Venus of Petřkovice


The Venus of Petřkovice is a pre-historic Venus figurine, a mineral statuette of a nude female figure, dated to about 23,000 BCE in what is today the Czech Republic.

Discovery

It was found within the current city limits of Ostrava, Silesia, in the Czech Republic, by archaeologist Bohuslav Klíma on 14 July 1953. It was beneath a mammoth molar at an ancient settlement of mammoth hunters. Many stone artifacts and skeletal fragments were also found nearby.

Features

The statue measures 4.5 x 1.5 x 1.4 cm and is a headless torso of a woman carved from iron ore. Uniquely, the absence of the head appears to be the author's intention. Also, unlike other prehistoric Venus figurines, it shows a slender young woman or girl with small breasts.

Location

It is now in the Archeological Institute, Brno, but between 7 February - 26 May 2013 it was displayed in the exhibition Ice Age Art: Arrival of the Modern Mind, at the British Museum in London.