Posted on 08/11/2023 1:09:51 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
The long-lost 'body' of mysterious ice age animal carving was discovered in German cave, but archaeologists aren't sure if it's a cave lion or cave bear.
Archaeologists in Germany have discovered the missing piece of an ice age carving deep in a cave. But the new addition of the ivory carving, originally thought to depict a horse, has actually complicated matters: Now, researchers aren't sure if it portrays a cave lion or a cave bear.
Researchers previously found the head of the 35,000-year-old figurine in the cave Hohle Fels in the mountainous Swabian Jura region in the southern part of the country. The cave, which translates to "hollow rock" in German, is part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is well known for its Upper Paleolithic (about 50,000 to 12,000 years ago) artifacts. At the time, the carved head was the first known ivory carving from the cave.
But the newfound "body" part of the carving has thrown the equine interpretation out the window... The carving likely depicts a bear... But the carving also has similar anatomical features to a cave lion, which lived in Eurasia at the time.
After the initial 1999 finding of the head, researchers unearthed a total of five fragments of the ivory figurine, including a small piece of cheek. "It therefore makes sense to look extra carefully for the missing parts of this animal in the years to come," Conard said.
(Excerpt) Read more at livescience.com ...
Giant ground sloth!
Perceptive.
It looks like a manatee.
I’d say it’s some kind of prehistoric democrat bobblehead.
She must have been hunted for her hide.
🤣 Very good!
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