3 October 2023 The Future is the Product of the Past

A 42,000-year-old pendant found in northern Mongolia may be the earliest known phallic art

An international team of researchers has found a pendant in northern Mongolia that may be the earliest known example of a carved phallus. This pendant suggests that for at least 42,000 years, our species has been artistically depicting the penis.

The stone was found at a dig site in northern Mongolia’s Khangai Mountains. The piece of ornament interpreted as a phallus-like representation is about 4.3 centimeters long and made by humans.

According to researchers behind a study of the pendant, published this week in Nature Scientific Reports, the carved graphite is the “earliest-known sexed anthropomorphic representation.”

The dating of the material shows it was from approximately 42,400 to 41,900 years ago, putting its creation in the Upper Paleolithic.

Three-dimensional phallic pendants are unknown in the Paleolithic record. It attests that hunter-gatherer communities used sex anatomical attributes as symbols at a very early stage of their dispersal in the region. The pendant was produced during a period that overlaps with age estimates for early introgression events between Homo sapiens and Denisovans, and in a region where such encounters are plausible,” the science team wrote in the study published in Nature.

Microscopic images of the modifications observed on the graphite pendant: (a–b) mid-section groove, (c) short groove located at one extremity of the artefact, (d–e) parallel striations observed on the flat side of the artefact, (f) highly smoothed and shiny facet present on the flat side of the artefact, (g) 3D reconstruction of the mid-section groove, (h–i) profile of the mid-section groove, (j) 3D reconstruction of the groove located at one extremity of the artefact, (k–l) profile of the groove located at one extremity of the artefact. Credit: Scientific Reports. DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-36140-1
Microscopic images of the modifications observed on the graphite pendant: (a–b) mid-section groove, (c) short groove located at one extremity of the artefact, (d–e) parallel striations observed on the flat side of the artefact, (f) highly smoothed and shiny facet present on the flat side of the artefact, (g) 3D reconstruction of the mid-section groove, (h–i) profile of the mid-section groove, (j) 3D reconstruction of the groove located at one extremity of the artefact, (k–l) profile of the groove located at one extremity of the artefact. Credit: Scientific Reports. DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-36140-1

The black pendant has several grooves, but two of them caught the attention of scientists. Researchers think these grooves were carved into the stone to make it resemble a human penis. But not everyone is convinced that the Mongolian pendant represents a phallus.

Solange Rigaud, an archaeologist at the University of Bordeaux and the study’s lead author, thinks the strongest argument for the pendant as a phallic representation comes from the features its maker focused on. “Our argument is that when you want to represent something abstractly, you will choose very specific features that really characterize what you want to represent,” she says. For example, the carver appears to have taken care to define the urethral opening, she notes, and to distinguish the glans from the shaft.

A combination of microscopy and other surface analyses show that stone tools were likely used to carve out the grooves for both the urethra and the glans. The pendant was also discovered to be smoother on the back than the front; a string was likely fastened around the glans, suggesting the ornament may have been worn around the neck. The amount of wear on the surface suggests it was likely handed down across multiple generations.

Graphite wasn’t widely available near Tolbor, suggesting the pendant may have come from elsewhere, perhaps through trade.

The study was published in the journal Nature.

DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-36140-1

Banner
Related Post

More than 56400 Cultural Goods Seized in Operation Pandora V

11 May 2021

11 May 2021

Operation Pandora V, aimed at preventing the illegal trade of cultural goods, has been one of the most successful operations...

God Pan statue unearthed at Istanbul’s historical church of St. Polyeuctus

1 June 2023

1 June 2023

A Pan statue thought to belong to the Roman period was recovered during excavation works carried out by Istanbul Metropolitan...

Archaeologists have unearthed two early Aksumite Churches in Africa

11 December 2022

11 December 2022

New discoveries in the port city of Adulis on Eritrea’s Red Sea coast show that two ancient churches discovered more...

Medieval gold ‘lynx’ earrings from Ani Ruins

29 December 2022

29 December 2022

A pair of lynx-shaped gold earrings have been unearthed near the ruins of Ani, the once great metropolis known as...

Stone Penis Found in Medieval Spanish ruins Had Violent Purpose

11 June 2023

11 June 2023

Archaeologists found a six-inch stone penis while excavating the Tower of Meira (Torre de Meira) in the city of Ría...

Egypt unearths ancient quarters of mining leader in the Sinai Peninsula during the Middle Kingdom

19 January 2022

19 January 2022

The Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities announced recently that an Egyptian archaeological mission working in Wadi Al-Nasab in South...

Famous Egyptologist Zahi Hawass Wants to See Hieroglyphs as an İntegral Part of The Curriculum

23 February 2021

23 February 2021

The Egyptian council of ministers is discussing the introduction of archaeological and tourist materials in the education curriculum to help...

Archeologists unearth largest rare wooden “Haniwa” Statue in Japan

10 December 2022

10 December 2022

The remains of a 3.5-meter-tall wooden “haniwa” statue have been discovered at one of the “kofun” ancient burial mounds that...

The Kyrgyz epic ‘Manas’ manuscripts were included in the UNESCO Memory of the World

10 June 2023

10 June 2023

Manuscripts of the Kyrgyz epic “Manas” by narrator Sagymbay Orozbakov have been inscribed on the UNESCO Memory of the World...

New research, prove that Romans were breeding small bulldogs

11 June 2023

11 June 2023

Researchers have proven that breeding small brachycephalic (shorter-nosed) dogs took place already in ancient Rome. Research on a 2,000 years...

2,000-year-old bamboo slips discovered in Yunnan

31 March 2023

31 March 2023

Thousands of bamboo slips (rectangles tied together to form books) have been discovered at the Hebosuo archaeological site in southwestern...

Explore 1,400-year-old ruins, submerged in Eastern China – Atlantis of China

10 June 2023

10 June 2023

Deep in Qiandao Lake, between China’s Five Lion Mountains, lie the mysterious ruins of two ancient cities, dating back to...

Archaeologists are deciphering Roman history along Dere Street, one of the oldest roadways in Britain

17 July 2021

17 July 2021

Final archaeological finds uncovered as part of a major road improvement in the north of England have shed new insight...

21 Copperplate Inscriptions discovered at Ghanta Matham in India

14 June 2021

14 June 2021

During excavations at Ghanta Matham in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh,  important 21 copper plates for the Mallikarjuna Swami...

Ancient Murals of Two-faced Figures Found in Peru

21 March 2023

21 March 2023

Archaeologists are reporting a number of fascinating discoveries as work on the excavations at Pañamarca progresses that are helping to...

Comments
Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *