Archaeologists reunite Ice Age lion figurine with its head: Missing fragment joined with model 40,000 years after it was first carved
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Archaeologists often put faces to names, but now a team has put a face to an ancient lion figurine that was carved 40,000 years ago.
An ivory fragment discovered in a German cave has been revealed as the missing piece of the lion's head and has been reunited with the intricately carved animal figure, just over 80 years since the Ice Age sculpture was found.
The tiny fragment shows the lion was a three dimensional figure and not a relief, as experts had long thought.
A rip roaring discovery: An ivory fragment discovered in a German cave (pictured left) has been revealed as the missing piece of an Ice Age lion figurine's head and has been reunited with the intricately carved animal figure (pictured right), just over 80 years after the 40,000-year-old sculpture was found
THE VOGELHERD CAVE
The Vogelherd Cave in Germany is considered to be one the world's most important archaeological sites of the Stone Age.
It was located on a hill to offer a 180 degree view of the Lone valley below.
From the vantage point our ancestors could watch for danger, spot prey and go hunting.
With its three exits, it offered early humans shelter and refuge for 100,000 years.
Residents of the cave left layers of treasures behind, including the carved ivory figurines.
The woolly mammoth figure from the cave is said to be the oldest completely preserved figurative art in human history, at 35,000 to 40,000 years of age.
It is thought it took around 300 hours to make.
Archaeologists from the University of Tübingen, Germany, found the ancient fragment of mammoth ivory belonging to the Ice Age animal figurine, which is now on show at the university's museum.
It was discovered in the Vogelherd cave in south west Germany, where other works of art created 40,000 years ago were uncovered in 1931, including an ivory figuring of a woolly mammoth.
'The figure depicts a lion,' said Professor Nicholas Conard of Tübingen University's Institute of Prehistory and Medieval Archaeology.
'It is one of the most famous Ice Age works of art and until now, we thought it was a relief, unique among these finds dating to the dawn of figurative art.
The mane event: 'The figure depicts a lion,' said Professor Nicholas Conard of Tübingen University's Institute of Prehistory and Medieval Archaeology. 'It is one of the most famous Ice Age works of art and until now, we thought it was a relief, unique among these finds dating to the dawn of figurative art'
An important Stone Age site: The missing fragment was discovered in the Vogelherd cave in south west Germany (marked at A) where other works of art created 40,000 years ago were uncovered in 1931, including an ivory figuring of a woolly mammoth
'The reconstructed figurine clearly is a three dimensional sculpture.'
The new fragment was discovered when today's archaeologists revisited the work of their predecessors from the 1930s.
'We have been carrying out renewed excavations and analysis at Vogelherd Cave for nearly ten years,' Professor Conrad said.
'The site has yielded a wealth of objects that illuminate the development of early symbolic artefacts dating to the period when modern humans arrived in Europe and displaced the indigenous Neanderthals.'
He said that the Vogelherd Cave has provided evidence of the world's earliest art and music and is a key element in the push to make the caves of the Swabian Jura a Unesco World Heritage site.
Several dozen figurines and fragments of figurines have been found in the Vogelherd alone and researchers are piecing together thousands of mammoth ivory fragments.
Reunited: Archaeologists from the University of Tübingen, Germany, found the ancient fragment of mammoth ivory belonging to the Ice Age animal figurine, which is now on show at the university's museum. IT is shown here re-attached to the rest of the figurine
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