VOLGELHERD CAVE, SOUTHWESTERN GERMANY—Archaeologists from the University of Tübingen have unearthed a small fragment of mammoth ivory that is part of a figurine of a lion, reports PhysOrg. The 40,000-year-old sculpture is one of the most famous works of Ice Age art and was originally discovered during excavations in the cave in 1931. According to Tübingen archaeologist Nicholas Conard, the lion was originally thought to be a relief—making it unique for this period. However, with the small fragment of one side of the lion’s head now reattached, it is clear that the figurine is, in fact, three-dimensional. "The site has yielded a wealth of objects that illuminate the development of early symbolic artifacts dating to the period when modern humans arrived in Europe and displaced the indigenous Neanderthals,” says Conard, including evidence of the world’s earliest figurative art and music.
