The corpulent beauties of stone age|The venus figurines of prehistory

The stone age is the first and longest period in the history of humanity. Known also as paleolithic, the stone age covers 2.5 million years until around 5.000 years BP (before present). All this time, it is said, human race have evolved from hominids looking like apes to homo sapiens, looking, thinking and acting exactly like us.

The stone age it is called this way because the archaeologists think that the first human-like population used tools made out of stone. There have been many discoveries of oddly shaped rocks that we think were used for hunting animals and digging for edible plant roots.

We do not know much about these early ancestors, only what we unearthed in different places of the world. Modern scientists try to put together these "archaeological findings", like pieces of a puzzle. As they end up with lots of unfilled spots, they start making supposition as what and how could have happened, based on logic and analogies. As today, I can say that regarding stone age there are far more theories than evidences.

But that's history. Nothing is nailed.

To make life easier for everybody, archaeologists and historian have divided the stone age in three: paleolithic, mesolithic and neolithic, meaning the old stone age, the middle stone age and the new stone age.

This demarcation fallows certain developments in the technique of making ...stone tools. At the end, homo sapiens had discovered how to work the metals and make better tools, and as a result a better life.

During this long journey, our distant relatives have passed different stages of development on multiple levels. They have changed their anatomy, have learnt to speak, they have acquired new and improved skills, and, most of all, they have started to express themselves.

Some scientists speculate that the oldest human figurine, and also art, dates back 500.000 years ago and was discovered in Morocco. To me, it looks just like a bizarre stone shaped by a whimsy river.

But it is no doubt that Venus from Hohle Fels (or Venus of Schelklingen) is a human art work. It dates back 40.000 to 30.000 years ago and so far has been regarded as the oldest paleolithic art. Since it is a relatively new discovery (2008) it may not be yet as famous as the other stone age Venuses. But it is definitely the top of the line of prehistoric female figurines.

Some other pieces may be yet to be unearthed, and they may be different or the same, they may represents animals or humans or mythical creatures or whatever stone age mankind may have dreamt of. So far thought, what we really have from our ancestors is a series of female figurines that share the same characteristics over a period of more then 30.000 years and some animal representations.

Discovered near Schelklingen, Germany, in 2008, it is made out of woolly mammoth tusk. It measures 6 cm (2.4 in) and has a hole where the head is supposed to be that suggests that it was meant to be a pendant.

This figurine is not only the oldest but is also the most corpulent of them all; it has the biggest breast, stomach and hips and a unmatched sexual organ. The arms are resting on its belly and the legs are short and apart, with no feet.

Discovered at Dolni Vestonice, Check Republic, in 1925, this female figurine is made out of clay and measures 11.5 cm (4.4 in). Its body is out of "normal" proportion: the torso is large with emphasise on the breast, stomach, hips and tights.

The head is small and does not have eyes, nose or mouth, only two lines that may be considered eyes. The arms are short and thin compared with the body and end at waist. And there aren't any feet.

Discovered in 1911 in France, this nude female figure is engraved in a limestone that measures 54 cm (1.5 foot).

Unlike the little statues, this Venus has proportional body parts, she has feet, arms with hands and fingers, and even something that looks like hair.

But like all the others it has a pronounced belly - maybe suggesting pregnancy, and over-sized hips and tights. The horn she's holding has fourteen vertical marks. Some red ochre has been detected on her head and body.

This figurine is probably the most famous among all of them. It was found in Austria 1908. It is 11 cm (4.3 in) tall, made from oolitic limestone (a sedimentary rock composed of calcium carbonate), not found at or near the site of discovery.

Like its antecessors, this female figurine has large breasts, stomach and tights. She has no feet but she has arms and hands which appear to be atrophied, resting on her breast. She doesn't have a face but whoever made it payed attention to her head because it has some bands around or a type of hair that appear to be twisted or braided.

She, too, has traces of red ochre on her body. Also, this figurine was the first one to be called a "Venus".

This female figurine was found in a cave called Rideaux in Lespunge, France, in 1922. It is 14.4 cm tall (6 in) and made out of mammoth ivory and with its stylish realism it would make Brancusi envy.

It has the most prominent breast and buttocks. The shoulders and upper arms are well defined but the lowest part of the arms, that are resting on her large breasts, are skinny. Venus of Lespugue is one of the tallest stone age figurine.

This figurine is as old as its relatives from France but has been discovered in Russia, on a site on Don river.

I did not find any measurements for it as this female representation it is not as famous as the ones described above. Though, it follows the same trend: corpulence with stressed sexual parts.

She has no legs, but has thin arms resting on her chest, has no face but has a funny head inclined towards her pregnant belly.

Venus of Savignano comes from a site in Italy. It is the tallest stone age figurine, measuring 22.5 cm (8.9in), and is made of steatite.

Besides the usual characteristics, this figurine features a slightly different silhouette: it is tall, it is not round but oval, the head is a pyramid. However, everything else is the same.

There are many more Venuses in museums around the world. Most of them were excavated in Europe but they cover a larger area, from northern and western Europe to Asia.

The most famous female figurine were unearthed in Europe about 40.000 to 10.000 years ago. The trend continues until late mesolithic and early neolithic being actually spread to other, newer, cultures (or populations). The later ones my not be so huge and some may be even dressed or decorated with jewelries, but they share similar features.
The figurines are females, naked, small in dimensions, have no face, no feet, have large breasts, buttocks, hips and upper legs, and pronounced bellies.

So, what are these figurines and what was their purpose?

Looks like they have not been made to stand on their own and some have holes that leads to the believe that they may have been pendants.

Most archaeologists and anthropologists have concluded that these stone age Venuses represent the cult of fertility because all of them emphasis that parts of the body responsible for bearing and feeding babies. But since no figurine has a child in its arms or is not carved that way to suggest a baby nearby then it is hard to understand what kind of fertility they talk abut.

Another hypothesis is that the cavemen were practicing a kind of shamanic cult and these figurine were part of it.

Or that these corpulent ladies were reproductions of a Goddess.

Some went as far as suggesting that they may have been pornographic in nature.

And then there are others that do not make any assumptions and just interpret them as depictions of stone age females.

Whatever they are, it would be hard for us to understand the real meaning of these stone age Venuses. Personally, I like to believe that these women were true beauties of their time and the men were so in love with them that they made them into little statues so they can easly venerate them.