Pronounced: Dohl-nee Vest-oh-nee-ché

Dolni Vestonice is a somewhat famous archaeological site located in the Czech Republic near Brno. It contains materials from Cro-Magnon ice age mammoth hunters from around 25,000 years ago. This makes it right near the start of the Upper Paleolithic in that area.

Some of the more remarkable finds in this site are small terracotta animal figurines, which happen to be some of the earliest clay works ever found. "Venus" figurines made from stone, similar to the one found in Willendorf, were also uncovered.

One controversy of the site involves a two figurines of a woman's head found that has an interesting mouth mark, with a curve down on one side. Also found later was the skull of a woman that showed her face would have been partially paralyzed, and sagging on one side. If the figurines found are portraits of this woman, they would be the earliest portraitures ever found.

One should also note the large amount of fox-related finds, including fox-teeth jewelry and tools and a woman buried with a fox. This suggests that this tribe possibly followed the migration patterns of foxes, or hunted them when mammoths could not be found. While some might argue that this is evidence for early animal domestication, it should be noted that prevailing thought has placed domestication in the Neolithic. It is assumed that animals were domesticated first as workers or food producers and then later as pets. If foxes were domesticated in Dolni Vestonice the only probable use for them would be as pets (Although I could go for some fox milk right about now).

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