Venus of Berekhet Ram

The Venus of Berekhet Ram is a small statuette that was found on the Golan Heights in Israel. Fashioned from red tuffic material, it may have served a symbolic or religious purpose. Because it was found between two layers of ash, it has been dated to between 800,000 and 233,000 BCE . It is considered to be the earliest representation of the human form in the fossil record, making it a creation of Homo erectus hunter-gatherers. Indications are that the pebble so resembled a female figure that the artist took one step further to fashion, using groove techniques, the neck and arms of the figure.