What Venus de Milo Was Once Holding

She was uncovered in 1820, armless but beautiful, on Melos, an island between mainland Greece and Crete. The Venus de Milo was claimed by France, and heralded as a prime example of classical art (though it was actually Hellenistic) and now graces the Louvre Museum in Paris. While her broken arms are now part of what makes her treasured, people have never stopped wondering what the original statue might have held.
 One idea in particular piqued the interest of Elizabeth Wayland Barber, a professor emeritus at Occidental College who wrote the book Women’s Work: The First 20,000 Years.
 Perhaps, Barber thought, Venus was spinning thread.