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| Waterworn pebble resembling a human face, from Makapansgat, South Africa. Reddish brown jasperite. Three million years ago someone recognized a face in this pebble and brought it to a rock shelter for safekeeping, but the stone is not an artwork because it was neither manufactured nor modified. |
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| Human with feline head, from Hohlenstein-Stadel, Germany. ca. 30,000–28,000 BC. Mammoth ivory. One of the oldest known sculptures is this large ivory figure of a human with a feline head. It is uncertain whether the work depicts a composite creature or a human wearing an animal mask. |
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| Nude woman (Venus of Willendorf), from Willendorf, Austria. ca. 28,000–25,000 BC. Limestone. The anatomical exaggerations in this tiny figurine from Willendorf are typical of Paleolithic representations of women, whose child-bearing capabilities ensured the survival of the species. Example of sculpture in the round. |
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| Woman holding a bison horn, from Laussel, Dordogne, France. ca. 25,000–20,000 BC. Painted limestone. One of the oldest known relief sculptures depicts a woman who holds a bison horn and whose left arm draws attention to her belly. Scholars continue to debate the meaning of the gesture and the horn. |
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| Two bison, reliefs in cave at Le Tuc d’Audoubert, Ariège, France. ca. 15,000–10,000 BC. Clay. Representations of animals are far more common than of humans in Paleolithic European art. The sculptor built up these clay bison using a stone spatula-like smoothing tool and fingers to shape the details. |
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| Bison with turned head, fragmentary spearthrower, from La Madeleine, Dordogne, France. ca. 12,000 BC. Reindeer horn. This fragment of a spearthrower was carved from reindeer antler. Details were incised with a stone burin. The sculptor turned the bison's head a full 180 deg. to maintain the profile view. |
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