Venus of Tan-Tan
The Venus of Tan-Tan is a Venus figurine found in Morocco , the artificial character of which is controversial. The object is about 6 cm tall. The find is estimated to be between 300,000 and 500,000 years old.
The Venus of Tan-Tan and the also very old Venus of Berekhat Ram are the oldest known finds of human-shaped figures. For both objects it is not clear whether they were actually conceived as sculptures or rather as nature games (geofacts). There is too much controversy here in the scientific community. Robert G. Bednarik uses the term " proto-figurine " (proto-figurine).
material
The Venus of Tan-Tan consists of quartzite , traces of red ocher were found on it , which indicate one of the first documented processing with pigments by humans and a cultic significance.
Find
The proto-figurine was discovered in 1999 by the Hessian archaeologist Lutz Fiedler during an expedition south of the Moroccan city of Tan-Tan and named after this city. Venus was found in the deposits of a river terrace on the north side of Wadi Draa .
controversy
Similar to the find by Berekhat Ram, the age of the object is much higher than that of all recognized small works of art from the Paleolithic . The female characteristics of the figurines, which are mostly very pronounced in the Aurignacia and Gravettia, are missing here. There are different views on the nature of the figure and its creation: the discoverer and others, such as B. Robert G. Bednarik see a human-like basic figure that has been accentuated by a few scratches with stone tools. Colored remnants are interpreted as artificially, that is, deliberately applied light red color pigments that emphasize the human-like figure. For other researchers, such as Stanley Ambrose of the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, the Venus of Tan-Tan is merely the coincidental result of natural geological conditions.
literature
- Bednarik, Robert G., 2001: A figurine from the African Acheulian. In: Current Anthropology 44 (3), pp. 405-413 doi : 10.1086 / 374900
- Bednarik, Robert G., 2003: The earliest evidence of paleoart. In: Rock Art Research , 20 (2), pp. 89-135.
- Goren-Inbar, N., 1986: A figurine from the Acheulian site of Berekhat Ram, In: Mi'tekufat Ha'even , 19, pp. 7-12.
Remarks
- ↑ http://howcomyoucom.com/selfnews/viewnews.cgi?newsid1053716489,17812,.shtml
- ^ Bednarik, Robert G., 2003, The earliest evidence of paleoart. Rock Art Research, 20 (2), p. 96.
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^ Robert G. Bednarik: A figurine from the African Acheulian. In: Current Anthropology 44 (3), 2001, pp. 405-413 doi : 10.1086 / 374900
Robert G. Bednarik: The earliest evidence of paleoart . In: Rock Art Research 20 (2), 2003, pp. 89-135. ( Memento of the original from September 28, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. - ↑ Details of the controversy
