Those that bring Life

Material:

Portuguese pink marble and gold leaf

Dimensions:

49 x 19 x 11 cm

Year:

2022

This series of sculptures are inspired by the work ''The Language Of The Goddess'' (1989), by the Lithuanian archaeologist Marija Gimbutas (1921-1994). In this work, Gimbutas analysed and classified a multitude of archaeological artifacts - small sculptures and objects of bone, stone, and ceramics - extracted from various Neolithic sites in South-Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean, in order to identify the meaning of a pictorial "script" developed at the dawn of European agriculture, nine or eight thousand years ago. With an interdisciplinary approach, which drew on archaeology, but also ethnography, linguistics, and comparative mythology, Gimbutas sought to reconstruct not only the symbology itself but also a goddess-inspired religion and a peaceful, balanced ideological system in tune with Nature, which would leave an indelible mark on the Western psyche.

Lower image: Elevation and plan of a seal from the Neolithic site of Çatalhöyük. Taken from Budja, Mihael (2003): “Seals, contracts and tokens in the Balkans Early Neolithic: where in the puzzle.” Documenta Praehistorica, 30.