The Adiposity Paradox in the Middle Danubian Gravettian - Trinkaus - 2005

Two of the best-known Gravettian female figurines, those from Willendorf II and Dolní Vìstonice I, are anatomically accurate depictions of obese women. Given the human paleontological evidence for the musculoskeletal hypertrophy of these populations, inferred high activity levels throughout the life cycle, burden carrying, and periods of stress, as well as the archaeological evidence for considerable human movement and raw material transport across the landscape, it is unclear how the artists involved could have become so familiar with normal human patterns of corpulence (the adiposity paradox). Seasonal semi-sedentism and short term high caloric input, as is suggested by archaeological evidence, may explain the occasional presence of such obesity, sufficiently frequently to permit accurate artistic renditions of the resultant human form.

Keywords

Upper Paleolithic - Europe - Gravettian - Paleolithic art - Human paleontology - Mobility

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