Prehistoric Figurines is a radical new approach to one of the most exciting but poorly understood artefacts from our prehistoric past. The book explores the ways that people use representations of human bodies to make subtle political points and to understand their own identities and to negotiate their relationships with friends and enemies. Moving beyond the traditional mechanisms of interpretation, the argument is an original and coherent interpretation of prehistoric figurines from southeastern Europe. The author propels the debate past the limitations of the out-dated interpretations of figurines as Mother-Goddess; Bailey investigates individual prehistoric figurines in their original archaeological contexts and in terms of modern exploitations of the human form. The book benefits from author's close understanding of the material culture and the prehistory of the Balkans and from recent developments in the fields of visual culture studies and social and cultural anthropology.