Venus of Hohle Fels

The Venus of Hohle Fels is an ivory female figurine discovered in Germany’s Swabian Jura and dated to at least 35,000 years ago. It is among the oldest known examples of figurative sculpture.

Swabian Jura: A region of southwestern Germany whose caves preserve rich archaeological evidence of the Upper Paleolithic. The figurine was found in this region’s Hohle Fels cave.
Paleolithic art: Art produced by human societies during the Paleolithic, including images, ornaments, and sculptures. The figurine is a prominent example of Paleolithic sculpture.
Nicholas J. Conard: An archaeologist whose excavations in the Swabian Jura uncovered several major Aurignacian artworks. Conard announced the figurine’s discovery after excavations at Hohle Fels.
Paleolithic religion: Beliefs and ritual practices attributed to Paleolithic societies, inferred from archaeological evidence. Religious interpretations of the figurine remain possible but unproven.
Hohle Fels: A cave in the Swabian Jura containing archaeological deposits from the Middle and Upper Paleolithic. Excavations in this cave uncovered the ivory figurine.
Ivory carving: The shaping of ivory with cutting, scraping, and polishing tools. Carving transformed a mammoth tusk into the small human figure.
Hohle Fels cave excavations: Archaeological investigations of Hohle Fels that have recovered artifacts spanning hundreds of thousands of years. Excavation of an Aurignacian layer produced the figurine’s fragments.
Mother goddess hypothesis: The claim that prehistoric female images represented a widespread mother-goddess religion. This interpretation has been applied to female figurines but lacks decisive evidence.
Mammoth ivory: Ivory from mammoth tusks, used by prehistoric people to make tools and ornaments. The figurine was carved from mammoth ivory.
Venus figurine: A prehistoric statuette, usually depicting a female body, conventionally grouped under the name “Venus.” The Hohle Fels sculpture belongs to this broad and debated category.

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