An ancient ceramic figure known as the Water Goddess has recently been relocated to Munich's Archaeological State Collection. The 19-centimeter-tall statuette was discovered in July 2022 during excavations ahead of road construction work in Sulzbach, in the district of Schweinfurt, Lower Franconia, Germany. According to Die Zeit, the figure poses a riddle for science due to a lack of comparable finds.
The location where it was found was a prehistoric ditch that likely served the people of the Hallstatt period, dating from the 8th to the 6th centuries BCE, for water extraction. The function of the ditch suggests a connection between the statuette and water.
Experts are puzzled by the attribution of the statuette to the Hallstatt period, despite other artifacts from the same site being clearly assigned to that era. Such figures are usually attributed to an older time period or a different region, namely the Neolithic period and the western Black Sea region. This discrepancy raises questions about the origins and cultural affiliations of the figure.
The sides of the head of the statuette have holes, which could represent a headdress adorned with metal rings or pins. These adornments are attributed to Hallstatt period women as head decorations. The presence of such features suggests a possible link to that period, yet the overall style of the figure does not entirely fit.
The statuette was initially cleaned at the Bavarian State Office for Monument Preservation using airbrush technique, which revealed the finely modeled face. The cleaning process allowed for a clearer examination of the figure's features. However, the legs of the statuette are only partially present, and the front surface of the upper body is missing. Due to these missing parts, the body form does not provide information about the gender of the figure. This lack of definitive features further complicates efforts to classify the statuette.
According to Stern, such figures are highly unusual for Lower Franconia.
Although other artifacts discovered at the same site have been clearly dated to the Hallstatt period, the lack of comparable finds makes it challenging to place the figure within a specific cultural or historical context.