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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.

It forms part of the Institute of Sexology exhibition at the Wellcome Collection in London.

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.

(Image: Getty)

Co-curator at the Wellcome Collection, Honor Beddard said: "The Institute of Sexology presents the study of sex in all its complexity and contradiction.

"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.

Historians say the first rubber sex toys were being made as early as 1850 and were used in pornographic movies from the 1930s onwards.

The exhibition promises to be "a candid exploration of the most publicly discussed of private acts" and runs until September.