This prehistoric sex toy proves that cavemen and women were more open-minded than we first thought.

It's believed the 28,000-year-old smooth stone phallus - made from 14 different pieces of silt-stone - was used by sexually-adventurous cave dwellers.

Discovered in a cave near Ulm in Germany in 2005, it's thought to be one of the earliest sex aids ever discovered.


The exhibition uses objects, documents and research to chart the history of the evolving relationship between mankind and sex.

It includes some of the earliest sex aids, sexual imagery and the ground-breaking work of sexologists such as Sigmund Freud, William Masters and Virginia Johnson.

Solid bronze phallic amulet
Phallic amulet: Bronze object dates back to 100-400BC


"It brings together the diverse collections of data, art, testimony and objects of those who challenged preconceived ideas about sex and tells the human stories behind the charting of sexual experience."

Another of the 2000 objects on show spanning art, rare archival material, erotica, film and photography, is the ‘Vendee’, a French handle-powered vibrator which is believed to have been used by 18th century doctors to bring women who were suffering from hysteria to orgasm.

There is also a solid bronze phallic amulet dating back to 100-400 BC.

