Unique Neolithic sculpture found at Czech site

3/3.  Photo: Zdeněk Schenk

Archaeologists in the east Moravian town of Přerov have discovered a unique statuette which they believe dates back to the early Neolithic period. The richly ornamented torso has been hidden under ground for over seven thousand years ago.

The valuable finding was discovered during initial excavations of an archaeological site near Lipník nad Bečvou, a small town on the edge of the Moravian Gate valley. It is a torso of a body, or what the archaeologists call an anthropomorphic sculpture, richly engraved with geometric ornaments. It is about 76 millimetres tall and its head and arms have been broken off.

According to the head of the archaeological research at the site Zdeněk Schenk, the statuette must be at least seven thousand years old, since it was found on the site of an early Neolithic settlement:

“It is the site of the first farmers settling on the territory of the Czech Republic, who were represented by the so-called linear pottery culture. They settled in the Moravian Gate at the start of the Old Neolithic Period, that’s 5,000 years B.C. We know that they used to build long buildings and they traded stone, which they used for creating tools. They also made pottery for daily use, but also statuettes such as this one.” [...] Radio Prague