15/01/2024 By Kane Khanh
What is it? This statuette, dating from around 21,000 BC, has the familiar form of a Palaeolithic ‘Venus’ figurine. Carved out of chalk and standing to a height of 4cm, the female figure has the prominent, fleshy thighs, buttocks, and breasts typical of these works from a late phase of the Gravettian culture (28,000-22,000 years ago). The face is undistinguishable and the arms barely there, but more clearly defined features include the figure’s navel and her hair, or headwear, marked out by a grid-like arrangement of thin incised lines. A similar series of lines on the head is seen in