Marble female figure

Technical analysis: Multiband imaging, optical microscopy, Raman spectroscopyThis fine-grained white marble figure is complete. Horizontal breaks at both knees have been mended and have modern surface fills along the joins, as well as in the upper left arm, right hand and forearm, and in the center of the belly. The backward-tilted head is lyre-shaped with a softly pointed chin, arched flattened crown, and prominent triangular relief nose set high on the face. Banding in the marble may be interfering with patterns that could be interpreted as paint ghosts around the head, such as a polos or hair mass. The thick cylindrical neck is offset from the head by a curved shallow groove at the back, and from the torso by a shallow groove curved at the front and v-shaped at the back. The figure has horizontal rounded shoulders with arms folded left over right close to the torso, supporting two rounded relief breasts over the long, narrow abdomen. There is no indication of fingers or a pubic triangle. A deeply incised cleft separates the legs from the groin downward. A shallow vertical groove down the middle of the flat back indicates the spine. Two incised horizontal grooves indicate the otherwise flat buttocks. The knees are slightly bent and the flat feet are pointed downward with no indication of toes.


Over much of the figure’s surface is a thin layer of golden-brown accretions, some in the shape of rootlets. Red particles in the crease under the chin and on the back of the neck are identified as goethite and, possibly, hematite.


Georgios Gavalas, Sandy MacGillivray, Dorothy Abramitis, Federico Carò, and Elizabeth Hendrix