Venus figurines of Balzi Rossi


The Venus figurines of Balzi Rossi from the caves near Grimaldi di Ventimiglia are thirteen Paleolithic sculptures of the female body. Additionally, two small depictions of the human head were discovered at the same place. The age of these figurines cannot be determined because of missing archaeological context data. It is usually accepted that these figurines stem from the Gravettian, about 24,000 to 19,000 years old. Most of the sculptures consist of steatite and are between 2.4 and 7.5 cm in height.
Between 1883 to 1895 the figurines were discovered by the antique dealer Louis Alexandre Jullien at the cave complex Balzi Rossi at the Ligurian coast. Eight of these sculptures are housed in the museum Saint-Germain-en-Laye near Paris.

Literature