Stone Age anthropomorphic flat figurines from Tamula, Estonia

Acta Academiae Artium Vilnensis

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.37522/aaav.116.2025.285

Keywords:

Anthropomorphic figurines, Tamula site, Eastern Baltic, ZooMS, use-wear studies

Abstract

This article presents for the first time the full collection of anthropomorphic figurines found at Tamula, dating from the 4th to 3rd millennium BC. While some figurines show high levels of craftsmanship, others exhibit poorer execution, suggesting that these objects were made by different individuals, possibly even the owners themselves. The ZooMS results indicate that some figurines were either produced at another location and brought to Tamula or were made from an imported and exotic raw material (goat or reindeer). The deliberate damage to full-body figurines points to ritual practices, potentially linked to shamanistic traditions where figurines repesented spirit aids or shamanic helpers. Despite the challenges in applying modern shamanistic terms to prehistoric cultures, these figurines reflect a broader foragers’ spiritual worldview across the vast territory of Northern and Eastern Europe.

Author Biographies

Tõnno Jonuks, Estonian Literary Museum

is a leading research fellow at Estonian Literary Museum (Tartu). His research focus on prehistoric art, rituals, symbolism and religion. He has published many papers related to the eastern Baltic hunter-gatherer geometric and figurative art objects, supplemented by multiproxy approaches.

Samantha Greeves, University of York

completed her PhD at the University of York. She is a research technician both at the BioArch Centre, Department of Archaeology, and Department of Chemistry, University of York. She specializes in ZooMS analysis.

Mari Tõrv, University of Tartu

is an associate professor of archaeology at the Department of Archaeology, University of Tartu (Estonia), and chair of analytical chemistry at the Institute of Chemistry, University of Tartu. She specializes in bioarchaeological studies, primarily related to human osteology and dietary stable isotopes. One of her main research interest is prehistoric human burials and mortuary practices in the eastern Baltic.

Aivar Kriiska, University of Tartu

is a professor of laboratory archaeology, and the head of Department of Archaeology at the University of Tartu (Estonia). His main research field is related to the hunter-gatherer and early pastoral communities archaeology in the eastern Baltic. His published works mainly covers topics related to the Stone and Bronze Age economy, formation and development of settlements, the earliest settling of eastern Europe forest zone.

Downloads

Published

16/04/2025

How to Cite

Jonuks, T., Greeves, S., Tõrv, M., & Kriiska, A. (2025). Stone Age anthropomorphic flat figurines from Tamula, Estonia: Acta Academiae Artium Vilnensis. Acta Academiae Artium Vilnensis, (116), 95–131. https://doi.org/10.37522/aaav.116.2025.285

Issue

No. 116 (2025): Symbols, Rituals, and Identities in the Baltic Area: 7th–3rd mill. BC

Section

Articles

Categories

License

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.