You are here:

Archaeology/Statues without noses

Advertisement

Expert: - 1/27/2007


Question
Why do so many statues lack a nose?
Were there times when people broke the noses of statues for a special purpose?

Answer
Dear Oliver
The nose on sculptures of the human head are weakly supported, and thus easily damaged.  So, a fair amount of lost noses may simply reflect improper handling. In antiquity, people used to fix such damage by a plaster with high proportions of ground-up marble.
There have been many episodes of deliberate defacement.  Sometimes this simple vandalism, other times it has either political motivations or religious ones.  Early Christians trashed statues of pre-christian gods, and Muslims trashed statues of all humans, in keeping with Koranic law against graven images.  Then there's that "golden calf" episode....
Noses being fragile, they were probably the first thing to go in such programmatic vandalism.
Cheers,
John Shea

Archaeology

All Answers

Answers by Expert:

Ask Experts

Volunteer

John J. Shea

Expertise

Questions about Old World prehistoric archaeology (mainly Europe, Near East, and Africa during the Paleolithic period/Pleistocene Epoch). IMPORTANT: I do not give advice about colleges. I do not appraise the value of artifacts or fossils.

Experience

University professor of anthropology/archaeology since 1991. Dozens of publications in peer-review anthropology journals. Director of archaeological-paleontological expeditions and excavations in Israel, Jordan, Eritrea, Ethiopia, and Kenya. See my main profile under Allexperts` "Anthropology" section. Professional website: http://www.sunysb.edu/anthro/staff/jshea.shtml Personal website: http://www.sunysb.edu/anthro/Shea/Shea%20pers%20webpage.htm

Education/Credentials
>20 years as faculty at major research university

©2012 About.com, a part of The New York Times Company. All rights reserved.