In 1939, geologist Otto Völzing found a fragmented mammoth ivory figurine at Hohlenstein-Stadel cave in Germany.
Robert Wetzel, a prehistoric historian who had led the excavation,
continued digging at the cave site until 1961 and found other fragments. Further fragments were found during the 1970s.
These fragments were stored at
the Museum Ulm for the next thirty years until archaeologist Joachim Hahn began to assemble the more than 200 fragments.
A figurine with animal and human features, began to emerge.
In 1982, paleontologist Elisabeth Schmid further restored and reinterpreted the statue. Work was finally
completed on the statue in late 2013.
Sculpted from mammoth ivory, this standing human figure with a lion's head (Löwenmensch figurine), was found to be between 35,000 and 40,000 years old, based on carbon dating.
This Ice Age masterpiece, made by a highly skilled and
creative individual, is one of the oldest statues ever
discovered.
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| The 40,000 years old Löwenmensch (Lion man) figurine |
