GODDESSES OF SEX AND MOTHERHOOD were an
important part of many ancient pantheons: Nut
and Isis in ancient Egypt; Ninhursag and Ishtar in
Mesopotamia; Devi in ancient India; and Nüwa
of China. When archaeologists began finding the
Paleolithic Venuses in the 19th century, their first
impulses were to link these prehistoric works of
art to later cosmologies. Although their theories
have been largely superseded, early interpreta-
tions of the Venus figurines saw them as religious
icons and venerated for their divine nature.CONNECTION
TO THE PA ST
LAUSSEL VENUS
A contemporary of the Venus figurines is a
stone relief found in 1911 at the French site of
Laussel. Archaeologists uncovered the so-called
Lady With the Horn, which dates back 25,000
years. Unlike the statuettes, the female figure
holds in her hand an animal horn that is etched
with 13 lines. Both the horn and the lines have
inspired different theories about their meanings.
Some researchers interpret the horn as
representing masculinity, while others suggest
that it represents the horn of plenty, connecting
it to both fertility and abundance. The 13 etched
lines have been linked to the 13 full moons of a
full calendar year, perhaps suggesting a link with
menstrual cycles.
ASF/ALBUM