Venus of Lespugue

The Venus of Lespugue is a 25,000 year old Venusfigurine from the Palaeolithic Gravettian culture. The statuette was discovered in 1922 by René de Saint- Périer in Rideaux Cave ( Cave of Rideaux ) at Lespugue (Haute -Garonne), a town at the foot of the Pyrenees.

Description

The figure was carved from a tusk fragment of a woolly mammoth and is 147 mm high. During the excavations it was damaged in the area of the breasts and abdomen, and broke into several parts.

The corpulent woman is shown shirtless. The forearms resting on the breasts, much like the Austrian Venus of Willendorf. Common to both Figurines is also the view of a hairstyle, indicated at the Venus of Lespugue by straight engravings. Superficial engravings, which are fitted as vertical lines from the back downwards on the back of the figure, on the other hand will probably be a clothing fabric. It could be a cloak that was worn around the hips. Similar, stylized textiles are also known in other figurines of the Gravettian: On a Tonfigurentorso from Pavlov I ( Moravia), a belt is shown, which is twisted in itself and therefore provides an indication of the production of plant fibers. Very similar ornaments show some of the contemporaneous Venusfigurinen of Kostenki on the Don (Russia), where braided belts are also shown. Several Venusfigurinen of Malta (Russia, Siberia ) have superficial patterns that are interpreted as fur apparel.

The Venus of Lespugue is now preserved at the Musée de l' Homme in Paris.

Archaeological environment

The area around Lespugue is rich in sites of the Upper Paleolithic. Further excavations were carried out by Saint- Périer in the years 1924-26 in the Grotte de Gouërris, as well as in the Abri des harpons ( layers of the Solutrean ).