Sculpted from haematite and found under a mammoth tooth in a pit cutting through the floor of an oval house, this female figure was deliberately carved to represent just the body without head or limbs. The slim figure with hour glass shape has a slightly prominent stomach suggesting the early stages of pregnancy of a prima gravida. The breasts are small and firm and the incised sexual triangle disproportionately large.

Open site of Petrkovice, Moravia, Czech Republic.

Institute of Archaeology Brno.

Culture taking its name from the La Gravette site, Dordogne, France, and lasted from about 28,000 years ago until 22,000 years ago. Original elements in Gravettian cave art include the use of hand stencils, and the type of female statuette widely but incorrectly known as 'Venus' first appear in the portable art of this period.

Source: Dr Jean Clottes

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