Venus figurine

The Venus of Willendorf is a well-known figurine. It was made about 25.000 years ago

Venus figurines are small sculptures of women done in prehistoric times. Usually, the women are pregnant, with breasts well visible. Venus figurines are among the earliest traces of art in human history.

Specimens

Archaeologists have found Venus figurines in Western Europe and Siberia. Most are about 30.000 years old, but two are much older.

Some figurines were made of bones, ivory, or some type of stone. Others are made of clay, which was then burned in a fire to harden it. This is one of the earliest known uses of ceramics.

Oldest figurines

Scientists have found two Venus figurines that are older than 30,000 years old. These may have been formed mostly by natural processes, but there are signs that humans worked on them.

The Venus of Tan-Tan, found in Morocco, has been dated to 500.000 to 300.000 years ago. It shows traces of a substance that could have been a form of paint. It contained traces of iron and manganese.

The Venus of Berekhat Ram, found on the Golan Heights, has been dated to 300.000 to 200.000 years ago. It shows traces that someone worked on it with a tool. A study done in 1997 states that this could not have been done by nature alone.

These figurines may be among the first items ever to show the human form.

Meaning

Today it is not known what the figurines meant for the people who made them. They may relate to human fertility. There are several basic interpretations:

• They are representations of human fertility
• They were made to increase human fertility
• They may represent goddesses of fertility

Scientists know the figurines were not related to the fertility of fields, because agriculture had not yet been discovered.

Drawing of the Venus of Berekhat Ram