1 QUEEN OF THE STONE AGE

Unsurprisingly, the human body is a recurring motif in sculpture and a subject that dates back millennia. One of the earliest representations of man (or in fact woman) is the Venus of Willendorf, a figurine found in 1908 by archaeologist Josef Szombathy at Willendorf, Austria. Dated c28,00025,000BC, the carved statuette, made of oolite limestone tinted with red ochre pigment and measuring little over 11cm high, is faceless and footless yet rather well endowed. Its diminutive size suggests it was designed to be transported, confirmed by the type of stone, which is not found in eastern Austria. Theories abound about the sculpture, most concluding that she is a fertility symbol.