Animals in clay

What is this mini-mammal? In the Mycenaean period, figurines appeared everywhere and in all shapes and sizes: male, female, animalistic and the ubiquitous psi and phi types, named after the letters of the Greek alphabet that they resemble. (Fig. 13).Based on the large quantities that have been found, figurines were everywhere in the Mycenaean world. It can therefore be assumed that figurines and miniatures were originally made as cheap, less qualitative votives produced for the masses. Going along with such an assumption, everyone in society would have had access to terracotta figurines. See Hammond (2009) Figurines, the miniature vase, and cultic space. Encounters with Mycenaean figures and figurines. Papers presented at a seminar at the Swedish Institute at Athens, 27-29 April 2001 (Swedish Institute at Athens), pp. 140-144]. The animal figurine placed on our table is probably a sheep, a bovine or an equine.In respect to animal shape figurines, we do not know much about their meaning. What we do know is that they are usually decorated in a standardized fashion - linear, wavy lines, spine and ladder with subgroups are amongst the patterns that are often interpreted.

What was the function of a figurine? This is usually explained by the location where the figurines were found: sanctuaries point to votive offerings, tombs to grave gifts and homes to private, ritual use or even to being used as a child’s toy!See Hägg & Marinatos eds (1981), Sanctuaries and cults in the Aegean Bronze Age. Proceedings of the first international symposium at the Swedish Institute at Athens, 12–13 May, 1980 (ActaAth 4°, 28), Stockholm, p.216

The exact provenance of this table with the animal figurine is unfortunately unknown, as trade in antiquities often went unregistered in the 20th century CE. What we do know is that this table was found somewhere in Greece. Also, we have reason to believe (mainly due to the pistrine condition of the table) that the object was removed from a grave. Thus, it may have fulfilled a funerary and/or religious function.Since funerary rites and religion were intertwined in Mycenaean times, both functions cannot be separated rigidly. Perhaps the combination of the tripod with the miniature vases and animal on top can tell us more about its function.