NOVOSIBIRSK, RUSSIA—The Siberian Times reports that a fragment of a cave lion figurine estimated to be 45,000 years old was unearthed in Siberia’s Denisova Cave by researchers led by Mikhail Shunkov of the Novosibirsk Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography. Carved from wooly mammoth ivory, the fragment, which measures about 1.6 inches long and less than one-half inch tall, depicts the animal’s shoulders, belly, and hip. The hip is extended as if the lion is in motion. The figurine was decorated with notches and painted with red ochre. Shunkov and his team suggest the ivory for the statuette came from the northern foothills of the Altai Mountains, some 60 miles away. It is not clear at this time if the object was carved by Denisovans or by modern humans. To read about evidence for interbreeding between Denisovans and Neanderthals, go to "Hominin Hybrid," one of ARCHAEOLOGY's Top 10 Discoveries of 2018.
