A man or a woman? (identifying the gender of anthropomorphic stone statues)
Ermolenko L. Kasenova A.
30 September 2024Margulan Institute of Archaeology
Kazakhstan Archeology
2024#2024Issue 345 - 56 pp.
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 identi昀椀ed 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 di昀昀erent 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 identi昀椀er of gender. The emphasis on this bodily attribute in the iconography of anthropomorphic male and female images is due to its signi昀椀cance and the concepts attached to it. The author questions the validity of researchers’ identi昀椀cation of the gender of statues having no obvious sexual characters based on the recognition of their facial features as masculine or feminine.
attribution , breast , Central Kazakhstan , Early Iron Age , gender traits , Middle Ages , statues , Toguzbaykol
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Department of Archaeology, Kemerovo State University, Kemerovo, Russian Federation
Margulan Institute of Archaeology, Almaty, Kazakhstan
Department of Archaeology
Margulan Institute of Archaeology
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