visited these secret caves whenever their clan migrations
brought them back to that area.
However, it is likely that the migrating people of the
Paleolithic cultures also carried small Goddess images
with them as they traveled from one area to another in
search of wild game and other food. These people would
create a temporary altar at the hearth they made inside
each cave or rocky shelter they entered. The strange
little rotund female figures they used to represent the
Goddess were shaped with exaggerated belly, breasts,
and buttocks to symbolize the Great Mother who gave
birth to everything in the world. The faces of these
figurines were only vaguely formed. Some figurines had
their legs taper to a point that could be stuck into the
ground, others had flat, widespread bottoms, so they
could be placed on any fairly level surface. All were
quite small, just the size for carrying easily from one
place to another.
Later statues became slightly more sophisticated, but
most still retained only the suggestion of facial features,
like their earlier counterparts. Where the Goddess of
Willendorf and those of Grimaldi, Lespugue, and Sireuil
are very stylized and exaggerated in body form, the
Minoan snake goddesses appear more human in
proportion. In addition to being decorated with spirals
or meanders (wavy lines), the Minoan figures now hold
two recognizable snakes. This evolution of form
continues until we find the beautiful, very human
statues of Egypt, China, the Middle East, Greece, and
Rome.
The earliest caves were decorated with vivid, life-like
paintings of animals, handprints, and other symbols, all
representing spiritual and magickal ideas concerned
with sustaining life and bringing comfort in death. Later,