The oldest surviving works of art come from the archaeological layer of the Upper Paleolithic in Europe, just a short time after Homo sapiens sapiens started the final stage in its cultural evolution.


Although the graphical production is dedicated mainly to the representation of geometric forms and to the zoomorphic iconography, human figures have also appeared.

The major part of these are representations of female forms were designed on a portable support like stone, mud, ivory or whatever. They are statuettes between 5 and 25 centimeters high like the ones we have reproduced.

The appearance of "Venus" has a restricted chronological range between 30,000 and the 15,000 BC. Their diffusion extends from the south of France to Siberia and from the south of Italy to the Rhine, without crossing the Pyrenees.

Anthropologists don't doubt that the artistic spirit appeared after humans acquired symbolic thought, but when and how this happened are questions that only the study of these first human representations can answer.

Origin: Brassempouy, France.
Current location: Museum of Antiques of the Nation of Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France.
Discoverer: E. Piette (1894).
Date: 30.000-15.000 BC.
Composition: carved mammoth ivory.

Hand-made piece.
Material: polyurethane resin.
Dimensions: h=37 mm.

Origin: Cueva del Pr¹ncipe, Ventimiglia, Italy
Current location: Museum of Antiques of the Nation of Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France
Discoverer: Reinach (1898)
Date: 20.000 BC
Composition: green steatite

Hand-made piece.
Material: polyurethane resin.
Dimensions: h=81 mm

Origin: Laussel de Lascaux, Dordogne
Current location: Bordeaux Museum, France
Discoverer: Lalanne and Buoysonnie (1908)
Date: 23.000-20.000 BC
Composition: hard limestone block.

Hand-made piece.
Material: polyurethane resin.
Dimensions: h=42 mm
Also call "The Lady of the Cuerna", this is a 2:1 scale replica.

Origin: Tambour, Ukraine.
Current location; -
Discoverer: unknown.
Date: 22.000 BC
Composition: volcanic rock.
Hand-made piece.
Material: polyurethane resin.
Dimensions: h=58 mm

Origin: Mikulov, Moravia, Czech Republic
Current location: Museum Moravo, Brno.
Discoverer: Absolon (1924)
Date: 24.000 BC.
Composition: mixture of pulverized bone and baked mud.

Hand-made piece.
Material: polyurethane resin.
Dimensions: h=110 mm

It is worth pointing out the symbolism of the tear ducts, out of which run streams of water towards two bountiful breasts.

Origin: Avdeevo, Kursk, Russia
Current location: -
Discoverer: Abramova (1967)
Date: 30.000-15.000 BC
Composition: carved mammoth ivory
Hand-made piece.
Material: polyurethane resin.
Dimensions: h=156 mm
It displays a characteristic pregnant profile.

Origin: Willendorf, Austria
At the moment: Museum of Natural History of Vienna, Austria
Discoverer: Josef Szombathy (1908)
Date: 24.000-22.000 BC
Composition: carved mammoth ivory
Hand-made piece.
Material: polyurethane resin.
Dimensions: h=111 mm

Origin: DES Rideaux, Garona Stop, France
At the moment: 
Discoverer: Saint-Perier (1922)
Date: 21.000 BC Composition: carved mammoth ivory
Hand-made piece.
Material: polyurethane resin.
Dimensions: h=147 mm

Australopithecus are a group of hominid species of that lived in Africa 5 million years ago. They were vegetarian and their cranial capacity was similar that of a chimpanzee. Australopithecus was divided into two lineages: those of slender bones and those of robust bones.

A replica of the skull of australopithecus africanus, attributed to a boy of 3 or 6 years, discovered by Dart in Taung in 1924 in Bechuanaland, South Africa. Lower Pleistocene.
Materials: polyurethane resin.
Dimensions: h=9,5cm

Replica of the skull of australopithecus afarensis discovered by Coppens, Johanson & Taieb in the Nadar Valley, Afar, Ethiopia. It was reconstructed by T. White and dated by him to 3 million years ago.
Materials: polyurethane resin.
Dimensions: h=1‚m

Replica of the masculine skull of australopithecus boisei, discovered by Leakey, Tobias & Napier in Koobi Fora, Kenya.
Dated by him to 1.7 million years ago.
Materials: polyurethane resin.
Dimensions: h=12,6 cm

What made us human was technology, and in fact making tools caused the brain to develop. The oldest human fossil found is Homo habilis. He was smaller than us and had approximately half of our cranial capacity. By means of the study of the skulls it has been deduced that he had language, although very rudimentary.

Replica of the skull of homo habilis discovered by Leakey, Tobias & Napier the 1964. Deposit DK I E, in the Olduvai Gorge, Serengeti, Tanzania.
The Lower and Middle Pleistocene. Cranial capacity of 650 cc. Materials: polyurethane resin
Dimensions: h=10,5cm

After a climatic crisis in Africa, the savannah appears. The hominids who remained there needed new hunting tools, and the achelense developed, a technique for making tools. This new technique develops from homo ergaster. The ergaster were more than 1,70 m. tall and their cranial capacity about two thirds of ours. It is probable that we are their direct descendents. It is thought that around 1.5 million years ago, with the appearance of the achelense, homo ergaster settled in Europe.

Replica of the skull of homo ergaster, known as the Nariokotome Boy, discovered in 1984 in Nariokotome, Lake Turkana, Kenya.
Dated at 1.6 million years ago.
Materials: polyurethane resin.
Dimensions: 12,5 cm

The migratory movement began 1,5 million ago years and lasted several hundreds of thousands of years. Homo Erectus also migrated and settled in Asia, and did not become extinct until 200,000 years ago.

Replica of the skull of homo erectus discovered by Dubois in Koobi Fora, Lake Turkana, Kenya.
Dated at 1.6 million years old. Cranial capacity of 850 cc.
Materials: polyurethane resin.
Dimensions: h=13cm

A million years ago, homo antecesor (a species recently discovered in Atapuerca) appeared in Africa. It is thought that it descends directly from homo ergaster and perhaps evolved towards homo sapiens.

Replica of the male skull of homo sapiens neanderthalensis, discovered by King in the Chapelle-aux-Saints, Corr¾ze. (Dordoine, France)
Fits chronological in the Upper Pleistocene. Beginning of the W¨rmiense Ice Age.
Materials: polyurethane resin.
Dimensions: h=16cm

Replica of the skull of kenyanthropus platyops, discovered by M. Leakey in the zone west of Lake Turkana, Kenya, in 1998.
The Pliocene, Nachukui formation.
Materials: polyurethane resin.
Dimensions: h=10,2cm