Cypriot Votive warrior with shield: Archaic I (700-550 BC)

These crudely made pottery figures are often called snowman figures, due to their shape. This warrior type is usually, as here, hollow and pierced twice, both through the top of the head and edge of base.  The former is probably for suspension and the latter is for attachment of movable legs, though only a few retain these. This warrior has helmet, shield and a weapon which I take to be an abbreviated spear, since it extends downwards from the hand in an over-hand grip often depicted in classical Greek representations and probably a way to get over the shield wall of opponents in battle.  Most of these figures only have a raised right arm or perhaps the broken-off arm-end which may have held a weapon.  The image presumably represents the donor if it was a votive offering (or dead person if it was in a tomb).  V Karageorghis speculates that these figurers with movable legs might have been used as marionettes.

complete with quite well preserved bichrome colour on a creamy slip