Ain Sakhri lovers figurine

Material	stone (calcite cobble)
Size	102 mm high
Created	9000 BCE
Discovered	in Ain Sakhri caves, Wadi Khareitoun near Bethlehem
Present location	British Museum, London
Identification	1958,1007.1

The Ain Sakhri lovers figurine is a sculpture that was found in one of the Ain Sakhri caves near Bethlehem.^[1] The sculpture is considered to be 11,000 years old and to be the oldest known representation of two people engaged in sexual intercourse.^[2]

Discovery[edit]

The sculpture was identified in 1933 by René Neuville,^[3] a French consul in Jerusalem^[4] and prehistorian, when looking through random finds obtained by the French Fathers at Bethlehem. He found the stone whilst visiting a small museum with Abbé Breuil.^[5] Neuville immediately identified it as important and was able to get an introduction to the Bedouin who had made the finds at Wadi Khareitoun. He was led to a location within the Ain Sakhri caves and it is from these caves that the sculpture gets its name. Excavations of the caves revealed that the cave had been used domestically thousands of years ago and the finds were Natufian. For this reason it is thought that the figurine was used domestically and had not been left there as part of a funeral.^[1]

The person who made the sculpture came from the Natufians, an early culture whose members are thought to be the first humans to gather grass seeds that remained attached to their stems.^[2] This is an important step in agriculture as it eventually allowed farmers to choose which seeds to eat and which to keep to sow the following season.^[5] These people hunted gazelle and are the first known to domesticate dogs,^[6] sheep, and goats which also involves selective breeding. It has been speculated that the stability of having a managed food programme allowed the Natufians to create large communities of two to three hundred people and to create art.^[5]

Appearance[edit]

The sculpture was made by carving a single "calcite cobble" which was picked away with a stone point to identify the position of the couple.^[1] Although it lacks details, such as faces, it is considered to be a clever piece of sculpture. Artist Marc Quinn has noted that the figure looks different depending on the viewer's perspective, and may resemble a couple, a penis, breasts, or a vagina depending on this perspective,^[7] or two testicles when viewed upside-down, from the bottom. Quinn compared it to a modern pornographic film where the action may include close-ups and long shots. It is clear that the figures in the couple are facing each other, but the gender of the figures can only be presumed.^[8]

Importance and purchase[edit]

The object formed the basis of an episode of A History of the World in 100 Objects, a BBC radio programme in January 2010 about the dawn of agriculture.^[5] It had been purchased by the British Museum in 1958 at auction from the sale of the estate of M. Y. Neuville.^[8]

See also[edit]

• List of Stone Age art

References[edit]