12,000-year-old realistic human statue was unearthed

Re:12,000-year-old realistic human statue was unearthed by permo-w on Monday October 02, 2023 @05:39AM (#37735941)

you're trying to argue that an 11cm tall figurine with no facial features is a civilisational achievement on par with a massive temple complex full of metres tall sculptures, reliefs and symbols that would require significant societal organisation: protection, education, food surplus, likely division of labour

the Venus of Willendorf could indicate some of those things, but it equally could have just been made by one especially advanced human

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:12,000-year-old realistic human statue was unearthed by bazoom42 on Monday October 02, 2023 @05:54AM (#37736057)

Nobody is arguing that. You are wildly fighting strawmen.

But the claim that “complex things like statues” were “not possible” is clearly BS.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:12,000-year-old realistic human statue was unearthed by edgyquant on Monday October 02, 2023 @08:10AM (#37737108)

No it isn’t, and a small figurine is specifically not a statue

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:12,000-year-old realistic human statue was unearthed by p-e-w on Monday October 02, 2023 @06:39AM (#37736421)

> the Venus of Willendorf could indicate some of those things, but it equally could have just been made by one especially advanced human

Hundreds of such figurines have survived to the present day, so tens of thousands must have been produced. They used materials transported over 1000+ kilometers. Clearly, those were made by a large-scale network of artists learning from one another, part of a pan-European culture – not by a random genius doodling around, otherwise they wouldn't be so similar to each other.

It's also pretty obvious from looking at the figurine that this wasn't the artist's first work. They probably had to make hundreds such statuettes before achieving this level of detail, so they were likely at least part-time professionals.

[ Parent | on HN ]