Ain Sakhri Lovers is a Mesolithic miniature sculpture renowned for being the first known depiction of sexual intercourse. More accurately it belongs to the Natufian culture, a Late Mesolithic archaeological culture of the Levant. Moreover, it cannot be established with certainty that it was unearthed from the Ain Sakhri cave in Palestine. What is certain is that it is an ingenuous work of art and that it is one of the best known sculptures from prehistory.
Table of Contents
S1 – Discovery
French diplomat René Neuville and renowned French archaeologist Abbé Henri Breuil visited a small museum in Bethlehem in Palestine in 1933. It was in this museum that Neuville noticed the figurine now known as the Ain Sakhri Lovers. He realized its significance and inquired about how it was discovered.
He tracked the person who found it and learned that the figurine had been discovered in a cave called Ain Sakhri in the Judean desert not far from Bethlehem. Following the death of Neuville, his son M. Neuville put the figurine up for auction through Sothebys and it was purchased by the British Museum, where it still resides.
S2 – Description
The Ain Sakhri Lovers is made on a calcite cobble. It has a height of 102 mm, a width of 63 mm and weighs 343 grams. It shows a couple having sex and is also phallic in profile as well as when viewed from above or below. The couple are face to face but no features are depicted on the faces. The heads of the two figures are distinguished by a groove in the outline of the sculpture.
The figure on the left is 9 mm longer than that on the right if measured from the head to the bottom of the curve of the buttocks. The buttocks of the right-hand figure are higher in position. On studying the figurine, Neuville believed the left figure is a male while the right one is a female.
The sculpture has been achieved by solid picking. The surface of the cobble has been reduced by striking with a pointed instrument, probably a stone chisel. Thus the outlines of the statue appear in low relief. The Ain Sakhri Lovers is erotic in every aspect depicting sexual intercourse in an ingenious manner.
S3 – Age
The Ain Sakhri Lovers is highly sophisticated considering that it is the oldest known depiction of people having sex. The depicted couple may be locked in a passionate kiss as well but lack of facial features makes this open to interpretation. The figurine is considered to be 11,000-year-old.
S4 – Mesolithic Art Overview
Main Sources
S1:-
“Episode Transcript – Episode 7 – Ain Sakri Lovers Figurine”. The BBC.
S2:-
Boyd, Brian; Cook, Jill. (Jan 1, 2014). “A Reconsideration of the ‘Ain Sakhri’ Figurine”. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society. pp 401.
S3:-
Handwerk, Brian. (May 18, 2023). “Humanity’s First Recorded Kiss Was Earlier Than We Thought”. Smithsonian Magazine.