Remarks on an Ivory Spoon in the Form of Swimming Girl from Klazomenai

Abstract

Discovered during excavations at the Late Geometric city walls in Klazomenai, the figure of a naked girl lying stretched out in a prone position long kept its story to itself. Only once the fragments had been fitted together did it become clear that the find belongs to the type of cosmetic spoons in the shape of swimming girls which occur fairly frequently in the Late Bronze Age contexts from the Ancient Near East. The layer in which the spoon handle was recovered poses a number of new questions. Because of the find context and the circumstances of the discovery, it can be assumed that the spoon was possibly a grave good from one of the destroyed tombs in the immediate vicinity of the find-spot.