The Venus of Lespugue is a
Venus figurine
A Venus figurine is any Upper Palaeolithic statuette portraying a woman, usually carved in the round.Fagan, Brian M., Beck, Charlotte, "Venus Figurines", ''The Oxford Companion to Archaeology'', 1996, Oxford University Press, pp. 740–741 Most ...
, a
statue
A statue is a free-standing sculpture in which the realistic, full-length figures of persons or animals are carved or cast in a durable material such as wood, metal or stone. Typical statues are life-sized or close to life-size; a sculpture t ...
tte of a nude female figure of the
Gravettian
The Gravettian was an archaeological industry of the European Upper Paleolithic that succeeded the Aurignacian circa 33,000 years BP. It is archaeologically the last European culture many consider unified, and had mostly disappeared by 2 ...
, dated to between 26,000 and 24,000
years ago.
Discovery
It was discovered in 1922 in the
Rideaux cave of
Lespugue
Lespugue (; oc, Era Espuga) is a commune in the Haute-Garonne department in southwestern France.
Population
See also
*Venus of Lespugue
*Communes of the Haute-Garonne department
The following is a list of the 586 communes of the French ...
(Haute-Garonne) in the foothills of the
Pyrenees
The Pyrenees (; es, Pirineos ; french: Pyrénées ; ca, Pirineu ; eu, Pirinioak ; oc, Pirenèus ; an, Pirineus) is a mountain range straddling the border of France and Spain. It extends nearly from its union with the Cantabrian Mountains to ...
by René de Saint-Périer (1877-1950).
Approximately 6 inches (150 mm) tall, it is carved from
tusk
Tusks are elongated, continuously growing front teeth that protrude well beyond the mouth of certain mammal species. They are most commonly canine teeth, as with pigs and walruses, or, in the case of elephants, elongated incisors. Tusks share ...
ivory
Ivory is a hard, white material from the tusks (traditionally from elephants) and teeth of animals, that consists mainly of dentine, one of the physical structures of teeth and tusks. The chemical structure of the teeth and tusks of mammals i ...
, and was damaged during excavation.
Features
Of all the
steatopygous
Steatopygia is the state of having substantial levels of tissue on the buttocks and thighs. This build is not confined to the gluteal regions, but extends to the outside and front of the thighs, and tapers to the knee producing a curvilinear f ...
Venus figurines discovered from the upper Paleolithic, the Venus of Lespugue, if the reconstruction is sound, appears to display the most exaggerated female secondary sexual characteristics, especially the extremely large, pendulous breasts.
According to textile expert
Elizabeth Wayland Barber
Elizabeth Jane "Betchen" Wayland Barber (also E. J. W. Barber) is an American scholar and expert on archaeology, linguistics, textiles, and folk dance as well as Professor emerita of archaeology and linguistics at Occidental College.
Early life
W ...
,
[Elizabeth Wayland Barber, (1994) ''Women's Work: The First 20,000 Years: Women, Cloth, and Society in Early Times'', W. W. Norton and Company, pg. 44, ASIN 0393035060.] the statue displays the earliest representation found of
spun thread, as the carving shows a skirt hanging from below the hips, made of twisted fibers, frayed at the end.
Location
The Venus of Lespugue resides in France, at the
Musée de l'Homme
The Musée de l'Homme (French, "Museum of Mankind" or "Museum of Humanity") is an anthropology museum in Paris, France. It was established in 1937 by Paul Rivet for the 1937 ''Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne ...
.
See also
*
Art of the Upper Paleolithic
The art of the Upper Paleolithic represents the oldest form of prehistoric art. Figurative art is present in Europe and Southeast Asia, beginning between about 40,000 to 35,000 years ago.
Non-figurative cave paintings, consisting of hand ...
*
List of Stone Age art
This is a descriptive list of Stone Age art, the period of prehistory characterised by the widespread use of stone tools. This article contains, by sheer volume of the artwork discovered, a very incomplete list of the works of the painters, sculpt ...
Notes
External links
Don Hitchcock (Don's Maps): "The Lespugue Venus is a 25 000 years old ivory figurine of a nude female figure"*https://web.archive.org/web/20040413133422/http://www.arthistory.sbc.edu/imageswomen/lespugue.html
{{Venus figurines
Lespugue
Lespugue (; oc, Era Espuga) is a commune in the Haute-Garonne department in southwestern France.
Population
See also
*Venus of Lespugue
*Communes of the Haute-Garonne department
The following is a list of the 586 communes of the French ...
Haute-Garonne
Archaeological discoveries in France
Ivory works of art
Prehistoric art in France
Gravettian