Goddess of Hohle Fels

The Goddess of Hohle Fels was created around 40,000 years ago, shortly after early modern humans (Cro-Magnon) migrated into Europe and began displacing the Neanderthals, though it's not certain who is the artist. (Personally, I think the body-type suggests the Neanderthals.)

The main characteristics of this tiny (2.5") prehistoric Goddess figurine, as with all ancient Mother Goddesses, are the reproductive attributes: the massive breasts, the pregnant belly lovingly held.

Something that sets the Hohle Fels Goddess apart from other ancient Goddess icons is her even more pronounced than usual, greatly magnified Yoni (sacred vulva) which is carved in elaborate detail.

Another distinctive feature is that this Goddess idol was given a loop in place a head, which appears to have been used to her loop onto a thong to wear, possibly, as a pendant.

Venus of Hohle Fels:
Goddess or Prehistoric Pin-up Girl?

Looking back over dozens and even hundreds of millennia, it's easy to lose sight of how distant these ancient Goddess icons were from each other... across the globe, and with time frames as long as Homo Sapiens' existence on the planet. The globe doesn't seem so big to us today, but it wasn't all that long ago that a journey of a few hundred miles was sensational.

And in all that distance in time and space, it's astonishing that the style of the Mother Goddess has not changed much. The prodigious breasts, large pregnant belly (often with arms resting or touching it, as any pregnant mother does), the exaggerated Yoni, the minimalized arms and legs are common to Goddess statuettes as far displaced in time and space as Germany to Africa, and modern times to 20,000 years ago!

The Hohle Fels Goddess would've been unimaginably ancient when the Neanderthals vanished!

You'd think we'd have a deep respect for her, wouldn't you?

Yet these ancient Goddesses are still being touted as either primitively depicted portraits of real people, fertility cult symbols, or — most sadly revealing of our current mindset — early pornography. Discovered in the year 2008 (when we should be able to expect better), the Goddess of Hohle Fels was dismissively hailed a "Prehistoric Pin-up," albeit one with profound revelations for archeology.

Carved by flint tools, she represents an immense investment of time, energy, and probably flints. This suggests that she was highly important & meaningful. And the lack of a human head should put to final rest the delusion that these figures are merely portraits of actual women.

To look at these ancient statuettes, it's obvious that they are depicting something significant, something more than the merely mundane.

Altogether it's clear that the Goddess of Hohle Fels is meant to represent a force of Nature, a feminine deity.