the naked elamite figurine: a talisman to facilitate difficult labor

During the elamite middle ages (around the mid-second millennium bc)in the city of susa in iran, the remnants of a naked young female figurinewith a wide pelvic cavity which has kept its breasts with two hands havelong left scholars to think about its identity and functions. the naked figurineswhich were scattered on the grounds in the alleys and streets wereknown as the urban figurines. the lab research proved that they were brokenintentionally. despite a lot of research done on their identity and functions,they have remained a mystery. this article, which is field research,by doing library studies, has attempted to study the function(s) of figurinesassumed in archeology, religion, and medicine. the vertical line on the abdomenof the figurines without any abdomen protrusion can symbolize amother in labor. this feature differentiates these figurines from other nakedones. furthermore, the presence of this figurine along with sin god, or thegod of moon, which symbolizes giving a hand to women in difficult labor,which was also observed on the seals impression discovered in susa zone,leads us to the hypothesis that these naked elamite figurines could be atalisman to facilitate the delivery. the figurines were broken by exorcistsduring the rituals held to repel evil forces which caused the delay in labor.some parts of the broken figurine were buried in the walls of the publicplaces and some other parts were offered to the temples of the indigenousgoddesses, such as pinengir and kiririsha.