c. 34,000-25,000 BCE
The Woman of Wilendorf, or better known as the Venus of Wilendorf is a small figurine made of Limestone and colored with Red Ochre, thought to have been created around 30,000-25,000 BCE. This small statuette of a full-figured woman, seemingly pregnant, is about 11cm in height and was found near a village called Wilendorf in Austria by Josef Szombathy, an Austro-Hungarian archeologist in 1908. Upon its re-discovery, it was named Venus, after the european goddess of ancient Rome, with the theory that she was a fertility figure. Venus, though emerging at least 22,000 years after the Woman of Wilendorf, was a representation of ideal beauty, fertility and love in Rome. After debate of the power of name and suggestive thought on the statuette it was renamed Woman [1] [2] [3]
Many scholars, historians and archeologists have argued the different theories that have evolved pertaining to this round woman’s origin, purpose, reason of creation, meaning and ethnicity. A credible theory, which is being down played world wide by many elitist european intellectuals, is that this figure was created by Afrikans that settled in the Austria during the Great Afrikan Migration. This is because the hair of the figure is braided around the head, which is a typical distinguishing style of those of Afrikan decent. There are other characteristics about this figure that also inspire the notion of an Afrikan origin like the large breast and buttocks of the for example and the wide hide and thick thighs. This figure is very curvaceous and mimics a typical body type of many Afrikan peoples. Since this time of the 21st century race is taboo, the Woman of Wilendorf is said to still be under review and research.
