11.1 Realistically carved female head

The portrayal of a specific individual appears very seldom in Palaeolithic art. The first evidence in fact comes from the dig at Dolní Věstonice I.

 

Material: mammoth ivory

Dimensions (height): 47 mm

Exhibit type: copy of original (plaster)

Archaeological site: Dolní Věstonice I (Dolní Věstonice, Moravia)

Collection: Moravian Museum in Brno, Czech Republic

 

It is a relatively realistic face of a woman carved into mammoth ivory, partly stylized into an elongated form culminating in a large hat or hairstyle.

 

This head was later complemented by a subsequent find of a crudely carved “mask” with a similarly striking feature - asymmetrical mouth. Bohuslav Klíma compared these finds with the skull of the woman DV 3, found at the same locality, who could have had a similarly set mouth as a result of a healed injury to the jawbone.

Photo: M. Frouz Photo: M. Frouz