Ancient phallus unearthed in cave

[tocqueville]

Ancient phallus unearthed in cave
By Jonathan Amos
BBC News science reporter


A sculpted and polished phallus found in a German cave is among the earliest representations of male sexuality ever uncovered, researchers say.

The 20cm-long, 3cm-wide stone object, which is dated to be about 28,000 years old, was buried in the famous Hohle Fels Cave near Ulm in the Swabian Jura.

The prehistoric "tool" was reassembled from 14 fragments of siltstone.

Its life size suggests it may well have been used as a sex aid by its Ice Age makers, scientists report.

"In addition to being a symbolic representation of male genitalia, it was also at times used for knapping flints," explained Professor Nicholas Conard, from the department of Early Prehistory and Quaternary Ecology, at Tübingen University.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4713323.stm

[Missy M]

1. I think this proves that 'til the end of time' men will never grow up...

and always live by the mighty phallus.

[wurzel]

5. How do you know it was made by men?

[Missy M]

7. I don't think there are too many woman who would want a siltstone..

phallus for a 'sex aid'.

[tocqueville]

17. polished siltstone is very smooth

they achieved probably a better effect than wood. Besides should men be more insensitive to penetration than women ? I doubt it.

[Kraklen]

27. Women are only interested in carving sex aids?

Hmmmm.

[wurzel]

29. You mean it doesn't vibrate?

[Xipe Totec]

9. Point, Set, and Match.

:rofl:

[greyl]

6. What scientific conclusions do you draw from Georgia O'Keefe? nt

[Missy M]

8. Actually I was just making a joke!!!

[TreasonousBastard]

24. AHEM! From the article...

"Female representations with highly accentuated sexual attributes are very well documented at many sites, but male representations are very, very rare," explained Professor Conard.

[woodsprite]

2. I know this is the science forum, just couldn't help myself...

I read the subject and immediately thought "Oh, they've found Cheney's undisclosed location."

[beam me up scottie]

3. Old Dick ?

:rofl:

[CoffeeCat]

4. LOLOL!!

WE've found him folks! Phallus Cheney, you come out of your underground lair and face the music!

[jojo54]

12. ROTFLMFAO!!!

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

This is rip-roaring fun here at DU, folks. I love it...love it, love it, love it!

Think I love it?

[tmooses]

10. Now I know the origin for the term "tool".

"The prehistoric "tool" was reassembled from 14 fragments of siltstone."

[Ian David]

11. I think I remember hearing that the first 3 tools invented by man were...

1) A method of carrying babies
2) A weapon
3) A masturbation device

I'm not sure if I'm rememberig correctly, or what order that would be in.

[tocqueville]

18. maybe they used the device as a weapon...

[jojo54]

13. Even after all these years, the human male is still near the lowest

on the list for stamina. Check out this interesting story, that is if this thread doesn't get locked.

http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/12214333.htm

Bet you would all love to be/have stick insects, right?

[Zorbuddha]

14. Well, cover it up before Ashcroft sees it...He'll have a coronary!

Wait...

[Village Idiot]

15. Looks more like a pestle to me...

...and it strikes me as a much more typical usage for an object of this shape, nature, and durability...

[havocmom]

16. A likely 'sex aid' which was somehow rendered into many pieces and had

to be put back together... Let us give that the serious consideration it deserves...

OK, me, I wanna know how that puppy got busted, and I want more theories than the ol 'flint knapping accident' excuse!

[tocqueville]

19. You can see on the picture that there were mostly 3 pieces

of a good size that fit nicely together, follow the cracks (no pun intended). The otherpieces were probably only small pieces.

Maybe the phallus wasn't for private use, but for religious fertility ceremonies. It might have got broken in a fight between different tribes...

[tocqueville]

20. 28 000 years old... wait must have been the work of the Devil

everybody knows that the earth is only 6000 years old...

[wli]

21. so that's where Cheney's been hiding

Probably has the dried-up corpse of Osama bin Laden there next to him, too.

[madrchsod]

22. "bob" living large

[havocmom]

23. No woodie for 'bob'

[hecate77]

25. Modern cucumber designed by God to be phallic....

Why is every elongated cylindrical object considered to be a phallus symbol?

I have never understood this need to identify natural objects, or even man-made objects that have other purposes to be phallic.

Ok, if it is a sex-toy, or something specifically used in a sex ceremony, I can see using that phrase, but if the useful or natural shape just happens to be long and cylindrical with a rounded end of some sort, how does that automatically make it phallic?

Do we think all bowls are representations of the female genetalia? No, we think of them as bowls, things to hold stuff in. A mortar and pestle is no more sexual in origin than anything else, just because there is a an elongated cylindrical object with a blunt end that is put into a bowl shaped receptacle.

[tocqueville]

26. intelligent design ?

[Orsino]

28. We can now distinguish between primitive and advanced humans...

...by the use of either stone or gel butt-plugs. Great.

[Dover]

30. Ice Age is PRE-Viagra..n/t