The first piece of art to be examined is from the Paleolithic period, which was roughly 2,000,000 to 8,000 BCE. Pictured to the left is the Venus of Willendorf, one of the earliest sculptures in the world. The Venus is a sculpture of a woman, more specifically a very large, curvaceous woman with a large belly and breasts. She is disproportionate and does not look natural, with a featureless face and all the emphasis placed on her curves. This sculpture suggests the importance of the woman's role in the Paleolithic world. People in this time period viewed women as the source of birth and life, and the aspects of the Venus exhibit their preoccupation with this role. This also suggests their underlaying belief of a more feminine power or force, which is also known to have served as a central religious belief in later periods.
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