As the earliest image of a human being and the oldest piece of figurative art, the female figurine of Hohle Fels remains a significant discovery for understanding the development of symbolic behaviour in Homo sapiens. Discovered in southwestern Germany in 2008, this mammoth-ivory sculpture was found in several fragments and has always been assumed to be complete, never owning a head. In place of a head, there is instead a small loop that would allow her to be threaded, possibly to be worn as a pendant. Several hypotheses have been put forward as to her original use context, ranging from representing a fertility goddess to a pornographic figure. Yet none of these theses have ever suggested that she once had a head. Here we explore whether the female figurine of Hohle Fels was designed as a two-part piece, with the head made of perishable material culture, possibly woven plant or animal fibres; or that the artefact is a broken and reworked figurine with the head simply never found. By exploring the possibility that this figurine did originally have a second part—a head—we investigate issues surrounding the role of women and children in the Swabian Aurignacian.

中文翻译：

---

40,000 岁的 Hohle Fels 女性雕像：以前的假设和新的观点

作为最早的人类形象和最古老的具象艺术作品，Hohle Fels 的女性雕像对于理解智人象征行为的发展仍然是一个重要发现。这件猛犸象牙雕塑于 2008 年在德国西南部被发现，被发现时有多个碎片，一直被认为是完整的，从未拥有过头部。代替头部的是一个小环，可以让她穿上螺纹，可能作为吊坠佩戴。关于她最初的使用背景，已经提出了几个假设，从代表生育女神到色情人物。然而，这些论文都没有表明她曾经有过头脑。在这里，我们探讨了 Hohle Fels 的女性雕像是否被设计为两部分，头部由易腐烂的物质文化制成，可能是编织的植物或动物纤维；或者说这件文物是一个破损并重新加工过的小雕像，头部根本就没有被发现。通过探索这个小雕像最初确实有第二部分（头部）的可能性，我们调查了围绕妇女和儿童在施瓦本奥里尼亚克人中的角色的问题。