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A graphite pendant from Mongolia may be a roughly 42,000-year-old phallic representation—but that is an interpretation, not a settled identification. The 2023 study that introduced the object argues its shape and surface modifications support that reading; archaeologists quoted in later coverage have expressed differing views about whether the evidence is decisive.
What is the Tolbor-21 object?
The object is a small graphite pendant recovered from an Upper Paleolithic layer at the open-air Tolbor-21 archaeological site in Mongolia. In a paper published on 12 June 2023, Solange Rigaud and coauthors described its form and modifications as consistent with a simplified phallic representation. Their analysis included mineralogical, microscopic and surface-texture examination. The study in Scientific Reports presents the pendant as evidence for early symbolic use of sex-related anatomical attributes.
The researchers’ interpretation is not the same as an established identification: the object’s intended meaning cannot be read directly from its appearance, and the archaeological evidence does not settle what its maker meant.
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How old is it?
The study reports a modeled age of 42,410–41,950 calibrated years BP, at 68.3% probability, for the relevant archaeological context. In other words, the dating applies to the layer associated with the pendant, not to the carving itself by direct measurement. The authors describe the object as belonging to a roughly 42,000-year-old layer. The paper reports the dating and its probability range.
Why do scientists disagree about the interpretation?
The case for a phallic reading
Rigaud and her coauthors argue that the pendant’s shape and grooves can be read as anatomical features. Their conclusion is that “the most compelling interpretation of the T21 pendant is a simplified phallic representation.” They also draw on the object’s material and surface evidence rather than relying on visual resemblance alone. These observations make their reading an argued interpretation, not proof of function or intention.
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Why the identification is questioned
A 21 June 2023 New Atlas report on the debate quoted Boston University archaeologist Curtis Runnels as saying he would need convincing that the “small and rather shapeless object” was intended as a penis. He compared the interpretation to seeing a face in a cloud. The report does not establish that Runnels published a separate critique or formal response to the study.
The same report quoted Francesco D’Errico, a Bordeaux colleague of some study authors, supporting the phallic interpretation. He considered the small size, exotic raw material and modifications telling. The disagreement is therefore about how diagnostic those features are: whether the form and grooves plausibly correspond to anatomy, and how much weight to give the material and surface analyses when the object remains ambiguous.
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What does the claim that it is the “oldest” mean?
The 2023 authors said three-dimensional phallic pendants were previously unknown in the Paleolithic record and described the pendant as predating the earliest known sexed anthropomorphic representation. Those are claims made in that study, not an uncontested statement that this is the earliest human depiction of sexuality or the first symbolic object. “Oldest” is best understood here as the authors’ claim about this kind of three-dimensional phallic representation, tied to the dated context and their interpretation of the object.
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