science

Venus of Lespugue

Venus of Lespugue is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Venus of Lespugue rather than just read about it. In short: The Venus of Lespugue is a Venus figurine, a statuette of a female figure of the Gravettian, dated to between 26,000 and 24,000 years ago. Discovery It was discovered in 1922 in the Rideaux cave of Lespugue (Haute-Garonne) in the foothills of the Pyrenees by René de Saint-Périer (1877-1950).

Key takeaways

Venus of Lespugue belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Venus of Lespugue to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Venus of Lespugue from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Venus of Lespugue is a Venus figurine, a statuette of a female figure of the Gravettian, dated to between 26,000 and 24,000 years ago.

Discovery It was discovered in 1922 in the Rideaux cave of Lespugue (Haute-Garonne) in the foothills of the Pyrenees by René de Saint-Périer (1877-1950). Approximately 6 inches (150 mm) tall, it is carved from tusk ivory, and was damaged during excavation.

Features Of all the steatopygous Venus figurines discovered from the Upper Paleolithic, the Venus of Lespugue, if the reconstruction is sound, appears to display the most exaggerated female secondary sexual characteristics, especially the extremely large, pendulous breasts. According to textile expert Elizabeth Wayland Barber, the statue displays the earliest representation found of spun thread, as the carving shows a skirt hanging from below the hips, made of twisted fibers, frayed at the end.

Location The Venus of Lespugue is kept in Paris, at the Musée de l'Homme.

See also Art of the Upper Paleolithic List of Stone Age art Venus figurine

Notes

External links Don Hitchcock (Don's Maps): "The Lespugue Venus is a 25 000 years old ivory figurine of a nude female figure" https://web.archive.org/web/20040413133422/http://www.arthistory.sbc.edu/imageswomen/lespugue.html

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Venus of Lespugue

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Venus of Lespugue claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Venus of Lespugue before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Venus of Lespugue ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Venus of Lespugue

In research: Venus of Lespugue appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Venus of Lespugue in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Venus of Lespugue is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Archaeological discoveries in France, Collection of the Musée de l'Homme, Gravettian, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Venus of Lespugue outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Venus of Lespugue in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Venus of Lespugue means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Venus of Lespugue out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Venus of Lespugue in simple terms?

The Venus of Lespugue is a Venus figurine, a statuette of a female figure of the Gravettian, dated to between 26,000 and 24,000 years ago. Discovery It was discovered in 1922 in the Rideaux cave of Lespugue (Haute-Garonne) in the foothills of the Pyrenees by René de Saint-Périer (1877-1950).

Why does Venus of Lespugue matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Venus of Lespugue?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Venus of Lespugue.