She's 25,000 years old, fits in the palm of your hand, and has sparked over a century of archaeological debate. In our premiere episode, we explore the Woman of Willendorf—a tiny limestone figurine discovered in Austria that might be a fertility goddess, a self-portrait, or something else entirely. We dive into the wild theories about her purpose, from the sacred to the ridiculous, and explore why humans across the globe created strikingly similar figures at the same time without ever meeting. What does this four-and-a-half-inch statue tell us about Ice Age life, ancient artistry, and what it means to be human?

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS:

• Discovery of the Venus of Willendorf in 1908
• Four major theories: goddess, charm, pornography, or self-portrait
• The radical 1990s self-portrait theory that changes everything
• Venus figurines found across Europe and Asia—created by cultures with zero contact
• What these ancient artifacts tell us about universal human creativity

RESOURCE LINKS:

• The Woman of Willendorf (image source)
• https://www.nhm-wien.ac.at/en
• https://smarthistory.org/venus-of-willendorf/
• https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/pwht/hd_pwht.htm
• https://www.worldhistory.org/Venus_Figurines/
• The Nature of Paleolithic Art by R. Dale Guthrie
• The Invisible Sex: Uncovering the True Roles of Women in Prehistory by J.M. Adovasio (discusses the self-portrait theory)