The Therianthropic statuette (Löwenmensch)
from the Hohlenstein-Stadel cave, Ca. 30,000-26,000 BCE.
31 centimetres tall.
Ccarved from mammoth ivory it stands as the oldest known example of figurative art.
Discovered in a cave in Germany, this enigmatic sculpture merges human and animal features in a way that challenges understanding—both hauntingly familiar and strikingly otherworldly.
It offers a profound glimpse into the creative genius of early humans, hinting at their capacity for imagination and symbolic thought.
Remarkably, the Lion-man predates the advent of known written language by more than 30,000 years. To put that in perspective, it is older than Stonehenge by tens of thousands of years.
This ancient artifact showcases an extraordinary leap in artistic expression, marking one of the earliest examples of humans conveying complex ideas long before written records existed.
Photograph by T. Stephan, Ulmer Museum.
