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The typological classification o the human figurines from Urkesh relied on the production techniques to a large extent. This classification stems from the particularity of the morphological features of the corpus which presents a variety of shapes and styles. And most importantly, it was designed to allow additions to the corpus very easily, when excavations resume.
For more details on the method of the typological classification, refer to the designated page in the book of human figurines
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Typological classification: Categories
Class A: Naturalistic - hand made
The naturalistic representations are the anthropomorphic figurines with some correct anatomical features, even if other features are not represented very realistically. This classification omits the distinction between genders.
- Class A, type 1: head fragments
- Group a: with head dress
- Group b: without head dress
- Class A, type 2: flat bodies
The flat bodies were worked differently from the cylindrical ones, by flattening the clay with hands or on a flat surface:
- Group a: with sexual attributes
- Group b: without sexual attributes
- Class A, type 3: cylindrical bodies
The cylindrical bodies were hand molded by manipulating the clay between the hands, or by fixing the clay figurine on its base vertically and shaping it.
- Group a: with sexual attributes
- Group b: without sexual attributes.
Plaques and mold made figurines represent a special type because not only they had a different function from the figurines, but they were mass produced using a different technique (mold technique) as oppose to the other hand molded figurines.
The abstract figurines are represented with anthropomorphic silhouette easily distinguished, but bear no accurate human anatomical features.
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JP human figurine’s typological classification
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