Posted on 07/25/2005 8:13:47 AM PDT by traumer
A sculpted and polished phallus found in a German cave is among the earliest representations of male sexuality ever uncovered, researchers say.
The 20cm-long, 3cm-wide stone object, which is dated to be about 28,000 years old, was buried in the famous Hohle Fels Cave near Ulm in the Swabian Jura.
The prehistoric "tool" was reassembled from 14 fragments of siltstone.
Its life size suggests it may well have been used as a sex aid by its Ice Age makers, scientists report.
"In addition to being a symbolic representation of male genitalia, it was also at times used for knapping flints," explained Professor Nicholas Conard, from the department of Early Prehistory and Quaternary Ecology, at Tübingen University.
"There are some areas where it has some very typical scars from that," he told the BBC News website.
Researchers believe the object's distinctive form and etched rings around one end mean there can be little doubt as to its symbolic nature.
The Hohle Fels bird
Enlarge Image "It's highly polished; it's clearly recognisable," said Professor Conard.
The Tübingen team working Hohle Fels already had 13 fractured parts of the phallus in storage, but it was only with the discovery of a 14th fragment last year that they were able finally to work out the "jigsaw".
The different stone sections were all recovered from a well-dated ash layer in the cave complex associated with the activities of modern humans (not their pre-historic "cousins", the Neanderthals).
The dig site is one of the most remarkable in central Europe. Hohle Fels stands more than 500m above sea level in the Ach River Valley and has produced thousands of Upper Palaeolithic artefacts.
Venus of Willendorf, BBC Female forms, such as the 30,000-year-old Venus of Willendorf are more common Some have been truly exquisite in their sophistication and detail, such as a 30,000-year-old avian figurine crafted from mammoth ivory. It is believed to be one of the earliest representations of a bird in the archaeological record.
There are other stone objects known to science that are obviously phallic symbols and are slightly older - from France and Morocco, of particular note. But to have any representation of male genitalia from this time period is highly unusual.
"Female representations with highly accentuated sexual attributes are very well documented at many sites, but male representations are very, very rare," explained Professor Conard.
Current evidence indicates that the Swabian Jura of southwestern Germany was one of the central regions of cultural innovations after the arrival of modern humans in Europe some 40,000 years ago.
The Hohle Fels phallus will go on show at Blaubeuren prehistoric museum in an exhibition called Ice Art - Clearly Male.
Petrified prick.
They determined this was an ancient dildo based on the "ring" carved near the top.
Which begs the question; were Ice Age men circumcised?
Academics all a-flutter over what're probably the remains of a prehistoric prank by the stoneage equivelent of beavis & butthead.
I doubt the thread will get pulled, tugged perhaps, but not pulled.
"In addition to being a symbolic representation of male genitalia, it was also at times used for knapping flints,"
This brings to mind The Doors' song, You Light My Fire.
This headline is very misleading. I thought the article was going to be about Sen. Byrd.
I shudder to think what it was "polished" with.
JimWforBush said: "Must have been an Architect."
I am going to tell him you said that. R-q-tek, do you see what they are saying about you?
The test of the true believer being whether or not you could keep a straight face as it passed by.
commonly worn as an amulet or protection against the evil eye
Careful with that thing! You'll poke your evil eye out!
What's a dickfore?
(The shortest distance between two joke is a straight line.)
Garde la Foi, mes amis! Nous nous sommes les sauveurs de la République! Maintenant et Toujours!
(Keep the Faith, my friends! We are the saviors of the Republic! Now and Forever!)
LonePalm, le Républicain du verre cassé (The Broken Glass Republican)
My my, we are playing naive quite well today!
I KNEW I left that thing somewhere.......
I pinged him.
"The prehistoric "tool" was reassembled from 14 fragments of siltstone. "
Wonder if that's the only way the pieces could be reassembled.
A 1 inch = 2.54 cm ping. You're welcome.
He is going to let you have it.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.