Obesity in the Neolithic era: a Greek female figurine.

In this paper, we present a female figurine made of clay, found in Farsala, Thessaly, Greece, and which is housed in the Athanassakeion Archaeological Museum of Volos, Greece. This Neolithic figurine has visible characteristics of female obesity and belongs to a class of figurines ironically named "Venuses". The figurine is described, and speculation underlying the reason for its construction and uses are presented. In addition, the historical and social background of the Prehistoric period is taken into consideration, in an attempt to evaluate the characteristics of ancient feminine obesity and compare it to its modern definitions.