Ice Age Sex Toys

[carlosMM]

I am not kidding:

http://www.uni-tuebingen.de/uni/qvo/pm/pm2005/pm-05-73.html
in english:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4713323.stm


Content: scientists of Tübingen universtiy have discovered an ice age artifact shaped like a penis. It is 19,2 cm long, 3,6 cm wide and 2,8 cm thick and consists of 14 fragments found during the 2004 dig at the „Hohle Fels“ on the Swabian Alb.

What is so special is that FEMALE genitals are often prortrayed, MALE are not.


pics:
http://www.uni-tuebingen.de/uni/qvo/pm/pm2005/pm-05-73-01.html

 

[Ramius75]

mabye its just a pestle ?? :freak:

 

[Mise]

It is 19,2 cm long

That's about 7½" guys.

Carlos, when you say that female genitals are often portrayed, do you mean to say that cavemen crafted female genitals, but not male genitals? Would it normally be the men who craft these things, not the women? If so, would they have crafted these phallic objects for themselves?

 

[stormbind]

It could be a phallic symbol of worship, or perhaps a drum stick. I do not feel amused by their finding.

 

[carlosMM]

That's about 7½" guys.

Carlos, when you say that female genitals are often portrayed, do you mean to say that cavemen crafted female genitals, but not male genitals? Would it normally be the men who craft these things, not the women? If so, would they have crafted these phallic objects for themselves?

It is quite common to find e.g. female figures with vastly oversized genitals. Which means that female sexuality played an important role - not uncommon for cultures that depend on nature's fertility to survive. 'Mother Erath' (Gaia), remember?

Male genitals are also usually oversized (think of all the cave paintings), but actual 3D artifacts are rare.

It could be a phallic symbol of worship, or perhaps a drum stick. I do not feel amused by their finding.

It WAS used as a beater, too, says the article.

 

[stormbind]

mabye its just a pestle ?? :freak:

It does not look much like a penis, so I do not see why it couldn't be some kind of practical tool.

Would it not be exceedingly cold and uncomfortable to use a stone sex toy?

 

[carlosMM]

It does not look much like a penis, so I do not see why it couldn't be some kind of practical tool.

Would it not be exceedingly cold and uncomfortable to use a stone sex toy?

who says it really was a sex toy in the sense of 'something to pleasure yourself with'? It may have been a cult object, too......

and yes, the circles near the top are quite unusual, and the shape is not quite usual for tools...... so it appears to really be a penis.

btw, Nic Conards is a known expert, I doubt he's screw this interpretation up.

 

[IglooDame]

btw, Nic Conards is a known expert, I doubt he's screw this interpretation up.

No one is immune from the occasional Freudian slip or wishful thinking...

 

[stormbind]

who says it really was a sex toy in the sense of 'something to pleasure yourself with'? It may have been a cult object, too......

and yes, the circles near the top are quite unusual, and the shape is not quite usual for tools...... so it appears to really be a penis.

btw, Nic Conards is a known expert, I doubt he's screw this interpretation up.

You say that such phallic symbols are ussually oversized. Is 7½" oversized for the peoples concerned, or does the theory need to be revised?

 

[carlosMM]

You say that such phallic symbols are ussually oversized. Is 7½" oversized for the peoples concerned, or does the theory need to be revised?

7½ is indeed significantly above average - so the theory holds.

OTOH, it is not soooo much larger that it can't be used

 

[stormbind]

7½ is indeed significantly above average - so the theory holds.

OTOH, it is not soooo much larger that it can't be used

How tall were those people?

I realise that in some periods throughout history, people were scaled down, but I never assumed this applied to the stone age. Given the fragments of data provided, the artifact is assumed to date to the Mesolithic era.

Personally, I think the item concerned was a rug-beater, or something equally innocent. Afaik, it is not until the later Neolithic age that peoples started to use carvings to portray entertainment or fantasies.

But I do not know much. My understanding comes from Time Team

 

[classical_hero]

Wow. Sex toys from the past. It does not surprise me that this has happened. Obviously these instruments could be used in many ways, but sex toys are known to be used by peoples from the past.

 

[stormbind]

Wow. Sex toys from the past. It does not surprise me that this has happened. Obviously these instruments could be used in many ways, but sex toys are known to be used by peoples from the past.

Which populations are you referring to?

 

[Steph]

7½ is indeed significantly above average

Are you sure

As one of my friend said when we were at the university, when he exited the toilets

Friend 1 :"Don't you find I have small hands?"
Firend 2: "No they are normal"
Friend 1: "It's not the hands which are not of normal size then..."

 

[Gabryel Karolin]

This topics name brings absolutely horrid images to my mind. Thank you.

 

[farting bob]

btw, Nic Conards is a known expert, I doubt he's screw this interpretation up.

ow does one become a expert on stone age sex toys? I didnt see that course at college this year..
And i doubt its actually a dildo, like stormbind said, it would be hard to find a woman who enjoyed a really cold stone dildo.
A good find though!

 

[carlosMM]

ow does one become a expert on stone age sex toys? I didnt see that course at college this year..

I wasn't saying he's an expert on sex toys, though the next time I see him I will tell him about your interpretation - he'll love that

And i doubt its actually a dildo, like stormbind said, it would be hard to find a woman who enjoyed a really cold stone dildo.
A good find though!

as I said: may be a cult object....

or, thinking of all the cig lighters I have seen with nude girls on them - maybe it was a rug beater, but decorated otherwise... so stone age woman could dream....

at the very least this shows that the fertility obsession wasn't limited to female genitals. It may sound strange to us, today, but fertility is a BIG issue for hunter-gatherer societies, or primitive agricultural ones. What if the next year, no animal gets young one? a horror scenario for these people..... or, worse, what if they can't have kids?


remember how many religions have that focus on (re-)birth!

 

[Steph]

1- Perhaps they heated a bit before using it
2- Latex or similar material was not very common at the time, so perhaps they used what they could?

 

[The Last Conformist]

How tall were those people?

I realise that in some periods throughout history, people were scaled down, but I never assumed this applied to the stone age. Given the fragments of data provided, the artifact is assumed to date to the Mesolithic era.

Don't know about this particular population, but generally, mesolithic populations were fairly tall, but not as tall as modern populations.

 

[stormbind]

On the matter of dreaming stone age women: artifacts from the Neolithic age show signs of imagination and mythology (some interesting statues), but the carvings are more refined than in the artifact concerned. Neolithic people could make things smoother than that.

Artifacts from the earlier Mesolithic age are very practical and lack signs of mythology, but are made with less attention to detail - more rustic. It looks Mesolithic to my untrained eye.

So there is this issue where either the artifact was created by an prematurely advanced peoples (which is what the Germans would like to believe) or that the object has been mis-perceived.

Honestly, I do not think it looks like a phallic symbol. The little resemblance it does have could be coincidence.

I apologise for being unable to read a German news piece:

What was the artifact found with?

What year has it been dated to?

What material was left in the blemishes/grooves? (i.e. dandruff, sut, ash, animal hair, feces, oil, &c.)

I know nothing of the Alb, or what it was like at the end of the Ice Age. Did it turn swampy?