Venus of Willendorf still hot at ripe old age of 25,000

0 Comments | AFP, August, 2008

VIENNA (AFP) — Plump and 25,000 years old, this lady remains a mystery even after 100 years in the limelight.

The Venus of Willendorf, a small ochre-coloured figurine from the Paleolithic period, takes her name from the village in northern Austria where she was excavated on August 7, 1908 by three Austrian paleontologists.

"This was the first statuette (from this period) that had such detailed features and it was also the first statuette to be discovered at the time on an archeological site," says Walpurga Antl-Weiser, head of the prehistory section at Vienna's Natural History Museum.

On the 100th anniversary of her excavation, this Venus is being honoured with a special exhibition at the museum, alongside other artefacts from the same period.

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