A 5-centimetre high Palaeolithic Venus figurine was discovered at the Khotylyovo-2 site in Bryansk Oblast, Russian Federation. Radiocarbon analysis suggests tribes of hunters and gatherers lived there  between 21000-24000 years ago. 

According to the researchers, the figurine was made from a woolly mammoth tusk. The artefact depicts a woman with broad hips and significantly marked buttocks and bust, with long, thin legs which make the figurine look very delicate. Part of the bust and belly has peeled off, along a natural crack in the tusk.

According to the researchers the figurine was found near large limestone layers and parts of mammoth bones that were painted with a mineral sienna paint. The researchers state that most likely the statuette was put next to the bones on the ground rather than have been “buried” like other such Venuses found in Russia. The find was made among bones of mammoths, bison, and flint stones in a 23000 year old layer at the archaeological site Khotylyovo-2.

Researchers believe that the newly found figurine  portrays a fat, maybe pregnant woman, with a big belly and bust. Most experts believe such Prehistoric statuettes are ceremonial and ritual objects. The statuette dates to the middle period of the Upper Palaeolithic Era.

(after The Siberian Times, Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, Express, Mirror & Daily Mail Online)