Nice figure, a bit toothy though: the Venus of Hohle Fels
She may not be to everyone's taste, but don't knock her - this tiny mammoth tusk temptress is looking good for her 35,000 years. Discovered last year in the southwest German cave of Hohle Fels, the somewhat ironically-named Venus is believed to be the earliest form of figurative art - made by the first homo sapiens to settle in Europe. It predates other finds by up to 5,000 years, bringing Europe further in line with engravings found in Africa, which still predate the find. Dr Nicholas Conard of Tubingen University, Germany, told pre-eminent journal Nature that the discovery 'radically changes our view of the origins of Paleolithic art.'
The 6cm (2.3") vixen is said to be a fertility symbol - and was found in the cave alongside various tools used by early humans. And if today's lad's mags are anything to go by, the Venus of Hohle Fels wouldn't look out of place alongside glamour girls like Jordan, with her big breasts and pert bottom. Maybe not Paleolithic porn, but certainly a prehistoric princess.
Image by Bartvandamme. All rights reserved.
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As I've mentioned in my article on the debate over the world's oldest cave paintings, this little pendant might just prove pretty monumental find, since its age throws the doors wide open on the suggestion that examples of cave art well outdating those already discovered in Europe might soon be discovered. Evidently behavioral modernity in the Aurignacian period was that bit further advanced by the stage this little, ahem, beauty was carved than some scholars had previously anticipated. Unreliable sources report that an Upper Paleolithic-period iPhone has been discovered nearby too, in what appears to have once been a cave-based outlet of Starbucks.
Come to think of it, this touches on matters of interpreting cave art too, since its likely the work of a horny young adolescent cave-dweller with a bit much time on his hands, just the sort of chap R. Dale Guthrie was referring to when he talked about “casual and earthy themes” in prehistoric rock art. She was probably the Pamela Anderson of her time this lady, a disturbing thought.
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