Representing people, constituting worlds: multiple 'Neolithics' in the Southern Balkans

This paper considers the diverse iconographic landscapes of the southern Balkans, especiallythose populated by human figurines. The main premise is that material culture is a resource upon which agents draw to situate themselves in the world. In this way, regional traits are deemed particularly important for the constitution of specific subjectivities, in contrast to a generic ‘Neolithic individual’, and at the same time, for the constitution of specific local worlds as opposed to an all-encompassing world that is merely experienced differently. I attempt to provide an example of such regional traits that would have constituted different contexts for agency during the Neolithic and focus on the differences between two regions within the southern Balkans, regions that do not remain the same in the course of time.