Sculpted (basse-rond) Phallus
Male sexual representation
Abri Blanchard type, Dordogne
Aurignacian
42 000 and 34 000 years
The vulvas and phallus represented by Palaeolithic societies speaks to the origin of art, the body that gives meaning and holds the future.
D. Vialou, Au cœur de la Préhistoire. Chasseurs et artistes. Découvertes Gallimard, Paris. 1996
Commentary :
Across Europe, male sexual representations are present in cave art as well everyday portable art objects.
These phallic pieces are frequently sculpted ‘in the round’, on reindeer antler or bone.
The Aurignacian phallus from Abri Blanchard in the Dordogne, sculpted from a bison horn core, is highly anatomically accurate.
Although rare, phallic representations reflect the symbolic element attributed to male genitalia, by prehistoric societies.