A 23,000-year-old statuette was exhumed in Amiens in the Somme, after excavations a few meters from a commercial activity zone (ZAC). A "Paleolithic Venus" which, according to specialists, represents fertility, with its buxom forms. It was presented Wednesday by the National Institute of Preventive Archaeological Research.

A "Paleolithic Venus" was discovered in Amiens, in the Somme. Sometimes it is in the most harmless places that archaeologists leave the most exceptional pieces. This is the case of this small Paleolithic effigy, 4 centimeters high. A female statuette 23,000 years old, exhumed this summer during a search located close to the commercial activity zone (ZAC) Renancourt, a district southwest of Amiens. It was presented for the first time on Wednesday by the National Institute for Preventive Archaeological Research (Inrap).

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It is in the valley of the Somme that prehistory was created, but it is 60 years since we have not found such a statuette in France. Digging at four meters deep, archaeologists have fallen on this white statue of four centimeters. A rare object, emblematic of prehistory.

A representation of femininity

A naked and buxom female figure, but without strokes on her face. "The goal of the sculptor or sculptor was to highlight the feminine attributes.One has opulent forms," ​​says Clément Paris, archaeologist at Inrap. "The hypothesis put forward is that it is a representation of the woman, and more particularly of fertility.All the details that we see on this statuette show us a very important know-how with incisions of the order of the millimeter with a flinty object! "

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This statuette was carved in a block of chalk 23,000 years ago by a group of hunter-gatherers who set up camp in the middle of horses and mammoths. And the site has been preserved, says Dominique Garcia, president of the Institute of Archaeological Research. "The site was discovered under four meters of mud: it makes it a kind of small Paleolithic Pompeii," says the specialist. "It's a place that has not been stirred or upset, all the remains are readable by archaeologists."

This statuette is a rare object according to connoisseurs. This is the kind of document that will be found in textbooks ...