Dolls past

Funny dolls and concubines, dolls-toys and manual dolls, attribute for adheating girls, boys and fruitless women – "My Planet" found out how the dolls of the planet changed over the past millennia.

In the distant times, the dolls were not yet children’s toys, they served for ritual purposes, played the role of talismans and faith. Ancient dolls made of natural materials: wood, stone, animal bones, clay, flax. In each country there were their secrets.

Czech

The most ancient doll is considered a marionet from the mammoth bone, found in archaeological excavations in the burial of the city of Brno, on the territory of the current Czech Republic. This men’s figurine, made about 28,000 years ago, were the moving limbs, while her owner – a certain shaman, lying in the same grave, suffered from joint problems. Scientists assume that this ritual doll was used in special treatment rituals. It has not been preserved entirely and was reconstructed by fragments.

Greece

In ancient Greece, dolls did special artisans, masters figurines made of fabrics, wax, clay, sometimes with movable limbs. What did a typical toy look like in ancient Greece in the VII century to n.NS., The whole world found out thanks to the 2004 Olympic Games. The talismans of the games were two strange little man: FEB and Athena – accurate copies of antique dolls found during excavations.

Rome

Scientists believe that dolls began to be used in gaming purposes in Greece only in the first century. NS. By tradition, common in ancient Rome, dolls Games gave on the day of the holiday dedicated to Saturn. The toy accompanied the little hostess until the day of the wedding, and after the beliefs of Venus loved the altar of the goddess. If the girl died unmarried, the toy was buried with her. Perhaps the most amazing of the ancient toys – the girl’s doll named Krestyia Timphen (II century N. NS.) It was found in the ancient Roman tomb in 1889 and remained no attention to scientists. The doll is amazing with its proportions that rush the limbs on hinges and naturalistic – for all these parameters, it might be with modern Barbie. Women’s figurine carved from ivory so skillfully, that we see the portrait of beauty, dressed and combed in ancient Roman fashion. With it found a small chest with outfits, jewels, crests and a mirror.

In addition to dolls, the children of the Roman Empire played the soldiers, animal figures, and even had doll houses with miniature furniture. They had and wipes, and hoops, and marble balls (Marbles), which were then popular worldwide.

Egypt

The collection of the British Museum stores dolls found during excavations in Egypt. The first is a wooden depicting a female figure with hares of beads, made more than 3500 years ago. According to some scientists, these dolls were placed in the graves of men as concubines to provide intimate services in the afterlife. Others believe that this is a symbol of fertility, which was supposed to provide late rebirth. Similar dolls archaeologists found in many borons of FIV dated 2080-1990 to N. NS.

The second doll dates from the IV-III centuries to. NS. This is a rag printed figurine, made of rough linen fabric and pounded with flap and papyrus. The face of Doll-Motanka did not specifically: they were afraid that evil spirits will alternate. Similar toys were popular with Egyptian children in the Roman period. On the same technology, the ancient dolls of the following are theirs of Slavic peoples.

African continent

The most famous African doll – Akuaba. The wooden figure, depicting a woman with a disc-shaped head, looks strange, but at the same time embodies the ideal of beauty and perfection, as representatives of the Atshanti tribe from Ghana understand, where the tradition of making these ritual figurines originated. Such a doll gave fathers to her daughters for the mother’s daughters, believing that she had a magical force and would help the girl to turn into an enviable bride. According to the legend, a similar doll, only in the image of a child, first made a pregnant woman on the advice of a local priest to successfully endure the fruit. Despite the mockery, she did not shoot a doll from his back to childbirth and became a mother’s beautiful and healthy girl. The tradition is preserved to this day: the atrigible and pregnant women of the Ashanti tribe are ordered by the sorcelas of Akuaba and tie to backs for the successful birth of offspring.