The Venus of Laussel is a 1.5 foot high limestone bas-relief of a nude female figure which resembles the representation of the so-called Venus figurines in many ways. Similarly, this figure has no face or legs, and both large breasts, the abdominal area, and the vulva triangle are clearly represented. The figurine's left hand, which is only represented rudimentarily, points in the direction of her abdomen and vulva. The latter corresponds to the geometrical form of a triangle which was carved from stone by means of three noticeable notches. Her thighs are pressed together and there is no sign of a vertical mark which indicates the pudental cleft or the vagina like, for example, in La Ferrassie. It is assumed that the relief was originally tinted with red ochre. An interesting detail is the position of the right hand, in which the figure holds an object. In accordance with interpretations by many researchers, this is a horn with 13 notches. Among others, Siegfrid Vierzig[1] considers it a cult object. According to him, they may symbolize the number of moons in one year and subsequently woman represents the renewal of cosmos in a symbolical way. „Since the cyclic renewal was of actual importance, the emphasis lay on the cosmic nature of regeneration"[2]. An article on wissen.de[3] attributes the creation of the moon calendar to the the woman and her menstrual cycles: „Women of the Paleolithic recognized the same regularity between menstrual and moon cycles, and they noted this knowledge down in moon calenders"[4]. Rudolf Zumann[5] refers to a common socio-cultural background due to the strong similarities of the female representations and speaks of fertility magic. Woman is considered as the renewer of life and was, so it seems, recognized as such since hardly any phallic or male representations were found.

(Translation: C. Wilhelm)