"Figurines were thought to typically depict the female form, but our find is not only extraordinary in terms of quantity, but also quite diverse — male, female and non-gender specific ones have been found and several depict a hybrid human-bird figure," Yannis Hamilakis, co-director of the Koutroulou Magoula Archaeology and Archaeological Ethnography project, said in a statement.
"We still have a lot of work to do studying the figurines, but they should be able to give us an enormous amount of information about how Neolithic people interpreted the human body, their own gender and social identity and experience."
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Excavations at Koutroulou Magoula started in 2001 and the latest project began in 2010. The recent finds have not been described in a peer-reviewed scientific journal, and the project team — which includes archaeologists from the University of Southampton, the Greek Archaeological Service and the British School at Athens — will carry out two study seasons in 2013 and 2014.
Over 300 Clay Figures Found at Ancient Site