German archaeologists discover oldest depiction of humankind

The Venus figurine, described by archaeologist Nicholas Conard of Tuebingen University in the journal Nature, may be the oldest example of an attempt by humans to represent themselves artistically.

Radiocarbon dating of the piece, which was discovered last September in six pieces in southern Germany, indicates that it is at least 35,000 years old.

When Conard saw the figurine, he was "absolutely speechless", he said.

"The discovery pre-dates the well-known Venuses from the Gravettian culture by at least 5,000 years and radically changes our views of the context and meaning of the earliest Paleolithic art," Conard wrote in this week's edition of Nature.

"Before this discovery, female imagery was entirely unknown," he added.

Conard and his team believe the six centimeter tall figurine comes from the Aurignacian culture, considered the first settlement of modern humans in Europe.

Ancient sexuality

The figurine depicts a woman with oversized thighs, massive breasts and exaggerated sexual organs. A ring is located where her head should be, suggesting the piece could have been worn like a necklace. Conard and his team are reluctant to give a definitive meaning to the piece, only suggesting the voluptuous Venus may be a symbol of fertility.

Bildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift:  The newest ancient Venus is just six centimeters tall

Paul Mellars of Cambridge University is less circumspect in a commentary he wrote for Nature.

"The feature of the newly discovered figure that will undoubtedly command most attention is its explicitly, almost aggressively, sexual nature, focused on the sexual characteristics of the female form," he wrote.

"Whichever way one views these representations, it is clear that the sexually symbolic dimension in European (and indeed worldwide) art has a long ancestry in the evolution of our species."

This ancient depiction of sexuality will be part of an exhibition in Stuttgart called "Ice Age -- Art and Culture", which will run from September 18, 2009, to January 10 of next year.

hf/AP/Reuters
Editor: Kateri Jochum