A stone anthropomorphic artefact from the sub-Neolithic site of Mytkiv Ostriv on the Southern Buh River, Ukraine

This article examines the sole anthropomorphic representation associated with the sub-Neolithic Buh-Dniester culture (BDC). It is a conical marl artefact with schematic facial features, perforation, and engraved decoration. Comparative analysis in both farming and hunter-gatherer contexts of South-Eastern and Eastern Europe reveals its closest parallels with some Criş-Starčevo column-shaped ceramic figurines and a rare anthropomorphic ceramic loom weight, all dated to the second and early third quarters of the sixth millennium BC. Despite an apparent link to the farming sphere, this isolated stone symbolic object does not represent the worldview of the broader population associated with the BDC. Instead, it reflects only the individual choices of those who created, used, or acquired it, and provides important evidence of intercultural contacts along the agricultural frontier.