Woman Of Willendorf Analysis

The Woman of Willendorf and Women’s role in civilizations

Throughout history, it seems that the role of women in different civilizations and their significance and duties in day to day life as well as political and social life has taken many twists and turns. This can also be seen in relatively recent history, the way that women are viewed, treated and the way that they even view themselves and their place in the world has changed significantly even in the last several decades. It is astonishing how, even as far back as the Paleolithic Era, there appears to have been significant emphasis placed on women and their role as child bearers, among other possible things. The Woman of Willendorf sculpture provides us with insight as to some possible views and beliefs that were held toward women during the Paleolithic era of civilization. …show more content…
One interesting feature of this figurine is that the face of the woman is by no means distinguishable as a human face and no facial features (nose, eyes, etc.) are carved. Rather it seems that the artist purposefully covered the features up with what could be a headdress or some other sort of covering. Despite the lack of facial definition, we can determine that the sculpture is indeed of a woman because of the protruding breasts. Contrary to the facial aspects of the carving, the body parts are heavily defined, which can be interpreted as that for the culture at the time, women’s importance in civilization as bearers of children was highly recognized and of great