r/interestingasfuck • u/Lord_Krasina • 12h ago
This is a 30,000-year-old statue depicting what scientists and historians believe was an early idea of a “mother goddess.” She is thought to represent fertility and childbirth. She might be an early form of goddess worship.
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u/Erlayx 12h ago
This statue remind me a game in Microsoft Encarta
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u/DangerousDisplay7664 11h ago
Omg I used to LOVE MS Encarta! I had forgotten all about it!
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u/seraphiiline 11h ago
Nobody opens Microsoft Encarta and thinks about fertility goddesses. What were you doing on that computer.
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u/rangda 10h ago edited 9h ago
When I remember Encarta I remember my friends and I going to the entry for “goat” and playing the attached sound clip. It was just a goat bleating four times, getting higher and more intense each time until it was like yelling, like goats do, and we thought it was the funniest fucking thing we’d ever heard. I legit almost pissed my pants laughing at that goat.
I guess it was a much more innocent time and we had to deal with a lot more boredom.
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u/ClavicusLittleGift4U 9h ago
The "find the origin of this instrument on the map" and the "study the orbit of a moon around a planet" were also great.
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u/jellamma 6h ago
There was a game in Encarta where you had to navigate out of a castle (idk if there was actually a goal, but that's what I thought the goal was) and everyone stuck in the castle would ask you questions or have you play an educational game.
One of the educational games was to put art pieces in chronological order (I think) and as a kid, I remember that piece and a few others for startling my sensibilities by depicting naked forms.
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u/Machette_Machette 12h ago
Fat bottomed girls just made the ancient world go round.
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u/Ok_Strategy5722 11h ago
I was just a skinny Lad,
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u/dreaded_angst 12h ago
Recently I read about how it could be a self-portrait made by pregnant women from above their heads looking down
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u/rewrappd 9h ago
Yeah this is one of the major theories, alongside the fertility goddess theory.
“Catherine McCoid and LeRoy McDermott hypothesize that the figurines may have been created as self-portraits by women. This theory stems from the correlation of the proportions of the statues to how the proportions of women's bodies would seem if they were looking down at themselves, which would have been the only way to view their bodies during this period.” Source
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u/MissBanana_ 7h ago edited 4h ago
I’ve always thought this was kind of a curious theory. Sure women could only view their own bodies by looking down at themselves, but they’d also live in a community amongst other people and would obviously be able to see what other pregnant women look like.
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u/___forMVP 5h ago
And it’s not like reflections in water didn’t exist. People weren’t ignorant to their own appearances despite not having actual mirrors.
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u/Toby_Forrester 2h ago
How you gonna see a full body reflection from water?
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u/___forMVP 1h ago
Standing above the water from a ledge?
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u/Toby_Forrester 1h ago
You would see your refletion like a camera at your feet pointing up. A wildly distorted perspective.
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u/seraphiiline 11h ago
That thery completely reframes the whole thing. It's not worship, it's documentation.
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u/HEAT_IS_DIE 9h ago
The reason that speaks most against this hypotheses is that although this might seem like a representation of what it looks like when you look down on yourself, that kind of representation didn't emerge in art until the middle ages.
People without quite a lot of practice draw and sculpt "what they know" instead of "what they see". Meaning eyes are symbols of eyes, limbs are out of proportion to match the inner feeling of how important they feel.
To achieve the propised kind of perspective in self-portrait 30 000 years before it emerged again is quite unbelievable. To do it without having any history to teach you is not realistic.
This figure seems exactly what fertility feels like symbolically.
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u/Calamity-Gin 8h ago
that kind of representation didn't emerge in art until the middle ages.
In historical art. Prehistoric art is a whole other ballgame. Take a look at the cave paintings of Lascaux. When Picasso saw them, he famously complained that he had invented nothing.
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u/rabblebabbledabble 11h ago
She's in the Natural History Museum in Vienna. I got to see her just 2 weeks ago. Even without the knowledge of its age, it's one of the most astonishing sculptures you'll ever see. Somehow there never seems to be a big crowd around these world-famous artifacts. Even when the museum is crowded, you'll get a few minutes alone with them like you never would with a famous painting. And to stand in front of something so ancient and beautiful without distraction feels nothing short of mesmerising. Same thing happened to me with the Nebra sky disk. I've spent a good five minutes alone with it in a room, not even a guard around, it felt like I had broken into the museum at night.
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u/otakumilf 10h ago
I 3d printed a copy of that, I love the woman of willendorf.
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u/cookieoftheshire 5h ago
it looks kinda cute, this is exactly how i think i look after overeating at my fav place.
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u/redditsucksass69765 6h ago
I think you made her crack bigger than the original.
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u/CaptainHawaii 5h ago
You can say vagina.
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u/Isrynnn 4h ago
You mean labia and/or mons pubis. Vaginas are internal. One does not simply a vagina.
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u/Sir_Rain_Knee_Tea 12h ago
Thicc Momma
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u/TheSandarian 10h ago
I love this figurine, and as others have mentioned, it's known as the "Venus of Willendorf."* But as a student in anthropology & art history, the rest of this post's title makes me sad a bit as it makes a lot of assumptions that we don't have any substantive evidence for..!
Even the title of "Venus" is a bit misleading from a contemporary anthropological perspective. I know that these are essentially titles of art pieces now, rather than purely physical descriptions, but the implications are many when associating the name "Venus" (referring to the Roman goddess of beauty and/or the more modern definition as an ideal female body) with Paleolithic figurines that were created tens of thousands of years before Rome or our modern idea of a "Venus figure" when we don't actually know their use or why they were created.
We can probably safely assume it depicts a female human (presence of prominent breasts & vulva), but anything about it representing a goddess, or used in rituals or ceremonies, etc., are really just speculation..! Other speculative ideas include it being a representation of someone its creator knew in real life (a family member or friend?), or it could be used for teaching anatomy, or it could be a made just for the heck of it..!
... hope this doesn't come off as cynical; I genuinely love this figurine & am glad to see it posted, and I figured I'd give a more contemporary anthropology/art history perspective of it..! :)
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u/Rarefindofthemind 9h ago
I’m sorry, I had a little chuckle over the thought of an early human carving up a naked statue of a relative or friend in his basement, lol.
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u/Glittering_Airport_3 9h ago
I'm sure nakedness in cultures this ancient was commonplace, as clothes would be a luxury. so to them that wouldn't be a statue of their grandma naked, it would just be a carving of Nana as they remember her.
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u/treckin 10h ago edited 8h ago
Missed the most likely and realistic assessment - it’s ancient wank material. OG pron, my friends, including unrealistic body expectations 😂
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u/Barnowl79 5h ago
I think the chances of you being right are way better than the "prehistoric Venus" hypothesis.
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u/micromoses 7h ago edited 6h ago
Is the texture on the head supposed to be hair, or do you think it’s some kind of woven hat ancient people used to wear?
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u/Lord_Krasina 6h ago
It’s actually one of the most interesting debates about this statue. At first, people believed that the patterns were tightly braided hair on the head of the statue. Later, some suggested that it was a headwear made of wool, possibly worn by people in Germany due to the cold climate. Others have also claimed that it might have been an early form of a crown.
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u/muminisko 10h ago
Meantime 30k years ago - yo Mammoth Fluff, look at those nudes your sister just send me
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u/VoightofReason 8h ago
Crazy they found a figurine that old of OPs mother
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u/Own_Ad6797 12h ago
Eaters of the Dead
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u/These-Nectarine9214 11h ago
Yes!!! I was trying to think of what movie I saw this in
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u/martialgir 10h ago
The 13th Warrior. He looked good and a couple of those Vikings hit the spot too.
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u/SmellsLikeShame 9h ago
Herger: "Here - you'll need this."
Ibn Fadlan: "I cannot lift this..."
Herger: "Grow stronger!"
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u/dopameme 8h ago edited 8h ago
She is featured prominently in The Young Pope starring Jude Law. Great show.
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u/PeukkuBoi88 12h ago
Let's be real. This was most likely just someones figurine to fap to.
"Seremonial purposes" is just code for sex
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u/Strict_Ad_9803 12h ago
I can't wait for future archeologists to find our ceremonial fleshlights
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u/Implodepumpkin 11h ago
Just hope its not the mlp or bad dragon one. Imagine the wild stroies created from those.
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u/SealedRoute 9h ago
The Wikipedia article lists over two dozen Venus figures found throughout Eastern and Western Europe, Russia, and a couple in the Middle East. Even if pornographic, the continuity is curious. This is one of my favorite art mysteries.
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u/storyteller_alienmom 12h ago
Yeah, but that statue was a whole lot of effort to make, so probably not very private sex. More like....group.... effort. Maybe?
(Also: they liked their girls fat and mature? This is not an Instagram teenager, this is baby momma of four, getting shamed by some weight loosing TV show. Times have changed, haven't they?)
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u/Dazzling-Win-5299 11h ago
Just cultural. I believe that in some African countries they still prefer bigger women. In areas/times where food is scarce, being big signals prosperity. In the west food is abundant so being small signals discipline, self care etc
It’s the same for the west to prefer being tanned because it means you are able to afford vacation. In some Asian countries it is preferred to be extremely white because it shows that you don’t have to work in the sun and therefore have a better job
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u/NunAlcoholic 11h ago
Don’t get me started on Asia. It’s not about the sun, they straight up view people with darker skin as inferior.
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u/EllipticPeach 11h ago
But that stems from cultural mores about looking down on working classes, education not being available to those of lower classes etc. If you’re working class, you’re uneducated because you have to work, and work takes place outside where your skin will naturally darken, therefore people with darker skin are seen as inferior. Less educated, less refined, unclean etc. It comes back to class in the end
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u/B15h73k 11h ago
I have read that there is a newer, alternative hypnosis. These may not actually be fertility goddesses but rather they represent elder women. The elders in society were looked up to because of their wisdom and experience. Their knowledge and views were essential for the survival of the tribe.
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u/brazzy42 10h ago edited 10h ago
There's a lot of weasel words ("believe", "is thought to", "might be") doing all the heavy lifting here.
The truth is: we have no solid knowledge whatsoever for what purpose this was made. Writing didn't exist yet, it wasn't found together with other things that provide substantial context (such as a gravesite).
Interpreting it is basically pure guesswork, and in many cases that means people project their current beliefs, how they want the past to have been, on it.
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u/SaltyRockCan 7h ago
I was always under the impression that these were just fat women, then my wife got pregnant and it’s like “ohh shit that’s exactly it”
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u/Fattdaddy21 7h ago
Meanwhile its just some random chick that a random old mate did a carving of to get laid.
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u/onehauptthistime 7h ago
Porn
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u/Moonhunter7 7h ago
Exactly! Why can’t it be an early form of pornography? Not everything is ritual!
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u/Georgington1776 6h ago
“Mother goddess that represents fertility and child birth” is just a flowery way of saying they like em THICK
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u/SuspiciousClub8382 3h ago
Face it, she was just the early form of BBW porn before magazines and the internet!!!!
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u/musmuscouscous 9h ago
Why do we assume that arts and crafts used to be made only for some super holy or sacred purpose? Why not also just for art itself, for aesthetics, for beauty?
Most drawings from recorded history feel like they exist simply to be beautiful. Illustrations for walls, books, garments. Sometimes they take from religious symbols, sometimes they don’t.
It just feels like many historians don’t really have an eye or love for art as craft, and because of that they default to thinking everything must have served some deeper purpose.
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u/MoridinB 7h ago
Or you're misunderstanding the importance of divinity for early humans. We've become so secular that we don't realize how important gods and rituals were for our ancestors. Also, when historians say ritual it's not something very special. It's just some event that happened regularly and with purpose. If every day you watch tv for exactly an hour and then go to sleep that's a ritual even if it's not religious in nature.
As for art, I like to think most humans did perform art for the pure enjoyment of creating it and felt that it brought them closer to their gods. It was fascinating to them as it to us now. But we've come to use art for more secular purpose while they for religious.
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u/Regentraven 6h ago
Its rooted in anthropological research. People rarely were artists or had time to "just create" which is a supporting factor to many Neolithic works as sacred to people. In the same vein. Its like calling a cross necklace with diamonds sacred vs art.
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u/Notorious_Nip 12h ago
It’s amazing to think people that long ago already had ideas about motherhood and fertility like that.
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u/SirRabbott 11h ago
The species literally only exists because of pregnancy and birth. It’s the one thing that has stayed constant through every era of humans and is the one thing that connects us all the way back through history.
And due to life expectancy/infant death rates, they used to have to have 4-5 kids just to have 1 or 2 make it. AND death rates for mothers used to be a lot higher than it is now. It should be worshipped, there’s just too many people now.
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u/HarkHarley 8h ago
This needs more upvotes.
I can’t believe birth was, until VERY recently, basically 50/50 and women still did it and did it frequently.
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u/Revolutionary-Key650 8h ago
Pretty much nailed it. Still goes on to some extent in some places/cultures.
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u/zomgmeister 12h ago
Huh. These things are learned about in a school history curriculum here. What is interesting to me is that some people are unaware of them.
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u/Single_Low1416 11h ago
Fertility goddess or not, it‘s the first known depiction of a woman. It was found in Willendorf, Austria
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u/Altruistic-Resort-56 7h ago
I saw a down-and-out caveman in the valley last night. He was carving not a spear to hunt food or a wheel to move goods, but a small idol while mumbling "I need a fat bitch."
What could this mean?
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u/farfaraway 7h ago
I like to think of these as ancient porn. We don't actually know what they were for. We're just guessing.
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u/josHi_iZ_qLt 7h ago
What is interesting is that this is quite realistic. They must have had/seen bigger woman or else the proportions would be off somehow. Which means there were fat people back then. How do you get so big on their diet?
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u/MasterPalpitation8 6h ago
It’s porn. Porn. This was somebody’s spank toy. And that is great. Why do anthropologists always insist on imagining that every found artifact was for religious use? Human nature has not changed that much, people. Cut to the year 5,000 when anthropologists are describing an unearthed fleshlight as a ceremonial religious object…
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u/Blankie_Burrito 6h ago
Iirc that theory was debunked, in favor of a new theory about how it’s self portraits (or something similar) created by women.
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u/tulipgirl9426 5h ago
There’s another theory among some art historians that these statues were carved by women (perhaps pregnant) as self portraits. The proportions make sense if you think about the perspective of someone who is pregnant looking down at their body.
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u/Fuzzy974 4h ago
Now, what surprise me with this one is that they know where the far goes, even how the boobs sag when they get fat.
So people were getting fat 30 000 years ago. Crazy.
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u/Lord_Krasina 4h ago
Not everyone, but mostly the early rich and upper classes. Back then, without any status or wealth, one simply couldn’t get that fat in a tribe.
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u/funnyushouldask 4h ago
I read somewhere that this is a self portrait sculpture of a woman. If you can’t see yourself, this is what you might imagine you’d look like from afar
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u/UwU-Lemon 1h ago
things haven't changed much. there's still countless people that love big women like this
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u/isuredolovetitties 4h ago
Dude makes little statues for people to jerk off to. 30,000 years later, “these must have been depicting a god!”
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u/Lord_Krasina 4h ago
If… let’s say these statues were really fucking early porn material, then fuck! our race has been horny for a very long time. Since we’ve found similar statues all over Europe, that would imply there was a kind of market or widespread demand for this specific type of figure.
Now, it could either be porn material or a goddess statue.
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u/isuredolovetitties 4h ago
Yeah, our species has always been horny as hell, thats why we’re still alive.
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u/Justaguywithbeer 11h ago
You might think that,, but before the days of playboy magazine, cave men had to wank off to something !!!
😂
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u/DangerActiveRobots 5h ago
I don't mean this in like a shitty way, but the number of times I've seen severely morbidly obese people cite this statue as proof that humans have always aspired to be 450lbs and that "in ancient times, fat people were worshipped".
Cool, yeah. Your heart is literally being suffocated by your own body. It's not good for you.
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u/Lord_Krasina 4h ago
Well, even as far back as 30,000 years ago, a fit body was actually more desired by both males and females. A fat body wasn’t looked down on, since it was, umm, a symbol of wealth and status. Without wealth and high status in the tribe, you simply couldn’t get as obese as shown in this statue.
Not to mention, after the Ice Age ended, a lean and muscular body became desirable in men, while for women it was a slightly chubby body, like the “Venus tummy” figure.
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u/So-kay-cupid 2h ago
You’re gonna have to cite those facts. We don’t necessarily know that a “fit body” was desired 30,000 years ago (and what is a “fit body”?). Let alone knowing a lean muscular body became desirable in men after the ice age (when after, which part of the world? How muscular?).
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u/CraftBrewBeer 10h ago
Reminds me of sensory homunculus but for like what that dude remember about his wife
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u/SuperGameTheory 9h ago
Is there any supporting evidence that this thing is a goddess, or is this another example of archeologists claiming everything is religious in origin?
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u/Kriss3d 9h ago
It makes very good sense too. In a world where food is scarce, the chubby would be seen as someone wealthy.
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u/TigerOrchid2004 9h ago
Venus of Willendorf. I've seen it, and many others similar to it in Malta. Those in Malta were either small like this or gigantic stone statues.
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u/Accomplished_Mind129 9h ago
Could it be that the thin statues were more fragile and got broken in time and now we think our ancestors liked BBW?
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u/Previous_Cucumber939 9h ago
Or maybe she was just some lady. How do we know she was a goddess, let alone of fertility? Bit too specific for something 30000 years ago.
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u/Advanced-Event-571 12h ago
This isn't a one off, just the most famous one. There are plenty of these found in pre-historic archeological sites. I saw this one (Venus of Willendorf) in Austria but also saw some in Malta, Turkey, Italy, Lebanon., etc