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Topic: 28,000 year-old phallus found in Germany
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Albireo
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 3052
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posted 25 July 2005 01:50 PM
Ancient phallus unearthed in cave. quote: A sculpted and polished phallus found in a German cave is among the earliest representations of male sexuality ever uncovered, researchers say.The 20cm-long, 3cm-wide stone object, which is dated to be about 28,000 years old, was buried in the famous Hohle Fels Cave near Ulm in the Swabian Jura. The prehistoric "tool" was reassembled from 14 fragments of siltstone. Its life size suggests it may well have been used as a sex aid by its Ice Age makers, scientists report. "In addition to being a symbolic representation of male genitalia, it was also at times used for knapping flints," explained Professor Nicholas Conard, from the department of Early Prehistory and Quaternary Ecology, at Tübingen University. "There are some areas where it has some very typical scars from that," he told the BBC News website.
Is this "knapping flints" a euphemism for something?
From: --> . <-- | Registered: Sep 2002
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praenomen3
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 4758
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posted 25 July 2005 02:07 PM
The flintknapping theory seems about right. Ancient folks used tools like that - long, hard billets made of antler, bone or stone with a rounded tip that one hammered onto the edge of another stone to knock off tiny flakes, thus leaving a jagged edge. Some folks still do:http://nativeway.safewebshop.com/flintknapping_supplies.html I'll speculate that it was a flinknapping billet first - it looks like too much work for a non-utilitarian object - then decorated afterward. Maybe the oldtimer thought it would impart some virility into his arrow points. Or maybe he thought it was a good larf. [ 25 July 2005: Message edited by: praenomen3 ]
From: x | Registered: Dec 2003
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aRoused
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 1962
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posted 02 August 2005 03:47 PM
quote: But why has their been a reluctance for archaeologists to engage in sexuality before?
I submit to you that this is not a problem (randy beggars). Ooohhh, you meant 'engage *with* sexuality'!The rest of the article was OK, to be honest most recreationist-types are more into recreating the economic context of things, with the social context as a distant afterthought, so sex is in good company (figuratively speaking). I'm sceptical about its potential as a knapping tool. Antler and bone get used because they can take a beating and not shatter, whereas the 'phallus' looks to be made of pretty hard stone that might not last too long (and the nice polish wouldn't last past the first hit). It's a sad thing to say, but despite all the new ways we've tried to come up with to interpret our findings, archaeologists still have an amazingly hard time dealing with anything beyond the economic, at least without degenerating into narratives which, while entertaining, tell us more about the writer than the writee.
From: The King's Royal Burgh of Eoforwich | Registered: Dec 2001
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