Pre-historic sex toy making things hot in more ways than one

[Liar]

http://www.nydailynews.com/lifestyl..._oldest_sex_toy_was_also_used_as_tool_to.html

----------

Prehistoric siltstone phallus, the world's oldest sex toy, was also used as tool to ignite fires

The world's oldest sex toy was more than just a feel-good aid. The 30,000-year-old siltstone phallus doubled as a tool to ignite fires.

The racy relic was found in a cave in Germany and is being studied at the University of Tubingen there, according to Independent Online.

The find was a rare one since examples of masculinity from that period are unusual to stumble upon, although female-inspired works of art are rather common.

The prehistoric phallus, which has marks where it was obviously used for striking against flints, also features carved rings around one polished end. Researchers say it's easy to see what it was used for.

The scientists pieced together the multitasking tool from more than a dozen fragments found in a cave complex linked with the activities not of the Neanderthals, but of modern humans.

The sex toy is estimated to be at least 28,000 years old and apparently had been discarded after being broken. There's no evidence as to how that happened. Jealous boyfriend? Frustrated spinster? The secret may be safe with early cave dwellers.

 

[Darkniciad]

Phallic shape is not equal to sex toy -- carved rings or no.

Any Archaeologist who jumps to that conclusion should be smacked upside the head with the thing, considering the wealth of evidence of phallic symbols used for art and worship found worldwide.

Somebody has been watching too much Flintstones and taking it seriously.

Killjoy, I know, but this one requires a double facepalm.

 

[miaction69]

wow i'd love to see a piccie of the toy, intrigued

 

[miaction69]

dumb me - i clicked the link and saw the piccie
that would be cold, solid, and uncomfortable me thinks

 

[banes27]

Phallic shape is not equal to sex toy -- carved rings or no.

Any Archaeologist who jumps to that conclusion should be smacked upside the head with the thing, considering the wealth of evidence of phallic symbols used for art and worship found worldwide.

Somebody has been watching too much Flintstones and taking it seriously.

Killjoy, I know, but this one requires a double facepalm.

I'm gonna have to agree with this. Ethnographic evidence from around the world suggests that the object, if in anyway representative of a penis, would most likely be a piece of art rather than an actual "sex toy".

I;d love to see them attempt residue analysis to try and prove it through

 

[Liar]

Phallic shape is not equal to sex toy -- carved rings or no.

Any Archaeologist who jumps to that conclusion should be smacked upside the head with the thing, considering the wealth of evidence of phallic symbols used for art and worship found worldwide.

Somebody has been watching too much Flintstones and taking it seriously.

Killjoy, I know, but this one requires a double facepalm.

Considering the time-honored human tradition of finding perverted uses for common objects, I find your wholesale dismissal of the plausibility rather jaded.

Also: Lighten up, Francis.

 

[bronzeage]

Considering the time-honored human tradition of finding perverted uses for common objects, I find your wholesale dismissal of the plausibility rather jaded.

Also: Lighten up, Francis.

It was a dildo and a fire starter. The object was discarded because whenever it was used to start a fire, others would make sport, with calls of, "Ooooohh, baby, hit me harder," or "If you want to start a fire, you need to rub it real fast."

 

[dr_mabeuse]

Whether it was used as a dildo or not, you've got to admit that was typical male metaphorical thinking, associating the phallus shape with the power of fire. The thing no doubt had potent magical associations.

 

[banes27]

Whether it was used as a dildo or not, you've got to admit that was typical male metaphorical thinking, associating the phallus shape with the power of fire. The thing no doubt had potent magical associations.

That's assuming it's not just a joke of course. In my archaeology lectures at uni we used to joke about this kind of thing all the time, even to people who didn't do archaeology. So maybe this was just a newspaper taking an archaeological in-joke a wee bit too seriously

 

[R. Richard]

I'm disappointed since the author fails to analyze the probable connection to the phrase, "About to set the woods on fire!"

Quote:
Prehistoric siltstone phallus, the world's oldest sex toy, was also used as tool to ignite fires

The world's oldest sex toy was more than just a feel-good aid. The 30,000-year-old siltstone phallus doubled as a tool to ignite fires.

The racy relic was found in a cave in Germany and is being studied at the University of Tubingen there, according to Independent Online.

The find was a rare one since examples of masculinity from that period are unusual to stumble upon, although female-inspired works of art are rather common.

The prehistoric phallus, which has marks where it was obviously used for striking against flints, also features carved rings around one polished end. Researchers say it's easy to see what it was used for.

The scientists pieced together the multitasking tool from more than a dozen fragments found in a cave complex linked with the activities not of the Neanderthals, but of modern humans.

The sex toy is estimated to be at least 28,000 years old and apparently had been discarded after being broken. There's no evidence as to how that happened. Jealous boyfriend? Frustrated spinster? The secret may be safe with early cave dwellers.

 

[TxRad]

Most siltstone is to soft too strike a spark from flint. Not to mention too sandy.

 

[Liar]

Most siltstone is to soft too strike a spark from flint. Not to mention too sandy.

Which would make it pretty useless as a dildo too.

 

[Huckleman2000]

hmm... Ribbed, for her pleasure.

 

[dr_mabeuse]

Here's the joystick in question, in two views. It's known as the Hohle Phallus and was reported by the BBC is March of 2005.

http://assets.nydailynews.com/img/2010/05/18/alg_stone-age-phallus.jpg​

nydailynews.com

Another view and the BBC story:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/spl/hi/pop_ups/05/sci_nat_enl_1122302809/img/laun.jpg​

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 [that's about 7.8" X 1.2". Just about right.--dr.M.], 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.

"There are some areas where it has some very typical scars from that," he told the BBC News website.

Researchers believe the object's distinctive form and etched rings around one end mean there can be little doubt as to its symbolic nature.

"It's highly polished; it's clearly recognisable," said Professor Conard.

The Tübingen team working Hohle Fels already had 13 fractured parts of the phallus in storage, but it was only with the discovery of a 14th fragment last year that the team was able finally to put the "jigsaw" together.

The different stone sections were all recovered from a well-dated ash layer in the cave complex associated with the activities of modern humans (not their pre-historic "cousins", the Neanderthals).

The dig site is one of the most remarkable in central Europe. Hohle Fels stands more than 500m above sea level in the Ach River Valley and has produced thousands of Upper Palaeolithic items.

Some have been truly exquisite in their sophistication and detail, such as a 30,000-year-old avian figurine crafted from mammoth ivory. It is believed to be one of the earliest representations of a bird in the archaeological record.

There are other stone objects known to science that are obviously phallic symbols and are slightly older - from France and Morocco, of particular note. But to have any representation of male genitalia from this time period is highly unusual.

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

Current evidence indicates that the Swabian Jura of southwestern Germany was one of the central regions of cultural innovation after the arrival of modern humans in Europe some 40,000 years ago.

The Hohle Fels phallus will go on show at Blaubeuren prehistoric museum in an exhibition called Ice Art - Clearly Male.
============================

So it wasn't used for striking sparks, but for knapping flints, which makes more sense in terms of lithotechnology, but begs the question: if this were used as a dildo, it presumably belonged to a woman, and why would a woman allow her dildo to be used as a hammer for knapping flints? Did they decide that the marks they thought were due to knapping were actually made by striking?

Or was it used to knapping AND striking?

How they came to the conclusion that this was a sex toy and not a magical implement isn't clear.

 

[TxRad]

Doc,

Knapping Flint is done more with pressure than striking. The American Indians used the points of deer horns to press off flakes of flint to make razor sharp arrow and spear heads.

 

[dr_mabeuse]

Doc,

Knapping Flint is done more with pressure than striking. The American Indians used the points of deer horns to press off flakes of flint to make razor sharp arrow and spear heads.

Well, not to be a butt about it, but "knapping" refers specifically to striking flakes from an object, as when a flint is shaped with a hammer stone. The technique you're referring to with the antler is called pressure flaking and is used for fine work. It takes a lot of control.

But maybe the press got it wrong and the archaeologists were referring to pressure-flaking. Siltstone is not very hard. On the Moh's hardness scale, siltstone has a hardness of about 3, which places it just about chalk. (As I recall, a human finger nail is about 2.5 on the Moh's scale.)

Moh's Hardness Scale:
1. Talc (softest)
2. Gypsum
3. Calcite
4. Fluorite
5. Apatite
6. Feldspar
7. Quartz
8. Topaz
9. Corundum
10. Diamond (hardest)

While flint has a hardness of 5-6. The Moh's Hardness scale rates minerals by their ability to scratch the ones below them without being able to scratch the ones (numerically) above them. I don't know if this kind of surface hardness is relevant to flint-knapping (i.e. a soft piece of wood can still shatter a glass bottle, even though the glass is much harder than the wood on the Moh's scale), but I have a hard time picturing our stone-savvy ancestors using this relatively soft, stone dildo for pressure-flaking.

I looked up how flints are used in fire-making too. I'd forgotten all my boy scout lore (except for the crypto-homosexuality and fart-lighting) (and knots. ), and was surprised to recall that flint is used with steel or iron to start fires, not with other rocks. The sparks generated with flint and steel are molten iron struck from the steel by using the flint, which is just about the right hardness (i.e. equal to the steel) to shave off tiny particles and heat them to incandescence. Chert, jasper, and agate can also be used in place of flint, anything with a Moh's hardness of 5-6.

In other words, as far as I know, you can't start a fire by bashing two rocks together, so there would have been no point in early man's striking this siltstone with a flint to try and start a fire. So why are their flint marks on it?

Okay-- Wild conjecture: could this object have been ceremonial and subjected to ritualistic attacks with flint weapons? We know that contemporary cave art is replete with pictures of female genitalia, but the only itme males are portrayed is as little insignificant stick figures (Altamira) or grotesque half-animals (Les Trois Freres). Analyses of hand-prints on the walls of caves in southwestern France reveal that some of the hands belonged to women...

 

[jomar]

What's the big deal?

No need to look too far, there's a lot of ancient tools around the AH.

 

[voluptuary_manque]

the only itme males are portrayed is as little insignificant stick figures (Altamira) or grotesque half-animals (Les Trois Freres). Analyses of hand-prints on the walls of caves in southwestern France reveal that some of the hands belonged to women...

Those 'grotesque half-animals' are more likely shamans than anything else. Dressing up in animal skins/horns and playing music are very common in shamanic rights. The most current theory regarding the purpose of the cave paintings is related to shamanism.

 

[Darkniciad]

In short, everything about this story is a load of hogwash *laugh*

I'm tempted to agree with whoever said that it may have been a joke that the journalists took seriously. I can just see them rolling on the ground laughing, gasping out "They printed it!"

 

[TE999]

It's possible that this penis shaped object may have been used by shamans to deflower virgins in a religious ceremony to bring rain or good crops.

 

[jomar]

It's possible that this penis shaped object may have been used by shamans to deflower virgins in a religious ceremony to bring rain or good crops.

Stupid shamans.

 

[TxRad]

Stupid shamans.

Maybe that's why it was busted into fourteen pieces.

 

[banes27]

In short, everything about this story is a load of hogwash *laugh*

I'm tempted to agree with whoever said that it may have been a joke that the journalists took seriously. I can just see them rolling on the ground laughing, gasping out "They printed it!"

That'll be me

Another major problem with the press is that they tend to go more with interesting stories than more factual ones, the former usually coming from researchers on the periphery of their respective field. For example, one British newspaper once did an article on how British genes are uniquely resistant to the input of foreign genetics... despite the fact that recent genetic evidence shows we're no less of a "mongrel" people than anywhere else in Europe, if not moreso.

Another British newspaper also picked up a story on the origin of the genetics controlling the appearance of blonde hair yet what it actually said either went against modern evidence or was completely made up. I mean, they referenced an archaeological site my lecturer actually works at pretty much every year and all he could say was that that was not what they'd found there.

So, it's pretty obvious that when it comes to archaeology, a few newspapers go for interest rather than accuracy.

 

[xssve]

The shelf life of the average Dildo nowadays, might be 5 years - this thing was around for generations, centuries, maybe millenia - "highly polished", eh wot?

No telling to what uses it might have been put, even eventually, out of depreciation or desperation, somebody tried to use it to knap or start a fire.

 

[lisa123414]

I don’t know, the whole thing piques my imagination. Imagine the life of your 28-year-old grandmother female who is just starting to see sex as something enjoyable? (Okay, by now she is worn out by life in general, probably does not have any teeth left but maybe the fact that she has children and grandchildren to help do the work means she has a few moments for fun.)

The engineer in me can imagine this woman fucking herself with a dildo carved of stone, but she is used to being constantly industrious, so she thinks of capturing all that mechanical energy by putting some sort of fire starter at the other end.

Ancient woman powered fucking machine! While she is working the “business” end, the other end is starting the fire for everyone. Preposterous, I know, I know, but still fun to imagine what that relic has seen.