Venus figurines of Gönnersdorf


The Venus figurines from Gönnersdorf, at Neuwied, are paleolithic sculptures depicting the female body.

Discovery

led the excavations between 1968 and 1976 at Neuwied a town on the Rhine in Germany.

Features

The figures consist of carved bone, antler or Mammoth tusk ivory. They are between 15,000 and 11,500 years old and stem from the Magdalenian period. These figurines are between 5.4 and 8.7 cm long.
At the same place many engravings of animals, human beings and abstract signs on slate were found. The depictions of human beings were much stylized. Most often women were depicted, always in profile without a head. The Montastruc decorated stone in the British Museum has similar stylization.

Literature