Venus figurines of Petersfels/Engen, Germany

Engen is a town in southwestern Germany, in the state of Baden-Württemberg, not far from Switzerland. Some 3 kilometres from the town centre, there is a cave named Petersfels.

Several Venus figurines, 15,500 to 13,500 years old, have been found in the cave. They were created by the people of the Magdalenian. The features of the Venus figurines are very typical of the culture, i.e. highly stylised and depicted from the side. They are very similar to the Venus of the Pekárna Cave (the Moravian Karst, Czech Republic). But, whereas the Venus of Pekárna was carved of mammoth ivory, the Venus figurines of Engen/Petersfels were carved of jet (jet lignite). They are very small, with the height ranging from 4 to 1.5 centimetres. They are headless, and have a suspension eye instead.

The originals are housed in the museums in Engen and Freiburg im Breisgau.

If we take into consideration Venus (women) engravings from some other Magdalenian sites such as Gönnersdorf in Germany or the Fronsac cave in France, it is reasonable to believe that the motive for depicting them from the side was inspired by the then women's rituals.

Besides the Venus figurines, some 50,000 of stone artefacts and 1500 kg of animal bones have been dug up at the site.

Pictorilal reconstruction of the life of the then people by Libor Balák are exhibited both in the museum in the town of Engen and by the Petersfels Cave.