From the left: Venus figurine from Petersfels, reproduction (The so-called Venus of Engen), beetle and two further female figurines from Petersfels; Badisches Landesmuseum Karlsruhe
The Venus figurines of Petersfels are several small female statuettes from the Upper Paleolithic era, carved from jetlignite. The tallest figurine is called the Venus of Engen.[1] The figurines were discovered in the Petersfels caves near Engen, Baden-Württemberg, excavated in 1927–1932 by Eduard Peters und Volker Toepfer and then in 1974–1976 and 1978 by Gerd Albrecht.[2] They stand between 1.5 and 4 cm tall and are about 15,000 to 11,500 years old, created during the Magdalenian era. They are housed in the Museums of Freiburg im Breisgau and Engen.
Rudolf Drößler: Die Venus der Eiszeit. Entdeckung und Erforschung der altsteinzeitlichen Kunst. Prisma-Verlag, Leipzig 1967.
Alexander Marshack: The Roots of Civilization: the Cognitive Beginning of Man’s First Art, Symbol and Notation. McGraw-Hill, New York 1972, ISBN0-07-040535-2.
Hansjürgen Müller-Beck, Gerd Albrecht (Hrsg.): Die Anfänge der Kunst vor 30000 Jahren. Theiss, Stuttgart 1987, ISBN3-8062-0508-6.
Verena Nübling. Die Venusstatuetten vom Petersfels. Denkmalpflege in Baden-Württemberg, Nachrichtenblatt des Landesdenkmalamtes, (3), S. 129-130, 1999. ISSN 0342-0027. [1]
Eduard Peters: Die altsteinzeitliche Kulturstätte Petersfels. Filser, Augsburg 1930.