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Acheulian Goddess

The Oldest Human Image

Until the past few decades, the famous Willendorf Goddess, carved of bone 30,000 years ago, was held to be the earliest human-crafted work of art and veneration.
The Acheulian Goddess predates Willendorf by an amazing quarter-million years, and may be as old as 800,000 years! It is remarkable to note the similarities between the Willendorf and the far older Acheulian.
Both figures are distinctly female, great-breasted with featureless head and discrete limbs. Using flint tools, the maker of the Acheulian Goddess intentionally adapted an existing small stone, which already had breast-like Mother Goddess features, by adding incised grooves delineating the head and arms. Like Willendorf, the Acheulian appears to have a groove suggestive of the sacred vulva.

This Paleolithic image offers breathtaking evidence that our worship of the divine feminine could have extended up to 250,000 years deeper into hunter-gatherer antiquity than previously suspected! In the face of this discovery, 3,500 years of current patriarchy pales to insignificance.
Clearly the old, ecology-centered goddess values have been with us for a vaster sweep of time than our recent misadventures of war and exploitation. And now we choose to reclaim those older values.

Sacred Source is proud to be the only available source for this reproduction, which is based on drawings and photographs from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem's Institute of Archeology, where the original is housed. Hold her in your hand to feel her shape, fecundity and power.
[232,000 - 800,000 BCE] Ganges Clay. #AC

http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/news/world/archaeologists-uncover-caveman-bling/2008/05/07/1209839683483.html

Archaeologists uncover caveman bling

May 7, 2008 - 6:28AM

AFP

RABAT - Archaeologists have uncovered shells used for finery by prehistoric man 85,000 years ago in a cave in eastern Morocco, the country’s heritage institute said today.

A research team led by archaeology and heritage institute (INSAP) member Abdeljalil Bouzouggar and Nick Barton from Oxford University found the 20 perforated shells in a cave near Taforalt between March and April this year.

The Nassarius gibbosulus shells are the type prehistoric man would have worn, according to a statement from the Moroccan Ministry for Culture.

In 2007, Bouzouggar and Barton discovered 14 perforated shells in the same cave.

“This discovery shows that the making and use of objects of finery is very anchored in the traditions of Morocco’s prehistoric people,” said Bouzouggar, in whose opinion the country is the original centre of artistic and symbolic creation.

Objects of finery discovered in Morocco are “now considered to be even more ancient than those discovered in Algeria, South Africa and in Palestine”, said the culture ministry.

Known as the “cave of pigeons”, the 30-metre deep and 10-metre high cave is situated 50km from Morocco’s Mediterranean coast.