KOŁOBRZEG, POLAND—Researchers have determined that a nearly five-inch-tall limestone figurine of a woman found by a farmer near the city of Kołobrzeg in 2022 dates to more than 6,000 years ago, according to a report in The Art Newspaper. The statuette was dubbed the "Venus of Kołobrzeg," a reference to similar Neolithic figurines with accentuated breasts unearthed throughout Europe that scholars believe were fertility symbols. The oldest known example, which was found in 2008 at southern Germany's Hohle Fels Cave, is some 40,000 years old. The Kołobrzeg Venus is the only such figurine discovered north of the Carpathian Mountains. Researchers noted that the figure is rather simplistically crafted and has no discernible facial features. The lower limbs seem to have been created by striking the stone with a hard tool. Since the statuette's back is fairly flat, the researchers posit that it may have been affixed to a base or perhaps have been displayed vertically. To read about recent research on the 30,000-year-old Venus of Willendorf, go to "The Birth of Venus," one of ARCHAEOLOGY's Top 10 Discoveries of 2022.
