What is the Venus of Willendorf?
Q: What is the Venus of Willendorf?
A: The Venus of Willendorf, also known as the Woman of Willendorf, is an 11.1 cm (4.4 inches) high statuette of a woman or woman-like thing that was carved in prehistoric times, perhaps 30,000 years ago.
Q: Where was it found?
A: It was found near Willendorf in Lower Austria by archaeologist Josef Szombathy in 1908.
Q: What material is it made from?
A: The statuette is made of oolite limestone.
Q: When do scientists think it was made?
A: A study from 1990 said the statue was made between 24,000 and 22,000 BCE by someone in the Gravettian culture using flint tools.
Q: Does it look like a real woman?
A: No, her private parts, breasts and large belly are much bigger for her height than they would be on a real woman.
Q: What does its fatness suggest about its meaning? A: Some scientists think that her fatness means she is a high status woman because only rich women would be fat in hunter-gatherer societies; this could refer to security and success.
Q: Why does it not have a face? A: It has no face because archaeologists and philosophers say the Venus is meant to represent a "universal mother" figure; some modern analysts don't think the nickname "Venus" is appropriate due to this fact.
