PALEOLITHIC ART MAGAZINE




ASIA

DISCOVERED IN ISRAEL THE MOST ANCIENT "VENUS" OF THE WORLD

In the web, the new of an exceptional discovery of Paleolithic art named the Berekhat Ram figurine.
It is a stone anthropomorhic sculpture (Venus), height 35 cm, with elaborated hairdress. It has been found at Berekhat Ram, High Golan, at the border with Syria.
Prof.Alexander Marschack, Dr.Francesco d'Errico of the French Institute of Prehistory and Geology of the Quaternarium, Talence, Prof. April Nowell of the University of the Pennsylvania and the Israel Prehistoric Society have studied this find
In We add that, if the dates are exact, and therefore the cultural attribution is exact, i.e. the Acheulian (Lower Paleolithic), this is the feminine sculpture with body (Venus) more ancient known [2021 update:The Löwenmensch figurine and the Venus of Hohle Fels, both from Germany, are dated 40,000 y.o. circa]. However, there is a reserve to hold in consideration, in how much there are Venus, like as example the Venus of Savignano, found in secondary layer, that could equally be ancient.
The Venus of Berekhat Ram, however, is not the more ancient sculpture of the world.
The more ancient sculptures are attributed to the Pebble Cultures, and the only dated to 1,700,000 years ago has been found in the Throat of Olduvai in Tanzania, and represents a human head (Leakey, M.D.: Olduvai.Gorge:Excavations in beds I & II, 1960-1963, Cambridge University Press. A phonolite cobble stone was found in Upper bed at the FLK North.).

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