Heraklion Archaeological Museum - CollectiveAccess System : Bone-Ivory objects : Two-headed pin finial [Ο-Ε708]

Two-headed pin finial

Ο-Ε708

Bone (Ivory)

Almost intact.

Height: 2.4 cm.Length: 1.95 cm.

Idaean Cave

Geometric period:

8th century BC:

Gallery:

XVII

Case:

169

Exhibition thematic unit:

Geometric - Archaic - Classical period (10th - 4th c. BC). The Sanctuaries. From Minoan cult to the amalgamation of religious beliefs

Sacred Caves

Description

Finial of a decorative ivory pin in the shape of a two-faced female figure. She is wearing a low, cylindrical polos headdress, while the hair is rendered geometrically with few details. The face has the bulbous, almond-shaped eyes typical of the art of the period, while the nose is quite strongly protruding. The pin appears to have been imported to Crete from the East, probably from Phoenicia. Alternatively, it may have been made on the island by travelling or immigrant artisans.

Bibliography:

Sakellarakis J., “Ανασκαφή Ιδαίου Άντρου”, Πρακτικά της εν Αθήναις Αρχαιολογικής Εταιρίας 1984, 593, pl. 249γ. Sakellarakis J.A, “The Idaean Cave Ivories”, in J. Fitton (ed), Ivory in Greece and the Eastern Mediterranean from the Bronze Age to the Hellenistic Period, British Museum OccPap85, London, 1992, 114-116. Sakellarakis J.A., “Ivory trade in the Aegean in the 8th B.C.”, in Biblical Archaeology today, 1990. Proceedings of the Second International Congress on Biblical Archaeology, Jerusalem, June-July 1990, 356. Stampolidis N. Chr. - Karetsou A. (eds) Ανατολική Μεσόγειος, Κύπρος-Δωδεκάνησα-Κρήτη, 16ος-6ος αι. π.Χ., Heraklion, 1998, 270.

Author:

S. P.

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