This suggests that we should consider the distorted proportions of these Venus-type figures as intentional and meaningful rather than necessitated by a lack of skill. Traits associated with naturalism do sometimes appear in prehistoric art, such as modelling to indicate the volume of animal forms in some cave paintings. At the more recent end of the spectrum, abstracted female figurines found of the Cycladic islands in the Aegean are no more than 6-7,000 years old.Īll these figures are non-naturalistic, meaning that they are stylized rather than lifelike versions of the female body. The oldest currently known Venus figurine is the 35-40,000-year-old Venus of Hohle Fels found in Germany. Their small sizes and rounded shapes would easily fit in a hand, and these portable objects would have easily been carried from place to place by typically-nomadic prehistoric peoples. Often referred to as “Venus-type figurines”, they are usually made of stone, bone, or ivory. Some have come to light as recently as 2016 (in Turkey) and 2017 (in Russia). More than a hundred other prehistoric female statuettes, many with similarly exaggerated proportions, have been found throughout Europe and the Mediterranean. This makes it among the oldest three-dimensional representations of the human form that have yet been discovered. After several revisions that made it older every time, the currently-accepted estimate is 25,000-30,000 years before present, putting it in what archaeologists have termed the Gravettian period (around 29,000-22,000 years ago), within the last Ice Age. The material certainly isn’t native to Austria, making it clear that either the raw material or the finished sculpture did some traveling at some point in its long life.īecause the stone is naturally much older than the carving itself, the Venus of Willendorf has been difficult to date. She originally had reddish ochre paint that is now mostly lost.Īlthough she was found buried in the Austrian village of Willendorf at the beginning of the 20th century, recent scientific analysis has concluded that the figure’s oolite comes from either northern Italy, or less probably, Ukraine. The Venus of Willendorf has no face, however her genitals are depicted in more detail than anything else. It has tapering legs, with large thighs but no feet, skinny arms draped over the breasts, slight indications of hands, and a rounded head with the impression of curly hair or a hat all the way around. Carved in the round - it is fully three-dimensional - created from a type of limestone called oolite, the figure has a distinctive shape, with massive breasts, stomach, and buttocks. The object commonly known as the Venus of Willendorf is a small (11.1 cm high) stone sculpture of a corpulent nude woman. 24,000-22,000 BCE, in the Naturhistorisches Museum Wien, Austria The Venus of Willendorf The Venus of Willendorf, c.
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