Josef Szombathy

Josef Szombathy born Szombathy József (11 June 1853 – 9 November 1943) was an Austro-Hungarian archaeologist; he was present when the Venus of Willendorf was discovered in 1908.

[1] The Venus of Willendorf is an 11.1-centimetre-high (4.4 in) statuette of a female figure, discovered at a paleolithic site near Willendorf, a village in Lower Austria near the city of Krems.

It is carved from an oolitic limestone that is not local to the area, and tinted with red ochre.

[2][1] As a result of this and other finds, he founded the Department of Prehistory at the Naturhistorisches Museum, Vienna in 1882.

[3] Szombathy collected finds from all over the Austro-Hungarian empire, including Galicia, Bukovina, Bohemia, Moravia, Carniola, and Vojvodina.