A new Venus figurine from the Upper Paleolithic find site Dolní Vestonice (Moravia)

Abstract

The topic of this paper is a small, female Venus sculpture in the round from the collections of the Römisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum in Mainz. Based on the find context, it is postulated to originate from the
Upper Paleolithic find site Dolní Vestonice in Moravia. On the basis of its association with the find site, the statue was included into the sequence of female figurines from the site and was labeled Venus III. It is remarkable due to her face, which is angled towards the right, and the pedestal foot.
The central questions to be answered were whether the figurine is authentic  and whether Venus III dates to the middle Upper Paleolithic or if it is a fake In order to respond to these questions, the entire spectrum
of female statues from the Upper Paleolithic was evaluated in order to provide a large base of comparison with which to compare Venus III and to determine whether it fits into this period stylistically. Infrared spectroscopy was applied to attempt to determine the material from which Venus III was  fashioned. Due to contamination in the test sample it was not possible to identify the organic material from which the statue was carved. The brittle nature of the material allows for the conclusion that it is fossilized material. The vertical fracture in the figure is typical of ivory. It is most likely to be mammoth ivory, which occurs in abundance at the find site Dolní Vestonice. The composition of sediments adhering to Venus III was tested using mineralogical phase analysis. It is made up of a ferrous crystalline mixture that corresponds to the ground composition of the Dolní Vestonice find site. The comparison of Venus III with the Venus figurines described in this paper made clear that Venus III can be classified stylistically with the »statue horizon« of the middle Upper Paleolithic  because its characteristics are analogous to various statues from the middle Upper Paleolithic. Venus III was scanned using a 3D scanner and digitally measured. The metric analysis proved that the construction,
its proportions and size closely resemble other figurines and that it is not an exception. Careful study of the surface of Venus III showed that the notches and grooves on the surface were probably intentional.
14C-dating did not return any results because the sample size was too small for accurate results. It is not possible to identify the meaning of Venus III for its makers from today’s perspective. However, several
interpretations are under consideration: It could either represent a young woman with small breasts during pregnancy, the slightly-curved stomach implies a pregnancy in its 4th or 5th month. It could also represent an elderly woman whose body has lost its firmness. The unclear find context does not necessarily imply that the figurine is a fake, especially because Venus III most probably does originate from Dolni Vestonice. Based on the data, the analyses and the deduced conclusions presented in the paper, Venus III seems to be an authentic work of art from the Upper Paleolithic.