Kostenkovsky Venus

Kostenkovsky Venus is a conditional name for ten paleolithic statuettes of women ^[1] discovered at Kostenkovsky camps in the Voronezh region . Similar figurines are also found at the Avdeevskaya site in the Kursk region . Created approximately 23-21 thousand years ago by the bearers of the Kostenkov-Avdeev culture . They are kept in the State Hermitage .

External Images
	Illustration from the website of the State Hermitage Museum

In general, the figures are characterized by a single artistic canon: the rounded forms of the chest and abdomen are hypertrophied, very thin arms are folded on the chest, legs are slightly bent, faces are almost smooth, without details ^[2] . In 1977, the first "Paleolithic Venus" was found in Avdeevo with a carefully crafted face (right up to the hairdo or cap, which is transmitted in rows of notches) ^[2] . On several figures, jewelry is visible, including bracelets and a chest-protecting band ^[3] .

Figures made of stone ( limestone , marl ) or mammoth tusk. The cult-ritual purpose of the tusk and stone statuettes obviously varied. “The figures from the limestone were intentionally beaten off their heads and legs, their chest and stomach were damaged,” while the figures from the tusk were preserved intact: they were “kept in special depressions with other objects significant to the ancient person” ^[4] .