Melissa K Stannard - photo from her Facebook page.
Whilst recently researching different theories about the Venus of Hohle Fels figurine, I discovered the fascinating contemporary Australian, indigenous artist and jeweller, Melissa K Stannard. She published a paper with the Australian archaeologist Michelle C Langley, entitled ‘The 40,000-Year-Old Female Figurine of Hohle Fels: Previous Assumptions and New Perspectives’ in May 2020. This work documents their collaborative investigation into the possibilities, either that the Venus of Hohle Fels originally was designed as a two-part piece with a perishable head, or that the sculpture was a broken and reworked figurine, with an as yet unfound head.
Figure 1. The Venus of Hohle Fels.
They noticed that previous scholars had assumed that the sculpture, never had a head. When Conard first found the figurine, he suggested that the presence of a loop on the shoulders, plus some varnish still on the loop, meant it was, at times, suspended as a pendant and this idea had not been challenged (Conard, 2009, p.250). The idea that prehistoric figurines may have had organic items attached to them, was not a new idea (Meskell, 2017, p.17-36). Yet, it appeared that no one had questioned Conard’s speculation (Conard, 2009, p.250).
Stannard’s skills as a jeweller and artist, as well as her knowledge of indigenous techniques and materials, enabled her to test out their theory that the figurine’s head was made of perishable material, possibly woven plant or animal fibres.
Figure 2.
(a-b) an exact copy of the Hohle Fels figurine was created out of red deer antler, with the assistance of a resin replica for comparison; (c) unretouched obsidian flakes were used to incise her body markings; (d-e) string and cordage were made using indigenous techniques and bone tools.
Stannard made a variety of heads and whilst doing so, realized that the possibilities for what the head was made from, in terms of available raw materials, and how it could be attached, were endless. Therefore, if the figurine initially did have a head made out of perishable materials, it would not survive 40,000 years underground.
Figure 3. Experimenting with attaching heads.
(a) Human hair string; b) Canine fur string; c) Horsehair string with antler disc beads; d) Goat leather stuffed with soft cattail bulrush seeds; e) Sedge-fibre string; f) Nettle-fibre string; g) Woven pine needles; h) Nerita shell; l) Horse tooth; j) White beech; k) Bovine knuckle bone; l) Red deer antler.
Their research led them to question why the loop had been created off-centre. It was not the logical position to attach a head to, or to hang a pendant from. They suggested that the figurine might have been originally carved in one piece, that had subsequently been broken and then reworked by an artist who created the existing loop.
Interestingly, in 2014 further ivory fragments were found at the same site, with similar deeply incised markings (Conard and Kind, 2017. p.58). Stannard and Langley observed that these fragments were of a suitable size, to provide the figurine with a head and they speculated that this head could transform the Venus of Hohle Fels figurine, into a ‘lion woman’. This idea is not as implausible as it may first appear, because a miniature Lion Man was also found at the same Hohle Fels site. Stannard and Langley did concede, that this hypothesis is based on evidence from photographs only, and if they were to examine the artefacts in person, then closer inspection might disprove this theory (Stannard and Langley, 2020).
Figure 4. ‘Lion Woman’
It hadn’t occurred to me that an artist might work collaboratively with an archaeologist in this way. Further research revealed, that her more recent work also links with my own. Her recent exhibition was entitled ‘Fragments of Remembering’ and she described this as ‘inspired by the beauty of decay, the traces left behind, following the threads and echoes of past lives’ (Stannard, 2020). My work also explores memories, ancient artefacts, and traces left behind.
References:
Images
Figure 1. Jensen, H. (2009) 'A female figurine from the basal Aurignacian of Hohle Fels Cave in southwest Germany', Nature, Vol 589, (14 May 2009.doi:10.1038/nature07995), p.248, Figure 1.
Figure 2. Hitchcock, D. (2018) donsmaps.com [photographs]. Available at: https://donsmaps.com/hohlefelsvenus.html (Accessed 8 November 2020).
Figures 3 and 4. Stannard, M and Langley, M. (2020). Cambridge Archaeological Journal, [Photographs] 1-13. DOI:10.1017/S0959774320000207 (pp 4-8, fig 2,7).
Books
Conard, N.J. and Kind, C.J. (2017) Als der Mensch die Kunst erfand [when man invented art]. Darmstadt: Theiss.
Meskell, L., (2017) The Oxford Handbook of Prehistoric Figurines: The Archaeology of Figurines and the Human Body in Prehistory. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Journals
Conard, N.J. (2009) 'A female figurine from the basal Aurignacian of Hohle Fels Cave in southwest Germany', Nature, Vol 589, 14 May. doi.org/10.1038/nature07995 pp.250-248-252.
Stannard, M., & Langley, M. (2020) The 40,000-Year-Old Female Figurine of Hohle Fels: Previous Assumptions and New Perspectives. Cambridge Archaeological Journal, 1-13. DOI:10.1017/S0959774320000207
Stannard, M. (2020) QSA Artist Talk with Melissa Stannard [Facebook] 11 August. Available at: https://www.facebook.com/events/queensland-state-archives/qsa-artist-talk-with-melissa-stannard-fragments-of-remembering/4232165680157975 (Accessed: 9 November 2020).
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