Dtjytyk

I find the Ubaid lizard-people figurines visually captivating. But for obvious reasons it's difficult to search for information about them online without wading chest deep through pages of ancient aliens garbage, for little reward. So far I've managed to find pictures of several different figurines, that they were excavated at Ur, and that they date from the Ubaid period, and that they may present evidence for several varieties of body modification - though I don't know how solid that last one is.

What else do we actually know about these odd and arresting figures? Are there theories as to their origins, and significance within Mesopotamian art or religious belief? Are the majority female, as seems to be from the pictures, and what are they wearing and holding?

There are many theories & interpretations, but relatively little evidence to support most of them. Of course, there are no written sources from the Ubaid period to support them.

The one you have at bottom left (and top right) is interpreted as holding / nursing a baby. A similar figure, in this case missing the head, can be seen in this example from the British Museum:

• Image Source British Museum (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)

Figures generally appear to be naked. The marks on the bodies may indicate tattoos or ritual scarification (or a combination of the two).

We have figures representing both males and females, but sexual dimorphism is less evident in figures of the Ubaid period (in stark contrast to figures from earlier periods). You have male figure in the bottom-right of your picture.

Instead, Ubaid figurines tend to show male and female figures with similar proportions, instead tending to emphasise the forms of body ornamentation (assuming the marks do actually represent tattoos or ritual scarification), and cranial deformation common to both.

We seem to be on much more secure ground when it comes to the shape of the heads of the figurines.

These almost certainly represent skulls that were bound in infancy to deliberately modify the shape (a practice known from many other cultures, and which is still practised in Vanuatu, for example). We have good osteological evidence for the practice from excavated human remains from the period.

The practice of intentional cranial deformation by binding the skull in infancy is strongly supported by skeletal evidence from a number of fifth-millennium sites in the region. These sites include

• Değirmentepe (Özbek, 2003)


• Arpachiyah (Molleson and Campbell, 1995)

In addition, we may have evidence from Eridu (Lorentz 2010, p128), although this is a little less certain due to the fragmentary nature of the remains.

I'll mention just two studies here:

Özbek's 2003 study of the skeletal remains from 31 individuals at Değirmentepe, which provided solid evidence for artificial cranial deformation, probably achieved by binding the skull in infancy.

Özbal's study, also in 2003, revealed 13 skeletons showing evidence for deliberate cranial deformation. In this case, the practice was observed across all age-ranges from the sample. The evidence strongly suggested that the required deformation was achieved by binding the head with bandages. This caused flattening or compression of the frontal bone of the skull. (Özbal 2003).

(I'd also highly recommend the paper by Molleson & Campbell, although I should declare an interest since Theya Molleson was my tutor when I studied human osteology as part of my Archaeology master degree)

In addition, you might find the 2011 PhD thesis, The Social Life of Human Remains: Burial rites and the accumulation of capital during the transition from Neolithic to urban societies in the Near East by Gareth David Brereton of UCL, of interest. He mentions these and other figurines of the period, together with the evidence from burials as discussed above.

Sources

• Deams, A and K. Croucher: Artificial Cranial Modification in Prehistoric Iran:
  Evidence from Crania and Figurines. Iranica Antiqua 42, 2007, pp 1-21.




• Lorentz, K. O: Ubaid Headshaping: Negotiations of Identity Through Physical
  Appearance? In R. A. Carter and G. Philip (eds.), Beyond the Ubaid. Transformation
  and Integration in the Late Prehistoric Societies of the Near East, The Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, 2010, pp 124-148.




• Molleson, T., and S, Campbell: Deformed Skulls at Arpachiyah: The Social
  Context. In S. Campbell and A. Green (eds.), The Archaeology of Death in the Ancient
  Near East, 1995, pp 45-55. Oxbow Monographs 51. Oxford.




• Özbal, R: Tell Kurdu'nda Mikro Arkeolojik Çalişmalar, 2003




• Özbek, M: 2001. Cranial Deformation in a Subadult Sample From
  Deĝirmentepe (Chalcolithic, Turkey), American Journal of Physical
  Anthropology, Volume 115, Issue 3, July 2001, pp 238-244