Prehistoric sex toys are kind of hard to look at

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Prehistoric sex toys

The "ice-age baton" in all its glory.

Chris Wild

c. 30,000-0 B.C.

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Carved chalk phallus from an infilled pit in a ditch of Maumbury rings, now at Dorset County Museum. Credit: CM DIXON/PRINT COLLECTOR/GETTY IMAGES

The artificial phallus -- the dildo -- is very far from a new invention.  In fact, the oldest known example dates about 30,000 years ago.  Archaeologists gave it, and its kind, the euphemistic name of "ice-age batons."

Looking at the size, shape, and—some cases—explicit symbolism of the ice age batons, it seems disingenuous to avoid the most obvious and straightforward interpretation. <br>But it has been avoided. - TIMOTHY TAYLOR, ARCHAEOLOGIST
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Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable
Original image replaced with Mashable logo
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There are many non-dildoish uses for which it may have been intended but without doubt anyone at the time would have seen the penile similarities - Dr. Martin Rundkvist, archaeologist
Original image replaced with Mashable logo
Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable
Original image replaced with Mashable logo
Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable
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