A zoomorphic sculpture from the late 6th century BC. C. shaped like a lioness
What is described as zoomorphic is that which has the appearance of an animal . The term comes from zōómorphos , a word from the Greek language.
animal shape
Something zoomorphic, therefore, has a shape that refers to some species of fauna . Zoomorphic sculptures , for example, were common in different cultures of Antiquity .
Religious figures, amulets and other objects with zoomorphic characteristics have been found in various regions of the world. In numerous museums, in fact, zoomorphic sculpture pieces are preserved.
Swamp and Iron Age II
The National Museum of Fine Arts of Argentina , to mention one case, houses several zoomorphic sculptures from the pre-Columbian era. Among them there are elements attributed to the so-called Ciénaga culture , which developed in northwest Argentina in the first centuries of our era.
Zoomorphic manifestations made of stone were also found in areas of the Iberian Peninsula . Experts recognized creations reminiscent of wild boars, pigs and bulls, whose origins would date back to the Second Iron Age .
Regarding the Ciénaga culture, it developed on Argentine soil, between the province of San Juan and the Calchaquíes Valleys, although especially in the Hualfín Valley , where many of its cemeteries were found. Since they emerged in the 1st century and their presence extended until the 5th century, this culture is part of the so-called lower Formative Period , which ended at the beginning of the 8th century. For this same reason, it coexisted in part with the Condorhuasi culture, which inhabited the same valley.
The Second Iron Age emerged as an inevitable consequence of the disappearance of the societies of the previous one, which gave rise to the birth of new knowledge that considerably impacted customs and way of life.
Different areas
It is important to mention that there are zoomorphic products designed for different purposes and uses . There are zoomorphic vessels , zoomorphic vessels , zoomorphic bottles and other types of zoomorphic containers that were used by their creators.
Zoomorphic architecture , meanwhile, is characterized by taking animals as inspiration when developing an architectural design. The Incas are said to have designed Cuzco (or Cusco ), the capital of their empire, in the shape of a puma .
Much closer in time , the Spanish Santiago Calatrava took the wings of a bird as a basis for the construction of a new pavilion at the Milwaukee Art Museum , in the United States . This zoomorphic building was inaugurated in 2001 .
In contemporary fiction
Zoomorphic characters are quite common in fiction, especially children's fiction, although not as common as anthropomorphic ones. This last adjective denotes the appearance or form of a human being in an individual of another species or in an object . Although zoomorphic people are not abundant in stories, this alteration in appearance and its respective attribution of behavioral traits is widely used for robots.
A zoomorphic robot that looks like a dog
We have relatively old examples, such as the Transformers cartoon series and collectible dolls, which emerged in 1982, but also modern ones, such as the Pixar animated film Lightyear , where we find a cat-shaped robot called Sox .
For children, the presence of zoomorphic characters is useful because it allows creators to tell relatively complex stories through images that they easily relate to known elements . For example, instead of presenting them with a robot or an object that has come to life directly, you can give them the appearance of an animal so that at first glance they can relate to a living being, and once the bond is established they can get closer little by little to get to know them better. .