No one would mistake the Stone Age ivory carving for a Venus de Milo. The voluptuous woman depicted is, to say the least, earthier, with huge, projecting breasts and sexually explicit genitals.
Nicholas J. Conard, an archaeologist at the University of Tübingen, in Germany, who found the small carving in a cave last year, said it was at least 35,000 years old, “one of the oldest known examples of figurative art†in the world. It is about 5,000 years older than some other so-called Venus artifacts made by early populations of Homo sapiens in Europe.
Another archaeologist, Paul Mellars of the University of Cambridge, in England, agreed and went on to remark on the obvious. By modern standards, he said, the figurine’s blatant sexuality “could be seen as bordering on the pornographic.â€
Comments
3 Comments so far. Leave a comment below.I can’t imagine with the hard life they must’ve led that any woman would actually look like this ! Some guy alone in his cave daydreaming!
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
You think the cave man would have had some Victorian prudish modesty since they both belong in the same era? Thank goodness our civilized values are better!
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
I love how the head is so small.
One aspect of juvenile art is that objects’ sizes are reflective of their importance in the artist’s mind and not of their actual size.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child_art#Pre-symbolism
(tho it is affirming that despite the artist’s obviously unenlightened view of women he was appreciative of the big fat “momma” and not the skinny anorectic childish look we think of as sexy nowadays)
Like or Dislike:
0 
0