To highlight the development of the formal aspects of Cycladic figurative sculpture, a description of the Plastiras figures, in comparison to the late Neolithic examples, should be included here. The proportionality of the Plastiras figures is distorted: they display a very long neck without differentiation, continuing to a head that shows stylised facial features. There is much detail shown in these examples including fingers, toes, knees, buttocks, pubic area, navel and breasts. An unusual feature of the Plastiras type is the separation of the legs from the feet up to the crotch. This is rarely seen in the later EC II phases.

As Cycladic sculpture developed, the reduction of plasticity in the form is evident. In comparison to the late Neolithic Saliagos examples (plates 7 and 8) which have a definitive corpulent quality, the Plastiras examples (plate 9) can be seen as part of a gradual development of the later mature phase where the figures become flatter with a more frontal mien. In the example shown in plate 10, we observe a sharp geometric aspect in the composition of the figure becoming more evident as the fullness of form is reduced. The side profile of the Plastiras figure, although still plastic, has a much reduced volume in comparison to the late Neolithic types, bringing it closer to the more reduced figures of the EC II period.

The developmental shift from the Saliagos figures to the Plastiras examples shows a marked reduction in the fullness of these forms. This has been outlined here to demonstrate the gradual paring back of particular aspects of the human form that eventually resulted in a greater resolution of the minimal figurative sculptures of the early Cycladic period....continue on to 'dokathismata figures'