The Roast Chicken That Isn’t
The first thing most people notice about this object is that it looks like it belongs on a dinner plate. At roughly 2 inches (5 cm) tall, though more precise measurements put it closer to just under 2.4 inches (6 cm), and carved into an abstract, rounded shape, the Venus of Hohle Fels (also called the Venus of Schelklingen) could pass for a small piece of roasted poultry. There is no head. The legs are stubby and abbreviated. Put it in front of someone without context, and they would almost certainly not recognize it as one of the most significant pieces of art ever pulled from the ground.
Why Archaeologists See a Human Figure
The figurine was carved from woolly mammoth ivory, the tusk of Mammuthus primigenius. What convinced researchers this was a deliberate human representation is a cluster of specific anatomical features: two small arms with individually rendered fingers, a navel, deep horizontal incisions across the abdomen, and breasts, buttocks, and genitalia carved with exaggerated prominence. Where a head would normally sit, there is a perforated ring, a loop of carved ivory that would have allowed the object to be threaded and worn as a pendant.
The figurine was recovered in six fragments from Hohle Fels Cave near Schelklingen in Baden-Württemberg, southwestern Germany, about 9 miles (15 km) west of Ulm. Archaeologist Nicholas J. Conard of the University of Tübingen led the excavation. The key torso piece was identified on September 9, 2008, pulled from sediment roughly 66 feet (20 meters) inside the cave and about 10 feet (3 meters) below the current ground level. The left arm and shoulder were never found.
35,000 Years, Give or Take
Based on more than 30 radiocarbon measurements, the figurine dates to at least 35,000 years ago, with later assessments pushing the estimate toward 40,000 to 42,000 years. Before this find, the oldest-known Venus figurines belonged to the Gravettian culture; the Venus of Hohle Fels predates those by at least 5,000 years. Archaeologist John J. Shea estimated the carving alone may have required tens, if not hundreds, of hours of work on a piece of tusk barely 2 inches tall, an investment that points to something deliberate and considered, not incidental.
What It Means to Draw Yourself
To carve a human figure, you need to hold a concept of the human body as something that can be abstracted and assigned meaning, symbolic thought, the capacity to let one thing stand for another. The ring at the top suggests the figure also served a social or ritual function; its exaggerated anatomy has led some researchers to propose a fertility or amulet role, though that remains a hypothesis. The carving, however, requires no interpretation: a human form worked into mammoth ivory, at a minimum of 35,000 years ago.
“Arguably” Is Doing Real Work Here
The Venus of Hohle Fels is widely described as the oldest undisputed depiction of a human being. Some archaeologists remain cautious, because the line between a shape that merely suggests a body and one planned to represent one can be hard to locate. The Löwenmensch figurine, found at Hohlenstein-Stadel and possibly dating to around 40,000 years ago, may be older, but it depicts a human-lion hybrid, placing it in a different category.
The figurine is held at the Urgeschichtliches Museum Blaubeuren (Prehistoric Museum of Blaubeuren) in Baden-Württemberg. Hohle Fels Cave was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2017 as part of the “Caves and Ice Age Art in the Swabian Jura.” Within about 2.3 feet (70 cm) of where the figurine was found, archaeologists also uncovered a vulture-bone flute dated to approximately 42,000 years ago, considered the oldest uncontested musical instrument known. Whoever occupied that cave was producing both visual representations and music, two cognitive achievements now documented within arm’s reach of each other.