Neolithic Pregnancies
Oct. 25th, 2009 09:54 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alanajoliAs my shape is changing, I've been recalling the neolithic figurines of women I've seen in museums -- the very, very old images of women with large bellies and breasts (and often large bottoms) symbolizing fertility. Given how my brain works, it's not surprising that this is the direction I've been thinking in regards to my own pregnancy.
(Courtesy of The Met.)
I was talking with![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
violet_whisper about this at dinner yesterday, and she brought up the idea of feminine beauty, and how it's obvious that the fertility aspect was a large part of that beauty (rather than our modern fashion stars from the line of Twiggy). I don't know how much we can say about neolithic ideas of beauty -- as their reasons for carving stone sculptures were, presumably, different from the reasons of the Classical Greeks, who also appreciated a little bit of roundness around the belly -- but I do find these early representations of women much more intriguing as my own profile changes. I hadn't really felt a kinship before, but I suppose that one becomes closer to a representation when one could herself be the represented. :) (Just a little Barfield terminology thrown in there for fun.)
(Courtesy of Brigantes Nation.)
For more fun early woman/goddess images, check out this forum, which has a pretty extensive collection, some written about in English, and others, presumably in Dutch (given the site location).
(Courtesy of The Met.)
I was talking with
violet_whisper about this at dinner yesterday, and she brought up the idea of feminine beauty, and how it's obvious that the fertility aspect was a large part of that beauty (rather than our modern fashion stars from the line of Twiggy). I don't know how much we can say about neolithic ideas of beauty -- as their reasons for carving stone sculptures were, presumably, different from the reasons of the Classical Greeks, who also appreciated a little bit of roundness around the belly -- but I do find these early representations of women much more intriguing as my own profile changes. I hadn't really felt a kinship before, but I suppose that one becomes closer to a representation when one could herself be the represented. :) (Just a little Barfield terminology thrown in there for fun.)(Courtesy of Brigantes Nation.)
For more fun early woman/goddess images, check out this forum, which has a pretty extensive collection, some written about in English, and others, presumably in Dutch (given the site location).
