A pendant carved around 42,000 years ago may be the world’s first phallic artwork.
Researchers have called the carved graphite artefact the “earliest-known sexed anthropomorphic representation.”
The 4.3cm pendant predates the Venus of Hohle Fels statue in Germany that could be as old as 40,000 years.
It would also be older than the carvings in Chauvet Cave in France that depict vulvas and are around 32,000 years old.
The pendant was first discovered at the Tolbor archaeological site in northern Mongolia’s Khangai Mountains in 2016.
Radiocarbon dating of organic materials around the artefact places it at between 41,900 and 42,400 years old.
In the same sedimentary layer, scientists also found ostrich eggshell beads, a fragment of an ostrich eggshell pendant, fragments of animal bones, and other stone pendants.
As the graphite artefact is not instantly recognisable as a penis, University of Bordeaux archaeologist Solange Rigaud explained: “Our argument is that when you want to represent something abstractly, you will choose very specific features that really characterise what you want to represent.”
The person who carved the pendant appears to have taken considerable care to distinguish the shaft from the glans as well as include the urethral opening.
Analysis shows that stone tools were probably used to carve the glans and the urethra.
The artefact was also smoother on the reverse side than the front and the string was probably fastened around the penis head, implying it was worn as a pendant around the neck.
Surface wear and tear also suggests the object was handed down from generation to generation.
Additionally, as graphite wasn’t widely available in the region, it is believed that the pendant came from far afield and was initially acquired through trade.
However, not everyone is convinced that the object represents a penis.
Boston University archaeologist Curtis Runnels, who did not take part in the research, called it a “small and rather shapeless object”.
He added that he “would need to be convinced” that it did indeed symbolise a penis.
Archaeologist Francesco D’Errico, who did not take part in the study but shares a laboratory with several of the researchers, said: “I think the interpretation holds.”
He stated that the “small size of the object, the exotic provenance of the raw material, and the modifications are quite telling”.
Researchers said: “Although it is difficult entirely to rule out other possibilities, based on these morphological analogies, the most compelling interpretation of the pendant is a simplified phallic representation.”
The artefact suggests that humans have been artistically depicting the male member for at least 42,000 years.
It would also confirm that hunter-gatherer communities used sexual symbology at an early stage of their dispersal throughout the region.
Such symbols were used to bring good fortune and fend off evil spirits.
