The so - called ” Venus " figurines , some of the earliest acknowledge depictions of homo in prehistorical art , have intrigued anthropologists for X and inspired more than their fair part of argumentation . Now , a team of medical experts has declare oneself a new theory of the signification behind these mysterious relics involve obesity and climate change . However , the theory is rise to be controversial and has already provoke up some criticism from anthropologists .
Officially know asUpper palaeolithic figurine , the compendium of three - dimensional cutting were crafted out of soft stone , ivory , or bone some 11,000 to 35,000 long time ago by Ice Age hunter - gatherers . They appear to depict curvaceous female figure with a small head , wider hips , big breasts , and bantam feet . 12 have been discovered in the past duad of centuries , in the main in Europe , with some examples discovered in Asia . But despite being found across huge swath of Eurasia , they all deal some characteristics in their style of delineation .
antecedently theory about their import have suggested the shapely bodies are symbols of natality or beauty , hence the nickname Venus statuette . Others have speculate they might be self - portraits of females , created from the perspective of women looking down at their own body , as highlighted by the large breasts , small feet , and lack of faces .
Writing in the journalObesity , a diminished team of obesity experts now propose the idea that the figurines represented an idealized body type for multitude living in exceptionallyharsh consideration .
Their enquiry suggest that the body size became big when the glaciers were shape up and conditions were getting tough , while the body became thinner when the climate warmed and the surroundings became more comfortable . So their possibility goes , the masses were depicted as overweight during times of strife , as this would have been the ideal body shape to handle with the hunger and cold .
“ Some of the earliest art in the earth are these mystical figurines of overweight women from the time of hunter - gatherer in Ice Age Europe where you would not anticipate to see corpulency at all . We show that these figurines correlate to times of utmost nutritional stress,”Richard J Johnson , a professor at the University of Colorado School of Medicine , specializing in renal disease and hypertension , said in astatement .
However , not everyone is corrupt this idea . Researchershave commentedthat the study author have fiddling expertise in the field ofanthropology or archeology . Among their criticisms , they point out that the researchers only read a select subset of figurines , many of which seem to be of prominent size of it . The raw inquiry has also been criticized for failing to consider the wider debates around them .
“ I do n’t corrupt their conclusions,”Julien Riel - Salvatore , PhD , a professor of anthropology at the University of Montréal , told IFLScience .
“ Their sample is really slanted and they do n’t really seem to have a good grasp of what has been said about ‘ Venus figurines ’ by archaeologists , ” Riel - Salvatore explain . “ The sample distribution is one-sided because they only analyse pic of some figurine which they found on a personal website , not the figurines themselves . This makes it hard to get a good sentiency of the dimension they postulate to accurately derive the measurements they use in their proportion .
“ While this does n’t intend their conclusion is necessarily untimely , they do n’t really have enough data to support it , in my opinion . ”
