The term Venus figurine is used to describe the more than 200 small statuettes of voluptuous female figures that have been found at Upper Paleolithic sites across Europe and some parts of Asia. “When paleoanthropologists refer to figurines as Venuses, [they] usually do so with air quotes” (von Petzinger, 95), because Venus figurines pre-date myths about the goddess Venus by thousands of years. The name is derived, in part, from theories that associate these figurines with fertility and sexuality, two traits associated with the Roman goddess.
This is a companion discussion topic for the original content at https://www.worldhistory.org/Venus_Figurine/.