In prehistoric sculpture, there are two main types of figuration: human figures and animal representations, with the latter predominating. Most often seen are species in the environment of the artists, such as bison, aurochs, deer or horses. While the 19th-century researchers saw in these illustrations of the animal kingdom a magico-religious cult of hunting, we now know that the species represented are not necessarily those that were hunted. The anthropomorphic figurines, meanwhile, are far less numerous and are almost exclusively women. These are the famous Venus, so called by analogy with the Roman goddess of beauty and because the prehistory of the early 20th century saw in these statues a kind of feminine ideal. Almost 250 Venuses have been found, dating from 27,000 to 17,000 BCE, and from all over Europe. The most famous is The Venus of Willendorf (fig. 1), found at Krems in Austria, and the Lady with the Hood of Brassempouy (fig. 12), discovered in the Landes, which is one of the earliest realistic representations of a human face. Many interpretations have been advanced to define the exact role of the Venuses, whose rounded shapes evoke those of pregnant women. Were these goddesses part of a religious cult or just symbols of motherhood, reflections of a matriarchal society? The contrast between the female statuettes and animal figurines is striking. Fauna are made with great attention to detail and a deep attention to detail, revealing a close observation of the animal world. In contrast, the curves suggest a caricature of women exaggerated to suggest fertility, which is exacerbated by the extreme stylisation of their faces, usually non-existent.
A particular case in prehistoric sculpture was revealed by the discovery of two figurines, The Lion Man (fig. 3), with similar characteristics to some paintings of ‘witches’, found in the cave of Altamira, Spain, or one of the Trois Frères caves in Ariège. These sculptures, which are formed as a body topped with a lion’s head, are among the oldest known to date (they are estimated at 32,000 BCE), and are an enigma to researchers: are they the remnant of one of the first deities created by man? Is this a ritual costume dedicated to shamanic practices? Finally, there is megalithic art in the same style as in figurative art furniture. Dolmens and menhirs – prehistoric megalithic stones erected by the great ancestors for religious purposes, often sepulchral, between the fifth and sixth millennium BCE – are among the earliest monuments of Europe. They are a preferred medium of artistic expression: there are a large number of dolmens adorned with intricate carvings, including at Newgrange in Ireland. Some are carved to suggest a human form: breasts and rows of necklaces are shown in the block of stone, related to a real statue. The late Neolithic period also saw the emergence of ‘statue menhirs’: megaliths carved in the round with engravings, often very advanced, evidence of the association in men of prehistoric art with the sacred. The subjects represented are almost exclusively zoomorphic and anthropomorphic. However, this restricted theme meets an extraordinary diversity in the techniques and materials used. Etching, bas-relief, round: from 32,000 BCE, man mastered the art of sculpture. Although the statuettes are mainly clay, sandstone, limestone, bone or wood, raw materials that are readily available, the use of rare media, such as ivory, jasper and dyes shows a real aesthetic. Thus, at Swanscombe, England, palaeontologists have discovered a series of bifaces almost 200,000 years old, which already have a very special artistic interest. These tools are in fact carved from stones containing fossils of bivalves and sea urchins that have been respected and saved by the author of these artefacts. A shift in the artistic vocation of prehistoric art furniture can also be observed. From the Middle Palaeolithic, the artists are no longer content to carve and engrave their tools (spears, axes, propellants, etc.). We can begin to recognise the first purely aesthetic works, which are devoid of any functional role, including the symbolism that still eludes us. Thus, prehistoric sculpture demonstrates a sophistication, and although the distinction is anachronistic here, we are already differentiating between decorative art (beautification of functional objects such as weapons or tools) and fine art (creation of beautiful objects in themselves, without use). The settling of man, and the discovery and mastery of new materials, such as iron and bronze, enabled growth and development.
2. Anonymous, Female Character, around 3500 BCE. Neolithic, Cernavoda (Romania). Clay, height: 11.5 cm. Muzeul Municipal Bucureti, Bucharest.
3. Anonymous, The Lion Man, around 32,000 BCE. Palaeolithic, Cave Hohlenstein Stadel (Germany). Mammoth ivory, height: 28 cm. Ulmer Museum, Ulm (Germany).
4. Anonymous, The Venus Galgenberg, around 30,000 BCE. Palaeolithic, Site of Lower Austria. Serpentine green, height: 7.2 cm. Weinstadtmuseum, Krems.
5. Anonymous, Horse, around 30,000 BCE. Palaeolithic, Cave Vogelherd (Germany). Mammoth ivory, height: 5 cm. Institut für Urgeschichte, Tübingen.
6. Anonymous, Venus in Clay, around 29,000–25,000 BCE. Palaeolithic, Dolní Vistonics (Czech Republic). Clay, 11.1 × 4.3 cm. Private collection.
7. Anonymous, Rhombic Body of a Woman, around 26,000–18,000 BCE. Palaeolithic. Green steatite. Private collection.
8. Anonymous, The Venus of Monpazier, c. 23,000–20,000 BCE. Palaeolithic. Steatite, height: 5.5 cm. Musée d’Archéologie nationale, château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye.
9. Anonymous, Phallus, site of the Devil’s Furnace, Bourdeilles (France), around 17,000 BCE. Palaeolithic. Reindeer antler, height: 8 cm. Musée national de préhistoire, les Eyzies-de-Tayac.
10. Anonymous, Two Ibex Facing Each Other, around 16,000 BCE. Palaeolithic, The Cave of the Trois-Frères, Enlène (France). Reindeer antler, 9 x× 7 cm. Musée de l’Homme, Paris.
11. Anonymous, Fragment of Goat Carved in Bone, around 15,000 BCE. Palaeolithic, Cave Saint-Michel, Arudy (France). Bone, height: 4 cm. Musée d’Archéologie nationale, château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye.
12. Anonymous, The Venus of Brassempouy or The Lady with the Hood, c. 21,000 BCE. Palaeolithic, Cave of the Pope, Brassempouy (France). Mammoth ivory, height: 3.65 cm. Musée d’Archéologie nationale, château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye.
Discovered by Edward J. Piette at the end of the 19th century in the cave of the Pope, in France, this fragment of a miniature, almost contemporary with the Venus of Willendorf (fig. 1), is an atypical example of a Palaeolithic Venus. Indeed, the fineness of the representation and the delicacy of the features are not indicative of Palaeolithic buxom goddesses of fertility, and betray the contrary, the frail constitution of the model. Similarly, the relief of the face, triangular and regular, the nose and the eyes, including the right one with an inlaid eye, despite the absence of mouth, is one of the oldest and rarest ‘realistic’ performances of human effigies, whereas the faces of the traditional Venuses were only briefly sketched. However, research has shown that the shape and proportions of the head do not correspond to known populations at that time. According to some prehistorians, it is likely that prehistoric artists, who were able to show such realism in representations of animals, have deliberately distorted the human traits, perhaps to protect themselves from magical powers. The grid of the head, formed by perpendicular incisions, can evoke a wig or braids, or even a hood, which gave the work its name.
13. Anonymous, Human Statuette around 10,000 BCE. Palaeolithic. Israel Museum, Jerusalem.
