A man or a woman?
(identifying the gender of anthropomorphic stone statues)
Keywords:
Central Kazakhstan, Toguzbaykol, Early Iron Age, Middle Ages, statues, attribution, sexual characters, breastAbstract
The article discusses one of the aspects of attributing anthropomorphic stone statues created by ancient and medieval nomads of the Eurasian steppes – identifying the gender of the depicted characters. The author considers the issue based on the case of a statue from the Toguzbaykol site in Ulytau (Central Kazakhstan). The study of this original statue is complicated by the discrepancy in the information published about it. The use of archival materials made it possible to clarify the cultural and chronological attribution of the statue – it was identified as an artifact of the Tasmola culture of the early Iron Age. A comparative analysis of the methods of depicting such a sexual sign as breasts in the iconography of plastic art works from different periods made it possible to challenge the existing idea that the statue from Toguzbaykol depicts a woman. The established cases of identical stylization of female and male breasts presumes that this feature alone cannot be considered an absolute identifier of gender. The emphasis on this bodily attribute in the iconography of anthropomorphic male and female images is due to its significance and the concepts attached to it. The author questions the validity of researchers’ identification of the gender of statues having no obvious sexual characters based on the recognition of their facial features as masculine or feminine.
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