Scientists: Venus of Věstonice made of clay
Venus of Dolní Věstonice, a Stone-Age ceramic sculpture of a female figure considered one of the oldest pieces of art in the world, was made from fragments of rocks and tiny fossils, not mammoth bones as previously believed. The discovery was made by experts from the Moravian Museum in Brno using micro-CT scanning. I discussed the findings, which have been published in the Journal of Archaeological Science, with the head of the research team Petr Neruda:
“It’s a rather complicated story. We thought that the Venus statue was made from loess sediment, but according to Karel Absolon [whose team discovered the Venus], it was made from smashed mammoth ivory and bones. Using micro-CT scan, we had an opportunity to prove whether he was right or not.
“What we discovered was that the Venus was made from loess sediment containing small rocks, mostly limestone, calcareous nodules and Jurassic micro-fossils. All these components are natural contaminants of clay at the Dolní Věstonice site.
“Concerning the mammoth ivory and bones, we know that the mammoth was a very important animal with high symbolic value, and we expected to find pieces of mammoth ivory inside the body, but unfortunately, there is nothing.”
Have you discovered anything new about how the statue was made?
“Yes, that was the second question we tried to answer, because the resolution of the CT scan was absolutely excellent and it was possible to discern the joined areas that would indicate additive technology.
“The Venus could have been made by using either additive or non-additive technique. For instance the breasts could have been shaped separately and joined to the corpus of the Venus. But in this case we found no joined areas. It means that the creator shaped the body of the Venus from one block of ceramic paste.
“By the way it indicates that the author, a man or a woman, who knows, had exceptional skills, because it is quite a complicated shape and it is not easy to make it from one piece of clay.”
The CT scan has also revealed that the Venus actually contains extensive cracks. How serious are they? Do they increase the risk of the statuette breaking?
“This is a very important topic for us. We were surprised when we discovered how many cracks were inside the statue. Because if the cracks don’t communicate with the surface, it means that there is air inside the object that could break it in certain conditions.
“It means that especially when it comes to transport by airplane, we must take into account the possibility that if the pressure decreases, it could destroy the statue. That’s why we currently prefer transport on the ground, or we have to put it in a special box that keeps a consistent pressure.”
