Loan (Long Term Gallery Loan)
For display on new galleries at Somerset County Museum, opening 2011.
Event Date
Author: maa

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Context (Field collection)
Found on Bell B track
Event Date
Author: maa

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Context (Field collection)
Bond (2010) after Coles and Hibbert: The 'God-dolly' was set within the earlier Bell Track A and below Bell Track B and 'surrounded' by pegs... However, the context was not seen as an intentional burial place for the figurine
Event Date 1966
Author: Eleanor Wilkinson

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Context (Field collection)
Coles and Hibbert (1968): record that the figurine was 'deposited upside down, possibly knocked into the ground'
Event Date 1966
Author: Eleanor Wilkinson

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Context (References)
Coles, J.M. and F.A. Hibbert (1968). 'Prehistoric roads and tracks in Somerset, England: I. Neolithic' Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society. vol 34. pp. 238-258.
Event Date 1968
Author: Eleanor Wilkinson

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Description (Physical description)
Hermaphrodite figure of ash wood
Event Date 1968
Author: maa

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Context (Other owners)
Coles (1968, p.277): The god-dolly has been presented to the University Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Cambridge, by Mr Maurice Bell, on whose land it was discovered.
Event Date 1968
Author: Eleanor Wilkinson

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Description (Physical description)
Coles (1968, p.276): The piece is of ashwood, and is a hermaphroditic human figure. The body is thick, and carries a head, two breasts and a phallus. There are no arms or legs, nor is there any trace of provision for detachable limbs. The figure was carved from a solid piece of ashwood... Down the back of the body is a wide groove... which extends from the nape of the neck to the bottom of the body where it merges with the irregular base. The neck is defined at the back by a groove which forms a shallow V and leads into the vertical back groove.
Event Date 1968
Author: Eleanor Wilkinson

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Context (References)
Coles, John. (1968). 'A Neolithic God-dolly from Somerset, England'. Antiquity vol. XLII. pp. 275-277. pl. XL.
Event Date 1968
Author: Eleanor Wilkinson

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Context (References)
Bond, Clive Jonathon. (2010). 'The 'God-dolly' Wooden Figurine from the Somerset Levels, Britain: The Context, the Place and its Meaning'. Anthropomorphic and zoomorphic miniature figures in Eurasia, Africa and Meso-America: morphology, materiality, technology, function and context. BAR International Series, 2138. Oxford: Archaeopress. pp. 43-54.
Event Date 2010
Author: Eleanor Wilkinson

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Context (References)
Jones, Andrew Meirion and Díaz-Guardamino, Marta. (2019). Making a Mark: Image and Process in Neolithic Britain and Ireland. Oxford: Oxbow Books. Fig. 3.17
Event Date 2019
Author: Imogen Gunn (admin)

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Loan (Long Term Gallery Loan)
Museum of Somerset, 01/11/2020 to 31/10/2023, Claiming the Land
Event Date 1/11/2020
Author: Eleanor Wilkinson

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Loan (Exhibition)
The British Museum, 01/02/2022 to 31/07/2022, World of Stonehenge [working title]
Event Date 1/2/2022
Author: Eleanor Wilkinson

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Loan (Long Term Gallery Loan)
Museum of Somerset, 01/11/2023 to 31/10/2026, Claiming the Land
Event Date 1/11/2023
Author: Eleanor WIlkinson

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Context (References)
Iversen, Rune, Valeska Becker and Rebecca Bristow. (2024). 'Figurative Representations in the North European Neolithic - Are They There?'. Cambridge Archaeological Journal vol. 34 Issue 4. pp. 601-619. p. 611.
Event Date 2024
Author: Eleanor Wilkinson