Editing Statue (section)

===Prehistoric===
[[File:Urfa man.jpg|thumb|''[[Urfa Man]]'', a {{convert|1.80|m}} of standstone developed in {{circa|9,000 BC}} and now housed at [[Şanlıurfa Museum]]]]
The [[Venus of Berekhat Ram]], an [[anthropomorphic]] pebble found on the [[Golan Heights]] and dated to at least 230,000 years before present, is claimed to be the oldest known statuette. However, researchers are divided as to whether its shape is derived from natural erosion or was carved by an [[Homo erectus|early human]].<ref>[http://www.visual-arts-cork.com/prehistoric/venus-of-berekhat-ram.htm ''Venus of Berekhat Ram (230-700,000 BCE)'' cork.com]</ref> The [[Venus of Tan-Tan]], a similar object of similar age found in [[Morocco]], has also been claimed to be a statuette.<ref name="bbc">{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3047383.stm|title='Oldest sculpture' found in Morocco|last=Rincon|first=Paul|date=23 May 2003|work=BBC News|access-date=2009-05-15}}</ref>

The [[Löwenmensch figurine]] and the [[Venus of Hohle Fels]], both from [[Germany]], are the oldest confirmed statuettes in the world, dating to 35,000-40,000 years ago.<ref>"Lion man takes pride of place as oldest statue" by Rex Dalton, ''Nature'' 425, 7 (4 September 2003) doi:10.1038/425007a also [http://www.nature.com/news/2003/030904/full/news030901-6.html Nature News 4 September 2003]</ref><ref>"Ice Age Lion Man is world's earliest figurative sculpture" by Martin Bailey, [http://www.theartnewspaper.com/articles/Ice-Age-iLion-Mani-is-worlds-earliest-figurative-sculpture/28595 The Art Newspaper 31 January 2013]</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.uni-tuebingen.de/en/news/press-releases/newsfullview-pressemitteilungen/article/es-muss-eigentlich-eine-frau-sein.html | title="It must be a woman" - The female depictions from Hohle Fels date to 40,000 years ago... | publisher=Universität Tübingen | date=July 22, 2016 | access-date=July 26, 2016 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161011145105/https://www.uni-tuebingen.de/en/news/press-releases/newsfullview-pressemitteilungen/article/es-muss-eigentlich-eine-frau-sein.html | archive-date=October 11, 2016 | url-status=dead | df=mdy-all }}</ref>

The oldest known life-sized statue is [[Urfa Man]] found in [[Turkey]] which is dated to around 9,000 BC.