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PREHISTORIC ART
in IRELAND
For details of arts & culture
during the Pleistocene and
Holocene epochs, see:
Irish Stone
Age Art
Mainly megalithic architecture
Irish Bronze
Age Art
Celtic metalwork, tomb-building
Irish Iron Age
Art
La Tene Celtic culture, sculpture
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Discovery and Description
The Venus of Berekhat Ram was found by
archeologist N. Goren-Inbar (Hebrew University of Jerusalem) during archeological
excavations on the Golan Heights between Syria and Israel during the summer
of 1981. The lithic figure comprises a tuff pebble made of basalt, containing
marks suggestive of the head, body, and arms of a female human.
Specifically, it exhibits three or more
groove-like incisions, made by a sharp-edged stone, which give it the
appearance of a human body. One incision is a deep groove that encircles
the narrower end of the pebble (indicating the head), while two shallower,
grooves cut into the sides (marking the arms). Recent microscopic research
confirms that these incision are not the work of nature but the result
of artificial intervention, indicating that the stone is definitely a
"work of art". Its sister
figurine, the Venus of Tan-Tan is morphologically so similar that it could
have been sculpted by the same artist.
Despite its name, the Venus of Berekhat
Ram bears little if any resemblance to the European venus
figurines of the later Gravettian culture of the Upper Paleolithic
period, such as the Venus of Willendorf,
the Venus of Brassempouy and the
Venus of Kostenky.
Dating
The Venus of Berekhat Ram was created during
the Acheulean culture of the Lower Paleolithic period of the old Stone
Age, and has been dated to 230,000-700,000 BCE. The reason for the vagueness
of its provenance is that it was found sandwiched between two layers of
volcanic residue: an upper one dated about 230,000 BCE, and a lower one
dated roughly 700,000 BCE. This makes it (together with the Venus of Tan-Tan)
the oldest piece of sculpture ever recorded, and remarkably, it means
that it predated Neanderthal man, and was created by an earlier hominid
like Homo erectus.
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