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By Josh Witten | May 14th 2009 02:00 PM | 9 comments | Print | E-mail | Track Comments
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About Josh Witten

100% of this the rugbyologist's revenue is donated to Doctors Without Borders (Medecins Sans Frontieres). A click on one of my articles is a click that helps bring high quality medical care to the... Full Bio

Supreme Court justice Potter Stewart famously stated, regarding hard-core pornography, during the Jacobellis vs Ohio obscenity case (1964):
I shall not today attempt further to define the kinds of material I
understand to be embraced within that shorthand description; and
perhaps I could never succeed in intelligibly doing so.  But I know it when I see it, and the motion picture involved in this case is not that.

In today's edition of Nature, researcher Nicholas Conard reports what may be the oldest existing example of figurative art dating to at least 35,000 years ago.  The sculpture in question, with its exaggerated secondary sexual characteristics (i.e., large breasts and vulva) represents the Venus figurines, which were common across Europe 20,000-25,000 years ago.     
 H. Jensen @ Univ. of Tubingen
Whether the sculpture was intended for ritualistic use, pornography, or simply reflects more relaxed social mores is open to individual interpretation at this point.  Your thoughts? 

That, of course, did not stop Science ("The Earliest Pornography?") or Nature ("Prehistoric Pin Up") from going for the titillating title.  Or yours truly, for that matter.  Hey, if it works it works.  Not our fault y'all are predictable.

It does seem, however, that the penchant for unrealistic depictions of the female form has not changed much over the millennia, let alone the last 50 years.

Comments

Hank's picture
If even Science went for the cheese, I can't imagine what New Scientist will do with it:  

"Oldest porn ever!
 "Paleo-porn!"
 "Here is what Jenny McCarthy will look like in 35,000 Years!"
"Darwin was wrong about paleo-porn!  UFOs brought it!!!"

I should totally buy New Scientist.  I can come up with their titles without even trying.

jtwitten's picture
Before fingers are pointed, the Scientific Blogging news feed article on this sculpture actually contains the word "porn-eolithic".

Hank's picture
Of course it does!   We're no dummies.

jtwitten's picture
No we are intellectual elites.

When I read "porn-eolithic", I sighed so hard that my browser closed and I had to stop reading.

Hank's picture
"Swabian Jura Venus Figurine Rewrites Ideas On Paleolithic Art" as a title is not exactly selling out for page views like those other guys are doing.  Injecting some humor  in one sentence is not so bad.  We're not saving lives here.

Becky Jungbauer's picture
I definitely sighed, but after I laughed out loud and then shook my head.

jtwitten's picture
Injecting some humor  in one sentence is not so bad.

Agreed, I just didn't think it was funny.

Becky Jungbauer's picture
And actually, when I saw the sculpture I immediately thought, "Wow, someone made a sculpture of Yarna d'al' Gargan."

This is interesting. I remember seeing many of these types of figureines (ms?), but I have never heard them called 'porn'.

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