Terracotta whistles as a type of toys

Abstract

Clay, along with humanity’s existence has been used as the most primitive material in making all kinds of goods to meet daily needs. One of these daily use objects is the toy that carries great importance as tool of entertainment, communications and development. The human instinct to explore and play has been shaped in various ways with the clay in different civilizations. Terracotta has become the basic material of the different toys as the main tool of act of playing. Ceramic whistles, widely seen from Prehistoric times to the present day from Europe to Asia, America, pre-Columbian cultures, also appeared in various civilizations as a type of whistling instrument as the ritual objects used in ceremonies. In this sense, ceramic whistles began to lose attention, especially in Turkey started to disappear with missing values due to diversity, changes and the development of toys within the industrial revolution. They are being produced as nostalgic toys, souvenir objects with limited edition. In this study, reference to the history of ceramic whistles, the arrival of the present day is being explained, as handicraft production, particularly by means of traditional aspect.