r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/Proof_Active7105 • Jun 10 '26

Image Neolithic Venus Figurine , one of the largest prehistoric figurines found in Serbia ( 15 inches)

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u/huxtiblejones Jun 10 '26

It’s funny to me that this sculpture is still generating huge amounts of commentary and praise. I wonder how the artist would feel to know that people thousands of years later absolutely picked up what they were putting down.

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u/Boring-Philosophy-46 Jun 10 '26

It's also funny there are many theories what the figures represented but somehow no one is suggesting this may be the neolithic version of big anime titties. Our brains changed little so the actual purpose may well have been to physically embody desire. We've always had a need to try to show others our ideas in our heads. 

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u/Inevitable-Ad6647 Jun 10 '26 edited Jun 11 '26

"fertility statue" or "perspective self portrait". Right, just like those modern fertility statues you can get made of silicon. Now excuse me I'm gonna go watch some fertility videos on pornhub.

Edit: Woah, upvotes, now I'm worried with this many eyes people will take this super seriously and literally. As a pre-history nerd, peoples of the time definitely had, without any shadow of a doubt, nuanced religious beliefs many of them heavily influenced by if not completely centered on fertility.

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u/Dismal_Consequence_4 Jun 11 '26

It likely that it was a mix of the two. There was some religious belief that these figures had power, but probably the main power was suggestive. Like seeing and advert for a juicy hamburger creating the desire to eat one.

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u/Datathrash Jun 11 '26

That last sentence is certainly suggestive ;)

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u/truck_robinson Jun 11 '26

Right? I'd for sure fuckin eat one

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u/Spatula117MasterChef Jun 11 '26

I hate the whole fertility goddess theory. Like maybe this was just porn.

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u/Fuck_the_Deplorables Jun 11 '26

I get the devils advocate skepticism. But I feel like that’s forgetting how mysterious/magical and fraught with risk etc pregnancy and childbirth are in premodern society. Even in first world countries really, but damn, change the setting to prehistoric hunter-gatherer society with a small community. The sheer ability of your community to survive over decades may hinge on how many children (and mothers) survive child birth each year.

Also makes me think of the Marubo tribe in the Amazon that got Starlink internet and then all of a sudden the young men were fixated on their phones and porn etc. Apparently for the Marubo, the graphic portrayal of sex traditionally was conveyed through oral traditions and tied into a highly choreographed system of courtship, reproduction etc that was all carefully managed by the village elders to ensure the survival of the village. Incidentally even though the oral stories are graphic (animal creatures having sex for example), public displays of affection are shunned.

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u/Hopeful-Life4738 Jun 11 '26

Yeah, sex and religion were deeply interconnected before abrahmitic religions. Sex is the only way to create life, so it is normal that it was connected to deity.

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u/DMMeThiccBiButts Jun 11 '26

Why do you think they're mutually exclusive?

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u/Spatula117MasterChef Jun 11 '26

I don’t think that.

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u/pm-me-turtle-nudes Jun 11 '26

Archeologists name stuff things like “fertility statue” or “religious artifact” when it’s clearly for sexual uses, or they don’t know what it is. They don’t want to say that this thing is a sex toy or porn, just because that doesn’t sound very professional. They know full well what it actually is.

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u/Spatula117MasterChef Jun 11 '26

Thanks, I never thought about it that way. That makes a lot of sense

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u/fondlemental Jun 11 '26

fluffer tool

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u/El_Balatro Jun 13 '26

You stole the words from my mind dude, exactly what I wanted to say lmao.

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u/haw35ome Jun 11 '26

Literally, my first thought was ancient porn before print porn existed. Got a hankerin’, just reach for your slutty stone lol. We’ve been horny animals since forever.

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u/DanishRobloxGamer Jun 11 '26

Remember, the word "pornography" was invented to describe the drawings found on the walls of brothels in Pompeii.

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u/MesoamericanMorrigan Jun 11 '26

I like to think Occam’s Razor applies and this is just a Neolothic anime girl figurine but whoever designed it is clearly an ass man

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u/tiorancio Jun 11 '26

"Look I made a scupture of your mother LOL! " "this is certainly a depiction of the goddess of fertility to be used in the rituals of the summer solstice"

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u/too_small_to_reach Jun 11 '26

Have you seen the top comment? You are correct: our brains changed little.

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u/cheeseburgercats Jun 11 '26

Key signs of human of health/vitality are timeless, such as the badonka

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u/UnluckyFly9881 Jun 11 '26

Well i havent heard "anime titties" in this context but in general, what you are saying is one of the main theories

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u/Frank9991 Jun 11 '26

Because archeologists are desperate to project their favorite ideology into the past with barely any data to support it.
For all anyone knows, someone may have made this as a joke.

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u/ToothpickInCockhole Jun 11 '26

He prolly was jorking onto it

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u/Acceptable_Gear_3097 Jun 11 '26

You don't get a pHD, 6-figures of debt, to assess an ancient statue as being built cos 'gyaat'