The so-called Savignano’s Venus is the Italian most famous prehistoric female figurine. Carved in serpentine this figurine shows a possible mix of symbolic value between the male and female sphere

Morphology of the object:

The figurine was carved out of a tender block of yellow-greenish serpentine stone block, in order to be viewed from all four sides. The statuette can be inscribed within a diamond shape with the torso in the center and the extremities ending in conical shape. The head is roughly carved in a conical shaped pyramid with a smoothed corned which can be interpreted as the two sides of the face. The shoulders are barely shown, the arms are carved in detail while the forearms, roughly carved and missing the hands, are reclined as to hold up the large breast. The bust is slightly tilted backwards and the back is slightly convex: the stomach is large and presents a lateral line along the loins. The buttocks are pronounced and separated by a deep carved line, the thighs are voluminous. On both sides the legs are divided by a vertical carved line more pronounced on the back side where it connects with the carving demarking the buttocks. The short legs end in a conical shape without details of the feet. Slightly convex shaped marks seem to define the knees. The figurine is not free-standing but thanks to a flat area at the center of the buttocks can be places supinated or seated.

On the front left side of the head, on the right arm and lower backside of the figurine are visible traces of red color, possibly ochre.

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Female figurines dating back to the Gravettian and/or Epigravettian period have been found in Italy in the Caves of Balizi Rossi of Grimaldi in Liguria, around the Lake Trasimeno in Umbria and in the cave of Venus near Parabita in Apulia. All of these statuettes were recovered within uncertain archaeological stratigraphies but it was possible to date them back to the Upper Paleolithic Period thanks to the strong analogies with the “Venus” of the European Gravettian Period. Certain stylistic aspects of the Venus of Savignano, larger in size, more elongated in shape and less obese compared to the European artefacts, makes it impossible to formulate valid comparisons.

The shape of the stomach, the abundance of the breast and the roundness of the hips and the buttocks suggests a pregnant female figurine. Different hypothesis have been suggested regarding the position of the statuette: some scholars believe that the “Venus” was vertically planted in the ground based on the fact that the lower part of the body is a worse condition compared to the upper one. This idea seems unlikely because of the fine carving present in the line dividing the figurine’s legs nearly to the extremity which suggests that the whole statuette was meant to be seen. Other scholars have suggested that the “Venus” was lying on its back with the torso and buttocks touching the ground. The position of the breast and stomach however do not suggests a supine female woman. Lately a new hypothesis has been made of the figurine as the depiction of a seated woman with her back slightly tilted backwards. The “Venus of Savignano” was found by chance during construction work at a depth of 1.4 – 2 m., within a fluvial area from the Upper Pleistocene Period. At the time the layer in which the figure was recovered was described as “unaltered clay and yellowish” alluvial soil. Recent investigation in the area has attested that the loess layer in which the “Venus” was recovered covers an alluvial conoide of the Panaro River from 30000 years ago. Because the artefact was not recovered in a specific archaeological context it has been attributed to different chronological phases. On the base of a stylistic analysis of the figurine most scholars date it back to the Upper Paleolithic Period, but since its recovery (Antonelli 1925 e 1926) and more recently (Fugazzola 2001) a Neolithic Period attribution has been suggested.

ANTONIELLI U., 1925, Una statuetta femminile di Savignano sul Panaro e il problema delle figure dette “steatopigie”, in BPI, XLV, pp.35-61 ANTONIELLI U., 1926, La statuetta femminile steatopigica di Savignano sul Panaro, in RivAntr XXXVII, pp.283-299 ANTONIELLI U., 1928, A proposito della “Veneretta” di Svignano (commenti alle critiche), BPI, 48, pp..140-156 ARNOLDUS-HUYZENDVELD A., 1996: "Contexte pédologique", in: M.Mussi: "Problèmes réecents et découvertes anciennes: la statuette de Savignano" in: Bulletin de la Société Préhistorique. FORMENTINI R., Le “Veneri”: immagini femminili tangibili. Figure e segni nella pietra. Preistoria Alpina, 2, pp.164-170 FUGAZZOLA DELPINO M.A., 2001, in Donne, uomini, animali, arte e di culto nella preistori. Catalogo della Mostra GRAZIOSI P., 1973, L’arte preistorica in Italia, MUSSI M., ZAMPETTI D., 1988, Frontiera e confini del Gravettiano, Scienze dell’Antichità, 2, pp.46-78 PALMA DI CESNOLA A., 1993, Il Paleolitico Superiore in Italia, Firenze.