The well known Mal'ta site, located in Irkusk, Siberia was at one time (about 22,000 BP) home of the Mal'ta-arfontova Tradition. At the ancient Mal'ta Site, archaeologists have found many clues that give an indication of what life was like in northeast Asia during the Upper Paleolithic Period.
The residents of the former Russian steppe-tundra were not Ice Age Neanderthals, but rather the same Homo sapiens that live on the earth today. Mal'ta, located on the Angara River near the modern city of Irkusk, contains several winter semi-subterranean houses made of large animal bones and reindeer antlers, covered by skin or sod exteriors. By looking at how artifacts were distributed during their time, archaeologists were able to tell how the men and women of Mal'ta coexisted. The women stayed close to the settlements and the men roamed widely over the area searching over the surrounding steppes for mammoth and other large game animals.
Based on the findings of some of the oldest goddess figurines and other artifacts, many archaeologists believe the women may have been thought highly of, due to the fact that they give birth and maintained life. Life that they may have believed started from mother earth.
A panel of ivory, dated 26,000 BP, retrieved from a cave burial is described here by Geoffrey Ashe: "On one side of it, three snakes establish its place in the Goddess network. On the other side is a design composed of lines of dots. They curve around to form seven spirals, six little ones framing a seventh that is much larger. In the large spiral the line goes around seven times, circling inward to a hole in the center. This is the first instance anywhere in the world of something destined to emerge far and wide as very strong magic indeed -- the peculiar mystique of the number seven.
Since the spiral on the Mal’ta panel is a simple one, its role as prototype is very much a conjecture and may seem farfetched. But archaeology does not in fact offer a prototype anywhere else, and an argument in favor arises from the developed spiral’s most surprising appearance -- among the Hopi of Arizona, who call it the Mother Earth symbol. In their eyes it represents a road of life that, if followed, leads to rebirth through the eternal Mother."
Sources
Chance, Norman. "Exploring the Past: An archeological Journey"
Arctic Circle
Ashe, Geoffrey. Morgana's Observatory:Goddess - "Dawn Behind the Dawn: A Search for the Earthly Paradise. www.dreamscape.com/morgana/portia.htm