Location and Discovery
The Venus of Dolni Vestonice was found in two pieces in late July 1925, buried in a layer of ash at a paleolithic encampment in Moravia, formerly a region of Czechoslovakia. At the time of the discovery, the site had been been under close archeological investigation for nearly a year under the direction of Karel Absolon. Since then, further extensive digs have unearthed numerous items of ceramic art dating back to Paleolithic culture, including more than 700 animal figurines, all fired in the primitive kilns at Dolni Vestonice. Other Gravettian sites in the vicinity have yielded thousands more terracotta figurines and clay balls. In 1986, the skeletons of two young men and a woman, marked by ritualistic injuries and annointments, were excavated from a shallow burial pit at Dolni Vestonice, underlining the ceremonial significance of the site.