Dolní Věstonice Portrait Head

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CONTENTS

• Oldest Portrait Sculpture
• Location
• Description
• Dating
• Portrait of a Shaman
• Who Sculpted the Portrait Head?
• References

Oldest Portrait Sculpture

The Dolní Věstonice Portrait Head is the world's oldest known portrait sculpture. It is radiocarbon dated to 24,000 BC.

It is a unique piece of prehistoric sculpture, since it represents the first known attempt in history, to capture the likeness of a specific human face.

The carving - overshadowed for years by its world famous ceramic sister, known as the Venus of Dolní Věstonice - is made from mammoth ivory, and is thought to depict an important figure in the district, who was buried locally.

The portrait head is part of the permanent collection of prehistoric art at the Brno Museum, in the Czech Republic.

Location

Dolní Věstonice is an Upper Paleolithic archaeological site close to the village of the same name, which is located in Břeclav District south of the Nové Mlýny reservoir in the Moravian Region of the Czech Republic.

The site was first excavated in 1924, and has yielded a number of unique items of Upper Paleolithic art, dating to the era of Gravettian culture (30,000-20,000 BC), notably the portrait head and the world famous venus figurine, which may be oldest example of ancient pottery yet discovered.

The haul also includes thousands of other ceramic sculptures, including representations of lions, rhinoceroses, and mammoths, as well as personal ornaments, human burials and mysterious rock engravings.

The Dolní Věstonice settlement was clearly an important centre of mobiliary art - especially ceramic art - and was linked to both the Krems-Wachtberg figures (Austria, 29,000 BC) and the Kostenki I pottery shards (Russia, 23,000 BC).

Its ceramic figures predated the oldest Chinese pottery - namely, the Xianren Cave pottery - by more than 10,000 years.

Description

The Dolní Věstonice Portrait Head - known as Venus XV - depicts the face of a woman, and is carved with stone tools, from a mammoth tusk.

• It measures 48mm in height; 24mm in width; and 22mm thick.
• The head is sculpted in the round, so the oval-shaped face is realistically modelled.
• The hair is not defined in detail, but it seems to be tied up in a top knot of sorts.
• In addition, an incised line borders the top of the forehead and frames the face.
• The eyebrows are carefully drawn over well defined eyes, while the nose and mouth are carved in perfect proportion.
• No ears are visible, although they might be hidden by the hair.
• A slight deformation is visible on the left-hand side of the face.

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Dating

The Dolní Věstonice Portrait Head was dated by the Space Technology Center of the University of Kansas to 24,000 BC. This has removed any doubt about its age and its place in the Dolní Vestonice assemblage.

It was discovered in 1891 at Dolní Věstonice, a valley frequented during the Ice Age by herds of reindeer and mammoths, as well as other game animals migrating between the Danube Valley and the Polish flatlands.

Portrait of a Shaman

The sculpture is thought to be a portrait of a particular woman who was buried in the locality. The skeleton of the person in question was discovered underneath two mammoth scapulas (shoulder blades).

In Stone Age culture, this was an indication that the dead person was someone of importance in the community. Scientists believe she was about 40 years old when she died, so she was already an old woman.

The mammoth bones and the soil were sprinkled with red ochre, while a fox pelt and a flint head had been placed next to the skull.

These funerary trappings suggest she was a shaman, and someone worthy of being sculpted.

But the most convincing aspect, was the fact that the left side of her skull was deformed in just the same way as the ivory head. It was this that convinced archaeologists that the ivory head was a portrait of a real person.

According to Jill Cook, curator at the British Museum:

"The reason we say it is a portrait is because she has absolutely individual characteristics. She has one beautifully engraved eye; on the other, the lid comes over and there's just a slit. Perhaps she had a stroke, or a palsy, or was injured in some way. And she has a little dimple in her chin: this is an image of a real, living woman."

See also: Shamans in Paleolithic Art (from 30,000 BC).

Who Sculpted the Portrait Head?

The individual artist is unknown, although we know that they were one of the modern humans out of Africa, who crossed over to Europe from the Middle East. This is because Neanderthals, the indigenous species in Europe, had already become extinct.

NEXT: Prehistoric Art Timeline (from 540,000 BC).

References

"The Origins of Ceramic Technology at Dolni Věstonice, Czechoslovakia." Vandiver, Pamela B, Klima, Bohuslav, Svoboda, Jiři, Soffer, Olga. Science. Vol. 246 Issue 4933.
(2) "The Upper Paleolithic Triple Burial of Dolní Věstonice: Pathology and Funerary Behavior." Formicola, V., Pontrandolif, A., and Svoboda, J. 2001: American Journal of Physical Anthropology 115:372-374.
(3) "Ice Age Art: arrival of the modern mind." British Museum, Great Russell Street, London. 7 February-26 May 2013.