On the territory of Germany, in the Hole-Fels cave, located in the south-west of the country, archaeologists have discovered a very ancient statuette. Some researchers argue that it may be the oldest in the world.
The artifact is a female figurine with pronounced secondary sexual characteristics. It is made of mammoth bone. During the study of the artifact, scientists found that they made it at the very beginning of the Aurignacian era.
And she was quite a long time ago, and if the figurine really belongs to that time, then its age can be from 35 to 40 thousand years. Prior to this, the scientific world recognized the famous Paleolithic "Venus" made during the Gravetian era as the oldest statuette.
In the cave itself, archaeologists have discovered about 18 cultural layers. The uppermost of them (four pieces) belonged to the Paleolithic period and contained traces of the presence of Neanderthals here.
They were followed by layers of the Upper Paleolithic - at that time people of the modern type already lived here. And only six lower layers were attributed by archaeologists to the Aurignacian era. They were preceded by several layers from the Gravetian and Madeleine eras.
The statuette was found in the lowest layer - the 18th in a row. Nothing was found below - only "sterile" clay. Excavations on the territory of the cave have been going on for a very long time, since the beginning of our century.
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In 2003, several bone figurines of horses and birds were found here in the third layer from the top. It is good that the archaeologists did not stop there and decided to dig deeper.
The researchers established the age of the ancient artifact using radiocarbon analysis methods. If the figurine was made of stone, it would be much more complicated.
As for the mammoth bones, a large amount of collagen was preserved in them, which scientists analyzed. The studies were carried out in several laboratories in the country. But the time spread turned out to be very large - according to one information, the age of the figurine lies in the range from 35 to 40 thousand years, according to another - from 36 to 44 thousand years.
What is the reason for this inaccuracy? There are several reasons for this, the most popular of which is the flow of groundwater, which contaminated the samples with foreign impurities.
If everything is really so and archaeologists were not mistaken in determining the age of the artifact, then it forced the scientific world to reconsider the history of the settlement of Europe by primitive people.
It should be noted that even now the Hole-Fels cave is quite clearly visible at a great distance, so scientists assumed that it was clearly visible in those days, so the ancient people settled it one of the first.
Unfortunately, time did not spare this artifact - at the time of discovery, the statuette was split into several pieces, but most of the pieces were successfully found within 0.25 square meters. The artifact was glued and presented to the general public.
Unfortunately, some parts of the artifact could not be found, so it does not have a left arm and shoulder, but the researchers hope to find them soon. The artifact is small enough:
1) Length - about 60 millimeters.
2) Width - about 35 millimeters.
3) Thickness - 31 millimeters.
4) Weight - just over 33 grams.
From the point of view of anatomy, it is thought out very well, but here and there the ancient master clearly lied. You can see on it hypertrophied female sexual characteristics, it was on them that the researchers related the find with the famous "Paleolithic Venuses", made at a much later time - about 30 thousand years ago.
What's interesting is that the artifact has no head. And it did not split off and was lost - apparently the ancient master forgot to make it. Or didn't want to. Archaeologists assume that he considered this detail of the human body to be irrelevant.
In place of the head, he made a small ring so that the figurine could be worn around the neck. Judging by the presence of polish on the inside of the ring, it was indeed worn as an amulet.