Porn from prehistory shows our links with ancestors
Thursday May 14 2009
A PIECE of Prehistoric pornography carved from mammoth ivory at least 35,000 years ago may be the oldest known example of figurative art.
The female figurine, which stands 6cm tall, has outsized breasts, huge buttocks, exaggerated genitals and open legs.
The Venus of Hohle Fels takes her name from the cave in southern Germany where she was unearthed last year.
Nicholas Conrad, of the University of Tubingen, told the journal 'Nature' that there could be little question of the carver's intent.
"There can be no doubt that the depiction of oversized breasts, accentuated buttocks and genitalia results from the deliberate exaggeration of the sexual features of the figurine."
Blatant
Paul Mellars, of the University of Cambridge, wrote in a commentary for 'Nature': "The figure is explicitly -- and blatantly -- that of a woman, with an exaggeration of sexual characteristics, large, projecting breasts, a greatly enlarged and explicit vulva, and bloated belly and thighs, that by 21st-century standards could be seen as bordering on the pornographic."
He added: "It is clear that the sexually symbolic dimension in European, and indeed worldwide, art has a long ancestry in the evolution of our species."
While abstract designs carved into pieces of ochre are known from at least 75,000 years ago in Africa, Dr Conrad said: "This figurine was produced at least 35,000 calendar years ago, making it one of the oldest known examples of figurative art."
The figure is at least 5,000 years older than similar figurines found in the same part of Germany. It is headless and a ring placed where the head would be suggests that it was worn as a pendant.
Dr Mellars said that the discovery shed important new light on the art and belief systems of the Aurignacian period, during which Homo sapiens spread through Europe. (©The Times, London)
- Mark Henderson in London
