Willendorf Venus rock may come from Lake Garda, Italy

A new study suggests the oolitic limestone of the Venus of Willendorf, a 30,000-year-old figurine, originates from northern Italy's Lake Garda region, not the Austrian Wachau where it was found in 1908. Anthropologist Gerhard Weber (University of Vienna) and geologists Alexander Lukeneder and Mathias Harzhauser (Naturhistorisches Museum Vienna) used micro-computed tomography to analyze the 11-cm statuette, discovering shell fragments and limonite grains consistent with Garda geology. The navel may be a fortuitous limonite loss during carving. If confirmed, this implies Paleolithic people migrated hundreds of kilometers along rivers, avoiding Alpine glaciers, reshaping migration studies. Ukrainian origin is considered less likely. Published in Scientific Reports.