The Karditsa Thinker, or the Thinker of Karditsa (), is a
Neolithic
The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Ancient Greek, Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revo ...
clay figurine found in the area of
Karditsa
Karditsa ( ) is a city in western Thessaly in mainland Greece. The city of Karditsa is the capital of Karditsa regional unit of the region of Thessaly.
Climate
Karditsa has a hot-summer Mediterranean climate (Köppen climate classification: '' ...
in
Thessaly
Thessaly ( ; ; ancient Aeolic Greek#Thessalian, Thessalian: , ) is a traditional geographic regions of Greece, geographic and modern administrative regions of Greece, administrative region of Greece, comprising most of the ancient Thessaly, a ...
,
Greece
Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...
. This artifact, dating back to the Final
Neolithic
The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Ancient Greek, Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revo ...
period (4500-3300 B.C.), is a solid clay figurine of a seated man. It conveys the impression of a man looking upwards, and his hand is supporting his head which suggests a person who is thinking.
Standing about half a meter tall, the figurine exhibits features of fully developed sculpture and is considered the largest Neolithic artifact found in Greece. The pronounced
ithyphallic
A phallus (: phalli or phalluses) is a penis (especially when erect), an object that resembles a penis, or a mimetic image of an erect penis. In art history, a figure with an erect penis is described as ''ithyphallic''.
Any object that symbo ...
element, though mostly broken, along with its size, suggests a possible cultic character, possibly representing an agrarian deity associated with the fertility of the land.
It is made of
terracotta
Terracotta, also known as terra cotta or terra-cotta (; ; ), is a clay-based non-vitreous ceramic OED, "Terracotta""Terracotta" MFA Boston, "Cameo" database fired at relatively low temperatures. It is therefore a term used for earthenware obj ...
and is considered a significant archaeological find due to its size and artistic value. The figurine is believed to have been created during the Neolithic period, a time characterized by the transition from hunting and gathering to settled agriculture. It is currently housed in the Greek Prehistory Gallery of the
National Archaeological Museum, Athens
The National Archaeological Museum () in Athens houses some of the most important artifacts from a variety of archaeological locations around Greece from prehistory to late antiquity. It is considered one of the greatest museums in the world and ...
.
See also
*
The Thinker
''The Thinker'' (), by Auguste Rodin, is a bronze sculpture depicting a Heroic nudity, nude male figure of heroic size, seated on a large rock, leaning forward, right elbow placed upon the left thigh, back of the right hand supporting the chin ...
*
Spong Man
*
Lorenzo de Medici
Lorenzo di Piero de' Medici (), known as Lorenzo the Magnificent (; 1 January 1449 – 9 April 1492), was an Italian statesman, the '' de facto'' ruler of the Florentine Republic, and the most powerful patron of Renaissance culture in Italy. Lo ...
*
Thinker from Yehud
References
External links
{{National Archaeological Museum of Athens
4th-millennium BC works
Clay sculptures
Neolithic Greece
Karditsa
National Archaeological Museum, Athens
Terracotta sculptures in Greece
Archaeological discoveries in Thessaly
Prehistoric sculpture
Sculptures in Athens
Statues in Greece
Sculptures of men in Greece