- The “physique” of a prehistoric ivory figurine was just lately found in Germany.
- The pinnacle was present in 1999, and for years, archaeologists believed it to be a horse.
- Now, they’re attempting to determine what animal it really is.
A minuscule, ivory figurine being pieced collectively over 20 years has confounded scientists, who thought the carving was a horse this entire time.
The figurine’s head was first present in 1999 within the Hohle Fels cave — an necessary archaeological web site of ice age artifacts nestled in Germany’s Swabian Jura area — and dates again 35,000 years in the past. As scientists collected varied elements of the 1-inch tall carving over time, they caught to the horse principle.
Nevertheless, archaeologists found their fifth piece, a physique fragment, in 2022. Now they’re debating what animal is supposed to be represented by the traditional carving, based on a press launch from the College of Tübingen.
Within the press launch, Nicholas Conard, a professor on the College, mentioned there are two primary theories: a cave lion or a cave bear.
Conard himself believes that it is a cave bear — a prehistoric bear species that inhabited Europe — as a result of the figurine’s “pronounced bear hump” matches the peak of its shoulders and seems to mimic a bear’s gait.
Ria Litzenberg/College of Tubingen
Nevertheless, Conard mentioned that his colleagues have additionally recognized properties of the fragments which are just like a Eurasian cave lion, a species additionally frequent in Europe throughout the ice age.
“It’s certainly not all the time simple to establish Ice Age depictions with certainty, particularly when they’re preserved in such fragmentary type,” Conard mentioned within the press launch. “It due to this fact is sensible to look additional rigorously for the lacking elements of this animal within the years to return.”
The collectible figurines are on show on the Prehistoric Museum in Blaubeuren in Germany.
