The Discovery of Sex j 1717 17
born in the Upper Paleolithic instead of the seventeenth century, Sir Isaac Newton couldn’t
possibly have invented calculus without the “shoulders of giants” to stand on. But it seems
quite likely that he could have counted to nine had he any reason to do so. In fact, there
is plausible archaeological evidence for numeracy (the numerical equivalent of “literacy”)
as early as 30,000 years ago based on a group of Upper Paleolithic artifacts inscribed with
repetitive and regular lines, spots, or other markings that suggest counting.
The most arresting of the possible depictions of an Upper Paleolithic calendar has been
found in the Dordogne region of France near the famous Lascaux cave. Carved into lime-
stone blocks in a rock shelter in Laussel, France, are a group of bas- reliefs depicting three
women, animals, and a sexually ambiguous figure, all of which date to the Gravettian
period, around 25,000– 20,000 years ago. The most famous of these reliefs is the “Lady
of Laussel” or “Lady of the Horn” (Figure 2.1A,B). The relief depicts a nude, woman with
her left hand resting against her belly. Her right arm is bent at the elbow, and she holds in
her hand a crescent- shaped bison horn inscribed with thirteen parallel lines. The sculp-
tor intentionally emphasized the belly— and by implication, fertility— by carving the
figure on a convex surface, so that the arc of the body reaches its apogee precisely at the
abdomen, where her hand is resting. However, the abdomen itself is flat, and the navel
does not protrude as it often does during pregnancy, suggesting that the woman is inFigure 2.1 Two views of Lady of Laussel, Gravettian, Dordogne, France.
Original in the Musée d 'Aquitaine à Bordeaux. Photos courtesy of Don Hitchcock and donsmaps.com.