The Venus of Willendorf

The Venus of Willendorf dates from an age before writing, yet by combining scientific insights with comparative techniques from the humanities, the 29,500 year-old piece of stone can be made to speak. Made by women for women, research shows that the figurine and her 160-odd sisters were not pin-ups. Instead they were part of a culture in which time was followed with reference to the moon and in which woven textiles were known and appreciated. Clay was used to make images that were used for pyrotechnical displays and in art, people had a sense of aesthetics that was in no way inferior to ours. Through ritual, knowledge was refreshed and it was this that enabled the culture to survive for some 8,000 years. Gravettian Venus figurines were part of a search for identity with the blank faces posing such questions as: "Who am I?”, "Where do we come from?” and "Where are we going?” At the end of the book, there is a paper model of the Venus of Willendorf and the formal rationale of the figurine is translated into a set of curves that with dexterity can be reassembled.