Shale Human Silhouette
Ritual use
Galgenberg type, Austria
Aurignacian
Around 35 000 years
[…] a highly original female statuette, 72 mm high, baptized “Fanny”, but which many authors consider to be male.
H. Delporte, L’image de la femme dans l’art préhistorique, Paris, Picard.1979
Commentary :
A small shale figurine was discovered on the Aurignacian campsite of Galgenberg. It is one of the oldest human representations known. This object illustrates the sudden emergence of images, in the cultural expressions of Palaeolithic groups. These representations immediately came to play a decisive role, in the evolution of human thought and spirituality. From this point onwards, graphic and plastic representations complemented, and extended oral expression. Figurative art appears for the first time in the Aurignacian, around 35 000 years ago.