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Venus of Lespugue was discovered in the Rideaux Cave of Lespugue in the French Pyrenees in 1922. It quickly became a popular paleolithic venus figurine
Dated to around 25,000 years. It is of the paleolithic Gravettian.

It appears to display the most exaggerated female secondary sexual characteristics
Especially its extremely large, and pendulous breasts. Its head is disproportionately small compared to the body. It has with no distinct facial features. It is most often interpreted as having religious, fertility, or symbolic significance. Something within beauty, or the cultural context of the time.

Rideaux cave is in the foothills of the Pyrenees
René de Saint-Périer (1877-1950). Discovered it there.

It is Approximately 6 inches (150 mm) tall, and is carved from tusk ivory
Unfortunately, it was damaged during excavation. You can see it in France. At the Musée de l’Homme . In Paris.

Dating back to the gravettian culture. The Venus lespugue is old. Like many other Venus figurines, its exact purpose and meaning remain a debate. One thing is for certain. It held great symbolic significance that we can still see today in France.

Bibliography: Elizabeth Wayland Barber, (1994) Women’s Work: The First 20,000 Years: Women, Cloth, and Society in Early Times, W. W. Norton and Company, pg. 44, ASIN 0393035060.

Cohen C., 2003: La femme des origines. Images de la femme dans la préhistoire occidentale,, Paris, Belin-Herscher, 2003, 191 pages.

de Saint-Périer R., 1924: La Statuette féminine de Lespugue (Haute-Garonne) Bulletin de la Société préhistorique de France, 1924, tome 21, N. 3.. pp. 81-84.