Venus of Willendorf

Venus of Willendorf or Woman of Willendorf, is an 11.1 cm (4.4 inches) high statuette of a woman or woman-like thing. Someone carved it in prehistoric times, perhaps 30,000 years ago. 

Archaeologist Josef Szombathy found it in 1908 near Willendorf, a village in Lower Austria near the city of Krems. The statuette is made of a kind of limestone called oolite. There is no oolite near Willendorf, so scientists think someone carried the stone a very long way. The statue is colored with red ochre.

Today, Venus of Willendorf is part of the collection of the Naturhistorisches Museum in Vienna .

Since 1908, archaeologists have found many more statuettes of fat women, like the Venus, so these are also called Venus figurines.

 Academic studies 

A study from 1990 said the statue was made between 24,000 and 22,000 BCE. Scientists think someone in the Gravettian culture carved it using flint tools. 

Another study from 2022 said that the oolite in the statue matched oolite from northern Italy, which means someone must have carried the stone over or around the Alps and Danube River.

 Related pages 

 Venus (mythology)
 Venus figurines
 Prehistory

References

 Other websites 

 Christopher L. C. E. Witcombe, "Women in Prehistory:Venus of Willendorf" .
 The Invisible Sex: Uncovering the True Roles of Women in Prehistory by J.M. Adovasio, Olga Soffer and Jake Page, , gives a new 'view' of headdress as possible model for weaving a basket; Laura Miller review at Salon.com:  

Category:Statues
Category:Archaeological sites in Europe
Category:Stone Age art
Category:1908 in Europe
Category:20th century in Austria