“Enter Spanish researchers Javier Angulo and Marcos García, who since 2003 have devoted thousands of hours to cataloguing depictions of sexuality, reproduction, and eroticism from the Upper Paleolithic, while paying particular attention to prehistoric representations of male genitalia.”

We want their job.

And we love what the work of these two researchers has to offer in terms of explaining modern sexuality through their study of prehistoric erotic art. A detailed story in i09 explains some of the specimens the pair have written about, including in a review article published by the Journal of Urology and this story on Science Direct in which they discussed “portable” depictions of decorated male genitalia – art items you can walk around with in your hand (but a little different than the one you keep in your night stand).

One wonderful insight Angulo and Garcia offer is that, even way back then, “sexuality and procreation were complementary, but differentiated in their mind.” The researchers suggest that this is so “because images exist that can be considered highly erotic and not at all of a reproductive character. Most probably, the sexual behavior of Paleolithic humans could have had a wider scope than reproduction itself.”

So the ancients understood what some modern politicians don’t.

And their attitudes were reflective of what ours are today. From i09:

“Sex is culture,” explains García, “not just biology. Sex, for thousands of years, has been about pleasure, play, eroticism.”

Who could ask for anything more?