Russian Academy of Sciences
Peter the Great’s Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (Kunstkammer)
(The Word of an Object)

July - September, 2001

Venus of the Ice Age

    The full semantics of Paleolithic Venus statuettes have still not been fully deciphered. Some researchers see them as idols honoring the primogenitor, fertility symbols. Others see them as an element in ancient magic rites, invoking success for the hunt. Still others see them as images of real women, with exaggerated physical attributes. This statuette-fragment was discovered in 1894 in Brassempouy (France). Other similar figures were discovered in 1908 in central Willendorf (Austria), followed by Eastern Europe in 1923 (Kostenki 1, Russia).
    The upper layers of the Kostenki 1 site (approximately 23-21 thousand years old) contain the remains of a mammoth-hunting permanent community in the center of the Russian plains. It is located on the cape of the Pokrovskiy ravine, near Kostenki village next to the Don. Archeological digs were first conducted there in 1897 by I.S. Polyakov, while through the course of its history numerous other prominent archeologists have dug there as well- A.I. Kelysiev, S.A. Krukovsky, P.P. Efimenko, and A.N. Rogachev.

    About forty thousand years ago, during the great ice age, an event occurred which marked the start of a new page in the history of humanity. Contemporary man (Homo sapiens- wise man) appeared in the now ice-free territories of Europe.
    This was the start of the upper (late) Paleolithic age (from the ancient Greek, palaylos "ancient" and lithos "stone"). The end of this epoch was characterized by a new period of global warming (about 10,000 years ago) which freed prehistoric Europe from the glacial armor that held it. The late Paleolithic age was a time which saw many serious changes in the development of ancient man: his skills shaping stone and bone became much more advanced, kilns and clay shaping techniques were discovered, artistic skills perfected. Drawn and sculpted images of animals (mammoth, reindeer, cave lions, etc.) began to resemble those of our day, surprising in both their craftsmanship and accuracy.
   These female statuettes occupy a special place among the discovered artifacts of Paleolithic art. They were crafted sometime between 25-21 thousand years ago, and are nowadays commonly referred to as "Paleolithic Venuses." They were all crafted in a very sharp realistic manner, and as a general rule all depict women with highly stressed over-emphasized elements of her gender.
    The statuette on display was carved from the incisor of a mammoth, and discovered in Kostenok 1 (upper layer) in 1936. The "Venus of Kostenki" depicts a nude woman with a magnificent form. The statuette is 11.7 cm tall.