Neolithic anthropocentrism: the principles of imagery and symbolic manifestation of corporeality in the Balkans

Abstract

The body in the Neolithic was used as adequate symbolic medium which on the one hand strengthened the crucial features of individuals, while on the other was capable to explicate the essential function of particular objects and constructions. As result to this also the concept of imagery hybridism was deployed which incorporate human body within more complex segments of visual culture and symbolic communication. Considering the variety of human representations it can be deduced that anthropocentrism was one of the main visual principles in the Neolithic Balkans which established corporality as major cognitive reference in explication of human agency and its role in understanding the fundamental symbolic processes.