Female figurine

Figurine modelling flourished in Cyprus in the Late Neolithic period and even more so in the Chalcolithic period (3900-2500 BC). Various types of figurines, made of steatite, limestone, picrolite or clay, represent the human figure in a purely schematic or a more naturalistic manner. This example, made of soft limestone, is dubbed the "Zintilis idol" (after the collector) and belongs to a group of Chalcolithic stone figurines, whose characteristic features include a slight backwards tilt of the head, deep eye sockets (perhaps originally inset with stone or shell), relief breasts, arms bent below the bosom and superficial incisions indicating the pubes and separating the legs. The figurine was found in the village of Kidasi, in the Paphos region, but its archaeological context did not permit for an unequivocal association with cult activities. However, the prevailing view is that nude female figurines of this type with pronounced anatomical details (breasts, pudenda) were probably associated with beliefs about birth and maternity, or with rites dedicated to the great "Mother Goddess", in her role as a fertility deity.