Reproduction of Willendorf's Venus. She depicts a naked woman standing upright, with a strong obesity, her arms resting on her chest. The finely engraved head is leaning forward and seems to be entirely covered by rolled braids. It was discovered in 1908 on the site of an old brick factory in Willendorf, Wachau region, a small village located 24 km from...
This statuette of horse was discovered at the end of the XIXth century in the cave of Espélugues in Lourdes in the Hautes-Pyrénées. It is attributed to the Magdalenian period (around 15,000 years). Shaped in mammoth ivory, a rare material in Western Europe, this figurine shows great mastery of sculpture and engraving.The horse is rendered in a very...
Vulva on bone - cave of the Placard Vilhonneur Charente.The "Placard" cave is located near La Rochebertier on the commune of Vilhonneur (Charente).The cave is made up of Middle Jurassic limestone from the Tardoire.The entrance of this cave called "Le Placard" is a simple trapezoidal-shaped chamber (Length: 17 m and Width: 9 m).Curious carved pieces were...
Found in Tursac in the Dordogne, this sculpture, like many others whose general shape is controlled by that of the fragment of reindeer wood used for its manufacture, belongs to what can be called the "flattened round bump", in the sense that the thickness of the object does not correspond to reality. It's probably a propellant fragment. Bison licking" is...
Resin facsimile of the famous "Double Phallus" originally carved on reindeer wood.This specimen is carved after the original but its scale has been deliberately doubled. ( x 2 ) compared to the original model.Specialists do not know whether this superb piece had a symbolic, cult or simply a practical function, equivalent to that of our sex or sextoy...
The Hypogeum of Hal Saflieni.Discovered by chance in 1902 by workers from Paola, the Hal Saflieni Hypogeum is a unique case in the world of an underground prehistoric cemetery built in the rock between 3300 and 2500 BC.The hypogeum has three levels: the oldest (3600 BC) is the highest, the newest (2500 BC) is 10 metres deep.This hand-modelled clay...
Erotic scene from the Paleolithic - Grotte de la Colombière.The Cave of La Colombière or abri de la Colombière is located in the Jura mountains in the commune of Neuville-sur-Ain (Ain) at an altitude of 254 m.Sometimes referred to as the abri de la Colombière or abri-sous-roche de la Colombière, this modest cave is famous for the archaeological heritage...
The Lady of Brassempouy, also known as the Lady with the Hood, The Venus of Brassempouy is one of the most famous sculptures in history. This small head is so exceptional that its discoverer, Édouard Piette (1827-1906), even considered the possibility that it was a fake. The rigour of his work and modern studies of the figure have confirmed the...
Creeping Hyena Spear Thrower of La Madeleine With its short, thick muzzle, small nostrils, round eye and curved forehead, the animal depicted could be a hyena and would therefore be unique, as there is no undoubted representation of this carnivorous animal in the furniture or parietal field. Nevertheless, it is also possible that the artist wished to...
This Venus is a reproduction of a mammoth ivory statuette discovered in 1922 by R. and S. de Saint-Périer in the Grotte des Rideaux, in the commune of Lespugue, Haute-Garonne.The Venus of Lespugue originally measured 147 mm but was broken at the time of discovery.This large and generous female statuette comes from an Upper Perigordian level whose absolute...
Phallus of the abri Blanchard - Castel-Merle, Dordogne.Very interesting phallus carved in buffalo horn from the Abri Blanchard - Castel-Merle. The sculpture is about 30,000 years old and must be one of the largest forms of phallus of this type ever found. The sculpture clearly shows the slit at the end of the phallus, which can be seen in detail in the...
The limestone Venus of Kostienki.Kostenki is a very important Paleolithic site on the Don River in Russia. It was a site that contained figures of Venus, dwellings made of mammoth bones, and many flint and bone tools. Kostenki / Kostienki is not in fact a single site, but rather an area on the right bank of the Don River in the regions of the villages of...
Mammoth engraved on ivory from the Madeleine.The animal is represented on a mammoth ivory tusk, in a massive but dynamic attitude. The engraving is particularly rich in detail and realism, it is the first known and most faithful portrait of a mammoth.Discovered in May 1864, in the presence of Edouard Lartet and the paleontologists Edouard de Verneuil and...
Vulva abri Blanchard - Castel-Merle.Limestone block engraved with two vulvae on a sandstone limestone block: one of the vulvae is very clearly visible and the other is more attenuated.The vulva is well represented in Paleolithic art. It is mainly seen in the form of engravings on stone, bone or ivory. The representation is of course well known and has...
The Venus of LausselA true icon of prehistoric art, the Woman with the Horn differs from other Venus in many ways:- the particular care taken in the representation of the hands,- the existence of atypical hair,- the unique fact that a female character holds an object,- the asymmetry of the figure, unlike the other Venus, which are generally symmetrical on...
Baton with engraved wild horses from Abri de la Madeleine.(Bâtons de commandement or bâtons percé or batons perforé or pierced batons are thought by some to have been spear straighteners, (which may be why they are often found broken at the hole). There are many other theories as to their use. The ability to bend is an integral part of why they are able...
Vulva on sandstone block: Neanderthal site of Ferrassie Le Bugue Dordogne.The Cave or Abri de la Ferrassie - a Neanderthal rock shelter.L'abri de La Ferrassie provided skeletons of eight Neanderthal individuals, including adults, children, babies and two foetuses. Today the skeleton of La Ferrassie 1 is considered the classic example of Neanderthal...
Cycladic Venus - type of DokathismataThis elegant figurine, representative of the "Dokathismata variety", named after a cemetery in Amorgos, is one of the masterpieces of Cycladic marble sculpture.Description :The strict geometric structure, harmonious proportions and abstract quality embody the characteristic features that have made Cycladic art a source...
Engraved deer - cave of PergousetEngraved deer with a long neck, discovered inside room IV of the open cave of Le Pergouset. This cave faces south of the cliff, and dominates the right bank of the Lot by about ten metres. The entrance is at the confluence of the Lot and Célé rivers, both of which are nearby. This area has many decorated caves, including...
Cupulas and vulvae engraved on sandstone block: Neanderthal site of Ferrassie - Le Bugue Dordogne.The Cave or Abri de la Ferrassie - a rock shelter from the Neanderthal era.The abri de la Ferrassie provided the skeletons of eight Neanderthal individuals, including adults, children, babies and two foetuses. Today, the skeleton of La Ferrassie 1 is...
Male Cycladic idol - dokathismata varietyThe famous Cycladic idols, marble statuettes (from 5cm to 1.50m high) mainly represent female and, more rarely, male figures, and are the most outstanding creations of the period. These "idols" belong to several types:- The most common group is the so-called "de Spédos" type: composed of figurines mostly of female...
Grasshopper and birds engraved on bone, from the Enlène cave at Montesquieu-Avantès, Ariège. It was found at the entrance to the gallery leading to Les Trois-Frères, and has long been attributed to the latter cave.This fragment of engraved bone bears a very precise engraving of a grasshopper (genus Troglophilus), made with great attention to detail. In...
The Venus of PazardzikThe Vinca culture was a Neolithic culture known as Old Europe (6th-3rd millennium BC), extending around the Danube in Serbia, Croatia, Romania, Bulgaria and the Republic of Macedonia, with traces in the Balkans, parts of Central Europe and Asia Minor.This terracotta statue was found in Pazardzik (Bulgaria) and dates from the 5th...
Fragment of a spearthrower with 3 horse heads, one of which is scratched, but a 4th head (missing) had to support the hook of the thrower by the substitute of the horse's ear. Facing the back: one head is extended by a neck. This type of image, a flayed horse's head, has been found several times in the cave of Azil and may have had a ritual significance....
Restoration of the fragment of the spear thruster to the 3 horse heads, one of which is scratched, but a 4th head which was to support the hook of the thruster by the substitute of the horse's ear has been added here. On the back: one of the heads is extended by a neck. The propeller shaft is also lengthened.This type of image, a flayed horse's head, has...
The Lion-man of Hohlenstein-StadelThe Lion-man is a 29.6 centimetre high sculpture in mammoth ivory dating from the Upper Palaeolithic (Aurignacian). This sculpture represents a human body surmounted by a lion's head. It is one of the oldest human representations known to date.It was discovered in pieces in 1939 in the cave of Hohlenstein-Stadel in...
The roaring bison of the abri de la MadeleineSculpture on carved antler (reindeer) discovered by D. Peyrony and L. Capitan in the abri de la Madeleine. Among the objects discovered, the famous "licking bison itself" and "the so-called roaring bison" are among the masterpieces of Magdalenian furniture art. The "licking bison itself" is well known to the...