Venus of Dolní Věstonice at The Vienna Natural History Museum,Austria

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The oldest known work of terracotta sculpture in the world is the Czech prehistoric sculpture known as Dolni Vestonice. This remarkable piece, also referred to as the Vestonicka Venuse, belongs to the genre of Venus figurines that were primarily created during the era of Gravettian art. Discovered at a Stone Age settlement in the Moravian basin south of Brno, Czech Republic, this incredible artifact now resides in the Vienna Natural History Museum alongside the famous Venus of Willendorf. Like the latter, which dates back to around 25,000 BCE, the Dolni Vestonice Venus is rarely displayed publicly and is usually accompanied by an armed escort whenever it leaves its home museum. This exquisite example of mobiliary art was found in two pieces in late July 1925, buried in a layer of ash at a paleolithic encampment in Moravia. At the time of its discovery, the site had been under close archeological investigation for nearly a year under the direction of Karel Absolon. Since then, further extensive digs have uncovered numerous items of ceramic art dating back to Paleolithic culture, including over 700 animal figurines fired in the primitive kilns at Dolni Vestonice. Other Gravettian sites in the vicinity have yielded thousands more terracotta figurines and clay balls, although there are no ancient rock shelters with cave art in the district. In 1986, the skeletons of two young men and a woman, marked by ritualistic injuries and anointments, were excavated from a shallow burial pit at Dolni Vestonice, highlighting the ceremonial significance of the site. Measuring 4.4 inches in height and 1.7 inches in width, the Dolni Vestonice Venus is made from local clay mixed with powdered bone and fired in an earthen oven at a relatively low temperature around 1300 F or 700 C. Her characteristics are consistent with those found in most other ivory or stone Venus figurines from the same period, including a featureless face, enormous pendulous breasts, wide hips and buttocks. An uneven crack runs along her right hip, while there are four holes in the top of her head, possibly fixture points for herbs or flowers. In 2004, a scan of the figurine's surface revealed the fingerprint of a child aged 7-15 years, although he/she is not thought to have been the ceramicist involved. The Dolni Vestonice Venus is the earliest art ever created using fired clay, surpassing the earliest ceramic pottery made during the Japanese Jomon culture, which has been carbon-dated to between 14,540 and 13,320 BCE. By comparison, ancient pottery from the Mediterranean area did not appear until the Neolithic Stone Age (c.7,000 - 3,500 BCE), while the Chinese Terracotta Army was sculpted as late as 230 BCE during the era of Qin Dynasty art (221-206 BCE). The Dolni Vestonice Venus is also among the earliest depictions of a female figure, preceded only by the likes of the Swabian Venus of Hohle Fels (38,000-33,000 BCE) and the Austrian Venus of Galgenberg (c.30,000 BCE). This object is part of "Scan The World". Scan the World is a non-profit initiative introduced by MyMiniFactory, through which we are creating a digital archive of fully 3D printable sculptures, artworks and landmarks from across the globe for the public to access for free. Scan the World is an open source, community effort, if you have interesting items around you and would like to contribute, email stw@myminifactory.com to find out how you can help. Scanned: Photogrammetry (Processed using Agisoft PhotoScan)