Venus of Dolní Věstonice
The Venus of Dolní Věstonice is a Venus figurine, a ceramic statuette of a nude female figure dated to 31,000–27,000 years ago. It was found at the Paleolithic site Dolní Věstonice in the Moravian basin south of Brno, in the base of Děvín Mountain in what is today the Czech Republic. This figurine and a few others from locations nearby are the oldest known ceramic articles in the world.
Description
It has a height of, and a width of at its widest point and is made of a clay body fired at a relatively low temperature. The statuette follows the general morphology of the other Venus figurines: exceptionally large breasts, belly, and hips, perhaps symbols of fertility, and little detail on the rest of the body. A feature which no longer remains a part of the sculpture, is the fact that it is thought to have been originally ornamented with four feathers. This is evidenced by the four small holes on the top of the head. Although the type of feather has not been determined, the holes are said to be produced with a tool that is relatively sharp – of which a feather would satisfy.History
The palaeolithic settlement of Dolní Věstonice in Moravia, a part of Czechoslovakia at the time organized excavation began, now located in the Czech Republic, has been under systematic archaeological research since 1924, initiated by Karel Absolon. In addition to the Venus figurine, figures of animals – bear, lion, mammoth, horse, fox, rhino, and owl – and more than 2,000 balls of burnt clay have been found at Dolní Věstonice.The figurine was discovered on 13 July 1925 in a layer of ash, broken into two pieces. It was found situated in a central fireplace. Once on display at the Moravian Museum in Brno, it is now protected and only rarely accessible to the public. It was exhibited in the National Museum in Prague from 11 October 2006 until 2 September 2007 as a part of the exhibition Lovci mamutů. It was presented in the Moravian Museum in Brno at an expo "Prehistoric Art in Central Europe". It has returned to depository as of June 2009.
Scientists occasionally examine the statuette. A tomograph scan in 2004 found a fingerprint of a child estimated at between 7 and 15 years of age, fired into the surface; the child who handled the figurine before it was fired is considered by Králík, Novotný, and to be an unlikely candidate for its maker.
In 2025, the 100th anniversary of its discovery has been commemorated i.e. by the decision to place a silhouette of the figurine on a scientific instrument built by a consortium of companies from Brno for the European Space Agency (ESA) space probe EnVision that will explore the planet Venus.