The ‘Venus of Zupa’, a goddess of fertility figurine over 6,000 years old has been discovered in central Serbia’s district of Aleksandrovac in the Vitkovo Valley.
Archaeologist at the site of Vitkovo Sanja Crnobrnja Krasic who has unearthed a rare Neolithic figurine in the shape of a woman, said for RTS that this is an epochal discovery: "The statue is unique for its fine craftsmanship, material, and her upper body was found intact, but her head and legs are separated from the body".
RTS reports that the figurine measures 30 cm (12 inches) in high and it is estimated that it was created in about 3.500-4.500 BC.
„This discovery proves our assumption that Vitkovo was a religious centre of the Vinča culture, because the Venus figurine is tall more than 30 centimeters."
„ Serbian Academic Borislav Jovanović said before that if the Vitkovac Valley archaeological location was discovered before the one in Vinča, then probably we would now have Vitkovačka Culture instead of Vinča culture", said Sanja Crnobrnja Krasic for RTS.
Previously at the same location similar sculptures were found. After their presentation at the Terra Amata Museum exhibition in Nice 1991. they got the names Lady of Aleksandrovac, Venus de Župa and Madame de Vitkovo.
Those figurines are on the permanent display at the Museum in Zupa but had been also presented at the exhibitions in Copenhagen and London over the time.
