Moscow University
Anthropology
Bulletin
Anthropology
Bulletin
Lomonosov Moscow State University, Anuchin Research Institute and Museum of Anthropology, Mokhovaya St, 11, Moscow, 125009, Russia
Vorontsova Elena L., PhD: ID ORCID: 0000-0002-7817-7274; elena.l.vorontsova@gmail.com.
Introduction. The reasons for unusual proportions of female Upper Paleolithic figurines remain unclear to the present day. In this paper, we propose an explanation based on the perspective reduction phenomenon known in visual arts. Following materials were used for the study: photos of women (n=6) taken at different camera heights and distances; anthropometric data of these women; photographs of three female Upper Paleolithic figurines from the Avdeevo site in Kursk region from the Research Institute and the Museum of Anthropology of Lomonosov Moscow State University collections. Results. The analysis of photographic images obtained during the experiment showed that the proportions of the human body are distorted depending on the distance to the camera and camera heights relative to the object, as well as on the degree of protrusion of individual points of the body relative to a level of fat deposition. The dependence of the magnitude of longitudinal and transverse diameters on a distance from a camera in women with different body types is showed graphically. The highest rate of human body distortion starts at 150 cm from the observation point. When the camera height is shifted to the upper pole of the body, the distortion of the proportions is more profound and manifests itself in an increase of the head and neck height, and shoulder width while it visually shortens legs length and relatively decreases hips width. With a shift in the height of an observation point closer to the center of the body, the perspective distortions are not so pronounced, the size of the body increases, and the head and legs proportions decrease. A series of photographs of women were used as a scale to assess the proportions of Upper Paleolithic Venus by a photo-shifting method. Conclusion. The performed analysis shows that figurine artist probably worked at about 100 cm from the model, while his eyes were at the level of her upper body: below the nose bridge, but above the lower pole of the mammary glands. The analysis of the perspective distortion patterns suggests that the Upper Paleolithic women, prototypes of Avdeevo figurines, had a short body length (about 150 cm), narrow shoulders and, possibly, relatively short tibiae.
Upper Paleolithic; female statuettes; Venus figurines; Avdeevo; body proportions; perspective reduction
DOI: 10.32521/2074-8132.2019.1.093-103
Цит.: Vorontsova E.L. On the question of body proportions of Upper Paleolithic Venus (based on the Avdeevo site in Kursk region) // Moscow University Anthropology Bulletin (Vestnik Moskovskogo Universiteta. Seria XXIII. Antropologia), 2019; 1/2019; с. 93-103
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