Clay figurine of ‘thinker’

From Karditsa, Thessaly. Final Neolithic period, 4500-3300 BC.
(ΕΑΜ/NAM Π 5894)

The man brings his right hand to the head in a gesture of pondering, while he enacts, too, the generative power of his masculinity. On his naked body, incised net encircles the neck and the groin. In Neolithic rituals, this large-sized figurine must have been visible to a crowd of people. Only male figures are depicted as ‘thinkers’, especially in the Balkans.