6,000-Year-Old Polish Venus Figurine Studied

Archaeology Magazine ^ | June 20, 2025 | editors / unattributed

[SunkenCiv]

Researchers have determined that a nearly five-inch-tall limestone figurine of a woman found by a farmer near the city of Kołobrzeg in 2022 dates to more than 6,000 years ago, according to a report in The Art Newspaper. The statuette was dubbed the "Venus of Kołobrzeg," a reference to similar Neolithic figurines with accentuated breasts unearthed throughout Europe that scholars believe were fertility symbols. The oldest known example, which was found in 2008 at southern Germany's Hohle Fels Cave, is some 40,000 years old. The Kołobrzeg Venus is the only such figurine discovered north of the Carpathian Mountains. Researchers noted that the figure is rather simplistically crafted and has no discernible facial features. The lower limbs seem to have been created by striking the stone with a hard tool. Since the statuette's back is fairly flat, the researchers posit that it may have been affixed to a base or perhaps have been displayed vertically. To read about recent research on the 30,000-year-old Venus of Willendorf, go to "The Birth of Venus," one of ARCHAEOLOGY's Top 10 Discoveries of 2022.

---

TOPICS: History; Science; Travel
KEYWORDS: epigraphyandlanguage; godsgravesglyphs; neolithic; poland; shockingblue; venusofkolobrzeg

[SunkenCiv]

Multiple views of the Kołobrzeg Venus figurine

Polish Arms Museum in Kołobrzeg

[SunkenCiv]

[skr]

Venutians are a funny-looking lot.

[SunkenCiv]

LoL.

[mairdie]

They look like the little Mexican figures I have that were also buried in the fields. Guess naked is a universal look.

[ZOOKER]

You can take her
You can have her
She's too fat for me

[GingisK]

It is disheartening that you have to show 6,000 year old stuff in order to match the quality of my artwork.

[SunkenCiv]

LOL

Ya practice and work at something, and you’ll get better and better, but I’m convinced (having tried this in several avocations) that some people are just better at stuff. :^)

[SunkenCiv]

Stop lookin’ at naked Mexican stuff! ;^)

[SunkenCiv]

I guess we know who stole the kishka.

[mairdie]

And they’re female, too, so actually little interest.

Ah, the days of life sketching classes when both the male and the female models were the pits. Artists of the past must have paid more than the university art classes if their portraits are to be believed.

[Persevero]

I genuinely believe all these “fertility symbols”’were just a version of porn. They didn’t have print (or internet). Change my mind.

[Opinionated Blowhard]

Neolithic figurines with accentuated breasts

Some things lever change.

[jerod]

Venus? Looks more like a turd, than a woman... And even if it is a woman... Who says it’s Venus?

[SunkenCiv]

Oh, I agree, I’m sure all the artists were young boys. :^)

[SunkenCiv]

Rossetti had a knack for prettying up his portrayals, but of course, he also had ulterior motives...

[mairdie]

Mexican figures buried with crops

But my favorite is an assayer's cup since grandfather was a gold miner.

[SunkenCiv]

• Venus of Brassempouy: The 23,000-year-old ivory carving found in the Pope's Grotto [07/17/2024]
• 1800-year-old Roman Goddess Venus Statue in Zadar Discovered at Future Hotel Site [01/23/2022]
• The House of the Vettii in Pompeii, to Michael Levy's "Temple of Venus" composition for lyre [04/28/2020]
• Stone Age Statue Was Too Racy for Facebook [03/02/2018]
• Facebook Censors 30,000 year-old Venus of Willendorf as 'Pornographic' [02/27/2018]
• 5,000-year-old Venus figure found in Canakkale [10/02/2009]
• Venus of Willendorf still hot at ripe old age of 25,000 [ fetishist writes headline ] [08/26/2008]

[SunkenCiv]

Nice!

[Bethaneidh]

Not necessarily these, but I have heard some interpretations that some venus figures are not pregnant as claimed, but menopausal, due to belly shape.