simcoe/ART

 

Statue of Woman (Tuebingen, Germany) c. 33000

Earlier this month researchers announced that in September they discovered what may the world’s oldest sculpture. At only six inches long but 35,000 years old, this statue of a woman was found in the southern German state of Baden-Württemberg by a team led by Nicholas Conard of the University of Tuebingen. “We were left speechless after seeing it”, said Conard after presenting the figure in public for the first time. “It’s very sexually charged,” he added. This may be a very strange comment to make until one realizes what they are seeing when they look at the piece. In this picture to the left, the figure is lying flat on her back — her head is the small loop like feature on the left end. When we see it thus, we realize that this figure’s main features are sexual/procreative in nature. Her breasts and hips are disproportionate to her stature. Figures like this are often interpreted by experts to be fertility idols, the most famous of which, the Venus of Willendorf, is a mere 26,000 years old. “The finding is a sensation, since it offers a new light on the first artistic expressions of primitive man in Europe and probably in the whole world,” according to Conard.