to archaeological contexts and situations as independent variable according to which the visual qualities of them has been tested. Assuming an existential co-relation between archaeological situations and the modes of female figures, it is suggested that by transforming the first, the latter would be transformed actively as well. For discovering the meanings entangled with female figures on ancient Susiana cylinder seals, the enactive semiotics is applied. Accordingly, female figures on the cylinder seals and sealings are classified and described in terms of their spatiotemporal contexts. The major groups are female-related a, female-related b, crafting scenes, collective scenes and ritual scenes. The paper based on descriptive-analytical classification of data according to iconographic attributes, based on a theoretic examination of related archaeological evidence. The results show that womanity on-the cylinder seals have always been a dynamic phenomenon, depending on its historical and archaeological status.
