Back in July of 2018 I wrote a column about the possibility that the horn held by the 25,000 year old ‘Venus of Laussel’ represented a cornucopia, and was thus evidence of an incredibly long lasting tradition. Now a recent discovery of a 12,000 year old Natufian figurine in Israel appears to possibly point to another very long survival of a theme in ancient myth and legend – Leda and the Swan.
The myth, as we know it, is set in the Mythical Bronze Age of Greece (roughly 1600–1100 BCE), the same legendary era as the Trojan War. Zeus, the father of the gods, appears to Leda, a queen of Sparta, in the form of a beautiful swan and seduces her. Leda is the mother of Helen of Troy, linking the myth to that cycle. (Wikipedia)
The myth of Leda and the Swan remained a favorite of artists throughout the Renaissance.
Now, at a Natufian site in Israel the discovery of a figurine from over ten thousand years earlier than the Greeks suggests the possibility that the Bronze Age Greeks had received the myth from earlier people, handed down orally.
This discovery was made by a team from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. “A 12,000-year-old clay figurine unearthed in northern Israel, depicting a woman and a goose, is the earliest known human-animal interaction figurine. Found at the Late Natufian site of Nahal Ein Gev II, the piece predates the Neolithic and signals a turning point in artistic and spiritual expression. Combining naturalism, light manipulation, and symbolic imagination, it reveals how early communities used art to explore the relationship between humans and the natural world.” (Phys.org 2025) The figurine appears to be, at least, a small figure of a woman with a large bird on her back and its neck and head over her right shoulder.
“The Natufians, who lived across the Levant between about 15,000 and 11,500 years ago, were among the first groups in the region to establish permanent or semi-permanent settlements. Living before the rise of farming, they were already experimenting with artistic forms that would flourish in the Neolithic. The new figurine underscores their growing interest in narrative imagery, mythmaking, and the symbolic links between people and the natural world. Researchers studying the artifact note that the goose, a bird commonly eaten by Natufians and used for ornamentation, is depicted as alive and active, not hunted. Its wings stretch back toward the woman in a gesture of intimate contact. While a practical reading, such as a person carrying game is still possible, the sculptor’s emphasis on movement and interaction favors a mythological reading. The scene may reflect an early animistic worldview in which humans and animals shared overlapping spiritual roles and identities.” (Radley 2025) Additionally, the presence of traces of red ocher on both the woman and the goose, and the fact that the clay had been fired illustrate its intentionality, this is no lump of mud that accidentally looks like a figurine. (Phys.org 2025)
“The figurine is only 3.7 centimeters tall and was molded from local clay before being heated in a fireplace at a controlled temperature. Microscopic examination showed traces of red ocher on both figures and even a partial fingerprint left by its maker, likely a young woman, based on ridge-pattern analysis.” (Radley 2025) Identifying the maker as a young woman based on a partial fingerprint in a lump of 12,000 year old clay may be a stretch.
A number of other indicators were found testifying to the importance of the goose to the people of Nahal Ein Gev II. “Faunal remains from the site reinforce the connection between geese and ritual life. The bird’s feathers were used for decoration, and certain bones were fashioned into ornaments. The artistic focus on a goose and a woman, the researchers argue, points to an early mythic imagination, a symbolic vocabulary that later blossomed in Neolithic cults and figurative traditions across Southwest Asia.” (Phys.org 2025) While I do not question the identification of the faunal remains mentioned above, I do question that there are enough identifiable details in the figurine to positively confirm that it is a goose. Both geese and swans are large bodied birds with similar beaks. The team use the word mythic, and I would like them to consider that this might be an earlier manifestation of the myth cycle that led to Leda and the Swan.
“This figurine offers archaeologists
a rare glimpse into the beliefs and artistic experimentation of communities
standing at the threshold of major cultural change, capturing a moment when
early sedentary societies began exploring more elaborate systems – long before
the emergence of agriculture, permanent architecture, and the more standardized
art forms of the Neolithic.”
(Radley 2025) Such an artifact testifies to a certain level of importance of
this concept, that someone took the time and energy to create the figurine,
fire it and decorate it with ochre. That would certainly suggest a likely
ritual importance of the figurine. And,
if we accept this ritual importance, I would add, perhaps we should consider
the possibility that the origins of a Classical Greek myth can be traced back
an additional 12,000 years.
NOTE: Some images in this column were retrieved from the internet with a search for public domain photographs. If any of these images are not intended to be public domain, I apologize, and will happily provide the picture credits if the owner will contact me with them. For further information on these reports you should read the original reports at the sites listed below.
REFERENCES:
Faris, Peter, 2018, The Cornucopia – An Ancient Tradition, 7 July 2018, RockArtBlog, https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/7760124847746733855/3537035597338938690
Phys.org, 2025, The woman and the goose: A 12,000-year-old glimpse into prehistoric belief, 18 November 2025, The Gist, Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Accessed online 18 November 2025.
Radley, Dario, 2025, Rare 12,000-year-old Natufian figurine of a woman and a goose offers a glimpse into prehistoric beliefs, 18 November 2025, https://archaeologymag.com/2025/11/rare-natufian-figurine-of-a-woman-and-a-goose/. Accessed online 18 Nov. 2025.
Wikipedia, Leda and the Swan, https://en.wikipedia.org/Leda_and_the_Swan. Accessed online 20 November 2025.
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