SCHAFFHAUSEN.- A tiny prehistoric sculpture carved from glossy black fossilized wood is returning to the place where it was discovered, more than half a century after entering the collection of the Museum der Kulturen Basel.
The Canton of Basel-Stadt has agreed to transfer ownership of a rare Stone Age female figurine to Schaffhausen, bringing the 2.8-centimeter-tall object back into the cultural landscape from which it emerged.
Despite its diminutive scale, the roughly 15,000-year-old figure is considered an important piece of evidence for prehistoric artistic activity in the region. Carved from jet — a deep-black form of fossilized wood sometimes known as pitch coal — the highly stylized female form was found at Schweizersbild, a major archaeological site on the outskirts of Schaffhausen.
For Schaffhausen, the return is about more than recovering a single archaeological object. Schweizersbild occupies an important place in the canton’s understanding of its prehistoric past, and authorities argued that the figurine belongs within the broader story told by discoveries from the site.
That argument ultimately persuaded Basel-Stadt to approve a voluntary transfer of ownership, following recommendations from the Museum der Kulturen Basel, its museum commission and the University of Basel.
The story of the statuette stretches back to one of Switzerland’s significant early prehistoric excavations.
Archaeologist Jakob Nesch discovered the Schweizersbild site in 1891 and subsequently directed excavations there. A few years later, in 1895, the institution now known as the Museum der Kulturen Basel acquired 118 objects from the site. About 15 more pieces entered its holdings through the Historical Museum Basel in 1960.
The female figure, however, surfaced under very different circumstances.
In 1954, amateur researcher Willi Mamber was examining material discarded during Nesch’s earlier excavation when he spotted the small carved object among the old spoil. Twenty-one years later, in 1975, he donated the figurine to the Museum der Kulturen Basel, thanking the institution for the knowledge he had gained from prehistoric research in Basel.
What might easily fit in the palm of a hand has since acquired considerable archaeological significance.
The figurine has traveled beyond Switzerland and was included in Arts et Prhistoire at the Muse de l’Homme in Paris, an exhibition devoted to artistic expression in deep prehistory.
It has more recently been displayed in Schaffhausen itself, where it is part of the exhibition Ice Age – Life 17,000 Years Ago at the Museum zu Allerheiligen.
The transfer now turns that loan into something more permanent. The Museum zu Allerheiligen will assume responsibility for the prehistoric object as ownership passes from Basel-Stadt to Schaffhausen.
The decision also reflects a broader question increasingly faced by museums: how archaeological objects collected decades or even more than a century ago should relate to the places where they were originally found.
In this case, the solution was a voluntary one.
For visitors in Schaffhausen, the return means that one of the region’s smallest archaeological discoveries can now be seen alongside the landscape and material culture that give it meaning — a rare surviving trace of artistic expression created some 15 millennia ago.
