"The messages an 'art' object carries depends for their full interpretation on the contexts and rituals in which the object is used. Unfortunately we will never fully understand the particular messages denoted by Palaeolithic objects. But while we cannot specify how Venus figurines were use, or why females were always carved, or even why some of them show consistent, exaggerted proportions (all elements which define them as part of a stylistic, geographical group), their distribution and dating clearly point to their function in allowing people to navigate their way through critical negotiations. We believe it is no coincidence that the figurines appeared in central and eastern Europe at a time when climates were deteriorating and food resources dwindling, as the ice sheets expanded towards their maximum extent. For without the social alliances which such objects symbolize, these areas would have been unoccupied during the period 23,000-21,000 years ago.

Stringer:1993, p 211.