Venus of Willendorf
[3][4] The figurine was found by a workman named either Johann Veran[5] or Josef Veram[6] and is carved from an oolitic limestone that is not local to the area, and tinted with red ochre.[1][2] Similar sculptures, first discovered in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, are traditionally referred to in archaeology as "Venus figurines", due to the widely held belief that depictions of nude women with exaggerated sexual features represented an early fertility deity, perhaps a mother goddess.[9] The figure has no visible face, her head being covered with circular horizontal bands of what might be rows of plaited hair, or perhaps a type of headdress.This reasoning has been criticized by University of California anthropologist Michael S. Bisson, who notes that water pools and puddles would have been readily available natural mirrors for Paleolithic humans.[attribution needed] Research published in 2022 indicates that the closest and most likely source of the oolite used is on the other side of the Alps in northern Italy, near Lake Garda.
OoliticlimestoneWillendorfJosef SzombathyNaturhistorisches MuseumViennaAustriaVenus figurinearchaeological digHugo ObermaierPaleolithicLower Austriaoolitic limestonered ochreNatural History MuseumUpper PaleolithicGravettian industryradiocarbon datesmother goddessVenus figurinesPaleolithic Europefertilityfertility goddessesplaited hairLake GardaUkraineArt of the Upper PaleolithicList of Stone Age artHistory of nude artScientific ReportsNatureWayback MachineEncyclopædia Britannicaprehistoric artAcheuleanTan-TanBerekhat RamAurignacianHohle FelsGalgenbergAdorant from the Geißenklösterle caveGravettianDolní VěstoniceBrassempouyGagarinoKostenkiLausselLespuguePetřkoviceSavignanoMal'taBuret'MauernBalzi RossiZarayskMagdalenianGönnersdorfPetersfelsMonruz