Missing ‘body’ of ice age animal carving finally found — but nobody knows what the animal is

Archaeologists in Germany have found the lacking piece of an ice age carving deep in a cave. However the brand new addition of the ivory carving, initially thought to depict a horse, has truly difficult issues: Now, researchers aren’t positive if it portrays a cave lion or a cave bear.

Researchers beforehand discovered the pinnacle of the 35,000-year-old figurine within the cave Hohle Fels within the mountainous Swabian Jura area within the southern a part of the nation. The cave, which interprets to “hole rock” in German, is a part of a UNESCO World Heritage Website and is well-known for its Higher Paleolithic (about 50,000 to 12,000 years in the past) artifacts. On the time, the carved head was the primary recognized ivory carving from the cave.

However the newfound “physique” a part of the carving has thrown the equine interpretation out the window. “We nonetheless can’t determine the animal species depicted with certainty,” Nicholas Conard, a professor within the Division of Prehistory and Quaternary Ecology on the College of Tübingen in Germany, stated on the “Discover of the Yr” information convention on July 27, in line with a translated assertion. 

The carving doubtless depicts a bear, he stated. “The figurine now has an enormous physique, exhibits the standard pronounced bear hump at shoulder peak and presents itself in a posture that would imitate the trotting gait of a bear,” Conard famous.