Ancient figurine may show sexual encounter between woman and goose

A tiny 12,000-year-old clay sculpture of a goose on the back of a woman may depict an animistic ritual involving the mating of a gander with a human.

The sculpture, just 3.7 centimeters tall, was collected in 2019 from an archaeological site called Nahal Ein Gev II in Israel, but its importance was not recognized until 2024.

Nahal Ein Gev II was inhabited by a group of Paleolithic hunter-gatherers called the Natufians, who established permanent settlements in the region. The Natufians are considered to be the direct predecessors of Neolithic agricultural communities who subsequently grew crops and domesticated animals throughout the Middle East.

Although the elements of the figurine are difficult to distinguish to the untrained eye, Laurent Davin from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem says he is “100 percent sure” it is a goose on the woman's back.

“When I took this small piece of clay out of the box, I immediately recognized the human figure, and then the bird lying on its back,” says Devin. “Then I realized that I was holding in my hand an exceptional thing, both in terms of the plot and the quality of the sculpting, created 12 thousand years ago.”

There are older prints and paintings depicting animal-human interactions, as well as older hybrid animal-human carvings such as the 40,000-year-old “Lion Man” which was found in Germany. But Davin says the object is “the earliest figurine of human-animal interaction” ever discovered.

Geochemical studies showed that the figurine was heated to approximately 400°C. According to Davin, the artist carefully modeled the clay with a keen understanding of anatomy and how light and shadow would accentuate the scene the artist captured.

He and his colleagues do not believe that the figurine depicts an objective reality, such as a female hunter carrying a dead goose on her shoulder. Devin says the goose is depicted in a naturalistic manner in the gander pose in the mating position.

“We interpreted this scene as depicting an imaginary mating between an animal spirit and a human,” he says. “This theme is very common in animistic societies around the world in specific situations such as erotic dreams, shamanic visions and myths.”

The researchers also identified a fingerprint on the figurine, most likely made by the artist. Its small size meant that it belonged either to a young man of either sex or to an adult woman.

Paul Tacon from Griffith University in Brisbane, Australia, who was not involved in the study, believes there is another possible interpretation of the figurine. “Thinking about growing up in Canada and Canada geese, [it] reminded me of how they attack when they’re angry,” he says. “When you turn and run, they fly up and try to land on your back to peck you on the head or neck.

“It may have been a story about a woman being attacked by a goose rather than an intimate encounter, but we will never know the exact meaning.”

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