The 40,000-Year-Old Female Figurine of Hohle Fels
Previous Assumptions and New Perspectives
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6044660 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Melissa K Stannard (Griffith University, corresponding author), M C Langley (0000-0002-0299-5561, Griffith University) |
| Year | 2021 |
| Volume | 31 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 21-33 |
| Publication date | 2021-02-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Cambridge Archaeological Journal (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0959-7743 • E-ISSN: 1474-0540 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1017/s0959774320000207 |
| OpenAlex | W3033192078 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 24 |
As the earliest image of a human being and the oldest piece of figurative art, the female figurine of Hohle Fels remains a significant discovery for understanding the development of symbolic behaviour in Homo sapiens. Discovered in southwestern Germany in 2008, this mammoth-ivory sculpture was found in several fragments and has always been assumed to be complete, never owning a head. In place of a head, there is instead a small loop that would allow her to be threaded, possibly to be worn as a pendant. Several hypotheses have been put forward as to her original use context, ranging from representing a fertility goddess to a pornographic figure. Yet none of these theses have ever suggested that she once had a head. Here we explore whether the female figurine of Hohle Fels was designed as a two-part piece, with the head made of perishable material culture, possibly woven plant or animal fibres; or that the artefact is a broken and reworked figurine with the head simply never found. By exploring the possibility that this figurine did originally have a second part—a head—we investigate issues surrounding the role of women and children in the Swabian Aurignacian
Archaeology · Art · Context (archaeology · Head (geology · Linguistics · Literal and figurative language · Literature · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · Forensic Anthropology and Bioarchaeology Studies · History · Philosophy · Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology · Geology
Engendering archaeology
Perishable Material Culture in Prehistory
To see a world in a hafted tool
A 33,000-Year-Old Incipient Dog from the Altai Mountains of Siberia
The Oxford Handbook of Prehistoric Figurines
Jointed Dolls in Antiquity
Venus Figurines of the European Paleolithic
A New Hypothesis on the Creation of the Hohle Fels “Venus” Figurine
The Nature and Function of Astragalus Bones from Archaeological Contexts in the Levant and Eastern Mediterranean
The Origins of Art
Aurignacian ethno-linguistic geography of Europe revealed by personal ornaments
In Search of Children
Recovering Perishable Technologies through Use Wear on Tools
Fragmentation in Archaeology
South America-Andes
Jointed Dolls in Antiquity
Upper Palaeolithic fibre technology
Objects of Myth and Memory
The "Venus" Figurines
Felting Between East and West
| Highly cited | No |
|---|