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'Svoboda J, 2026: Venus of Věstonice in the middle of her sisters: A structuralist approach. Anthropologie (Brno) 64, 3: 151-163'. |
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| Abstract | | The Věstonice Venus, although discovered 100 years ago, still attracts attention by specific ("ceramic")
technology of production, elegant shape, symetry, and possible symbolic meanings. This paper starts with defining the
role and place of this female figure in the "phylogeny" of analogical figures over the Upper Paleolithic of Northern
Eurasia (Early Gravettian stage), as well as in the "ontogeny" (depictions of female life-span). As the next step, this
paper underlines two peculiarities of the Dolní Věstonice-Pavlov sites: first, the time-limited activities with local clay, i.e.
the earliest ceramics, and second, the play with separate female and male anatomic elements. Using a structuralist
perspective, the Venus of Věstonice is analysed as a androgynous or phallo-feminine synthesis, be it in clay or ivory.
Finally, using ethnological parallels, the paper discusses the identity of possible producer/user. | | | | Keywords | | Venus figurines – Gravettian – Paleolithic ceramics – Human anatomy – Female pictograms –
Structuralism | | | | DOI | | https://doi.org/10.26720/anthro.26.07.17.1 | | |
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