Ulm's Lion Man Figurine Found to be World's Oldest With New Pieces Found

With recent new finds of the oldest human bones, and genetic analysis of early homo sapiens and neanderthal finds, it is interesting that the last months also saw the archaeological sensation of the oldest sculpture being reconstructed, with the new pieces found to be much older than originally thought, at around 40,000 years. Over 1000 new pieces were found by a new excavation at the original place of the find close the the German city of Ulm which will make it possible to complete the mammoth ivory statuette, which up to now was only a fragment. This work is still ongoing since 2012, as it is like a huge 3D puzzle to put all of the tiny fragments into place. Some of the fragments were analysed by radio carbon isotope dating, which yielded the result that it is in fact the oldest figurine found to date.

The story of the discovery of the Lion Man goes back to August 1939, when fragments of mammoth ivory were excavated at the back of the Stadel Cave in the Swabian Alps, south-west Germany. This was a few days before the outbreak of the Second World War. Only three decades later it was reassembled and was then regarded as a standing bear or big cat, but with human characteristics--this was later corrected to be a human with a lion head (continental shift and climate change explains today why there could have been lions in Germany 40,000 years ago).

The ivory from which the figure had been carved had broken into a large number fragments, of which around 200 pieces were incorporated into the 30cm-tall sculpture, with about 30% of its volume missing.

The reconstruction work makes it impossible to feature the sculpture as the star exhibit initially promised for the British Museum’s “Ice Age Art” show that opened on 7 February, but a replica from the Ulm Museum will instead go on display.

The original Lion Man is set to go on display from November 2013 on at its home in Ulm, South Germany. Ulm Museum features a large number of archeological finds, including Ice Age art, bones, tools, funeral offerings, weapons, and jewelry - from various times and periods of human history. Models and scenes, like a reindeer hunter's tent, a reconstruction of part of a Later Stone Age house, and the presentation of finds from rivers, bring distant history to life in the imagination of our visitors.

The Museum also features a Stone Age grave found at Ulm's Münsterplatz (cathedral plaza), in which the crouching or fetal burial position that was common at the time can be seen very clearly.