The Venus of Menton (20, 000 years old). Dimensions: 48 mm long
A figurine in yellow steatite (soapstone) discovered in Barma Grande by Louis Alexandre Jullien during the excavations he led between 1883 and 1895 in the caves of Grimaldi, Liguria, Italy, a group of well-known sites of the Upper Paleolithic on the Mediterranean coast adjacent to the French border. The figure is naked, breasts, abdomen and buttocks are prominent. The arms are fused with the bust. The head is in the form of a ball, and extends down the back via the hair. It resembles many other venus figures from the upper European Palaeolithic.
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Above and below: Hooded human head carved from the root of a horse tooth
(from Bedeilhac Cave)
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from Ice Age Art: Arrival of the Modern Mind, The British Museum
7 February – 26 May 2013
