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Dasus@lemmy.world 1 day agoThat was a relatively recent invention
Idk man I think the paleolithic predates ancient Egypt.
Most date from the Gravettian period (26,000–21,000 years ago).[1] However, findings are not limited to this period; for example, the Venus of Hohle Fels dates back at least 35,000 years to the Aurignacian era, and the Venus of Monruz dates back about 11,000 years to the Magdalenian, and the Catalhoyuk figurine[2], 8000 years old.
captain_aggravated@sh.itjust.works 1 day ago
Prehistoric figurines like that I’m counting as inadmissible because we don’t know what they were for. It’s common to call them “Venuses” and something something fertility totems but nobody knows for sure what they’re for or why they were made. They could have been anything from goddess totems to self-portraits to wank dolls.
Contrast that to portraits of Min on Egyptian temple walls where we have a pretty thorough understanding of their purpose.
TwodogsFighting@lemdro.id 11 hours ago
Let’s face it. They were wank dolls. Prehistoric hustler.
captain_aggravated@sh.itjust.works 9 hours ago
I saw a video by Joe Scott in which he asked the question, what was the earliest depiction of a human face? Because it’s a weirdly recent phenomenon; prehistoric cave paintings are full of animals and silhouettes of human hands, but rarely any humans at all and if so only as rudimentary stick figures, nowhere near as well drawn as the animals. There are extremely few depictions of human faces that predate the invention of writing. Those “Venus” statues are practically always headless or, like the one shown above, has an abstract nub where the head should be.
TwodogsFighting@lemdro.id 8 hours ago
Have you a link to the video?