A team of archaeologists exploring the Hohle Fels cave in southwestern Germany announced the discovery of two small bird sculptures made of mammoth ivory with an estimated age of 40,000 years.
This discovery, presented this week at the Museum of Prehistory and Ice Age Art in Blaubeuren, offers new clues about the symbolic capacity of early Homo sapiens in Europe and their relationship with art during the Ice Age, according to research published in Nature.
The figures, which measure between 2 and 3 centimeters, were recovered in the 2025 excavation campaign along with fragments of flutes made from vulture bones. Both pieces represent a ptarmigan, a bird similar to pheasants. One of them shows the animal at rest and the other appears to be in mid-flight, with its wings spread.
The Hohle Fels cave, located in the Swabian Jura, holds one of the largest collections of Paleolithic figurative art in Europe. The site has been the scene of remarkable discoveries, such as the famous Venus of Hohle Fels, fragments of other animal figures, and an almost complete flute made from the bone of a griffon vulture.
These objects were found in the same archaeological level, dated to up to 42,500 years ago, in an 8 by 9 meter chamber near the main entrance of the cave.
More Read
We recommend reading:200,000-year-old woodpecker fossil found in Argentina
A laboratory for the study of prehistoric art
Before the team led by Nicholas Conard began systematic excavations in 1997, the cave had already been explored intermittently for over a century.
Previous work allowed for the discovery of mammoth, reindeer, and other species’ bones, in addition to stone tools. However, the density and diversity of symbolic objects recovered in recent decades have made Hohle Fels a reference site for research into the origins of art in Europe.
The Blaubeuren Prehistoric Museum and Ice Age Art Museum presents the new figures on July 29.
Other caves in the Swabian Jura have also revealed ivory sculptures, including the 31-centimeter Lion-Man discovered in Hohlenstein-Stadel, dating back nearly 40,000 years.
The concentration of figures at Hohle Fels is exceptional: representations of a water bird, a horse, an otter, a small 2.5-centimeter lion-man, and nine fragments of the Venus have been found there, all carved from mammoth ivory.
The meaning of the figures and their impact on the understanding of the past
Archaeologist Amy Clark, a specialist in the Paleolithic at Harvard University, said that these pieces allow us to understand how Aurignacian groups perceived their environment.
That period, linked to the first human populations in Europe, is characterized by the appearance of artistic and musical objects that reflect a symbolic vision of the world.
Chronology plays a crucial role in the interpretation of these findings. The oldest and clearest evidence of Homo sapiens in Europe exceeds 45,000 years, but archaeological and genetic data suggest that those first incursions did not prosper. Subsequent waves, associated with the Aurignacian culture, appeared about 43,000 years ago and expanded across the continent.
More Read
Recovery requires excavating by grids, advancing a few centimeters, and sieving sediments with water and fine mesh.
Meticulous techniques to rescue the past
The recovery process of the carved birds required a precise methodology. Alexander Janas and his team excavate the chamber in small grids and advance just a few centimeters in depth at each stage. All extracted sediment is preserved and water-sieved through a fine mesh, which allowed for the identification of the two new figures.
Paleontologist Elisa Luzi, from the University of Tübingen, recognized one of the pieces while examining sifted material in search of microfossils together with Quentin Schäfer, an excavation technician from the Baden-Württemberg department of antiquities.
Luzi described his experience: “You see this figurine and you feel all its humanity. No one had seen these things for 40,000 years and we are the first to do so. It is a privilege”.
Clark also shared his reaction upon receiving the images of the new figures: “They are amazingly realistic and vivid,” he commented, adding that it is clear “how they were enchanted by these animals.”
Researchers debate whether these figures functioned as souvenirs, symbols of belonging, or elements of rituals linked to birth.
The utility of these sculptures generates debate among specialists. Nicholas Conard, director of the project, maintains that the artistic capacity shown in Hohle Fels and nearby sites reflects an advance in cultural and cognitive sophistication. That evolution may have favored the survival of these human groups in the extreme climate of glacial Europe.
Other researchers propose alternative interpretations. Daniel Adler, from the University of Connecticut, stated that “these objects were created with a purpose other than simple enjoyment” and suggested that they could have served to preserve memories or express belonging to a group.
For her part, Lyn Wadley, an archaeologist at the University of the Witwatersrand, suggested that figures such as the Venus and the birds could have been used in rituals related to pregnancy and birth. Some marks on the objects evoke ritual scarification practices
The concentration of art in the Swabian Jura is compared to the oldest accepted figurative manifestations, such as cave paintings in Indonesia over 51,000 years old.
The recreation of these works also provides information about the work invested. Melissa Stannard, from the Queensland Museum, managed to reproduce the Venus using deer antler and tools comparable to those of the Aurignacian hunter-gatherers. Another replica of the Lion-Man, crafted from legally sourced elephant ivory, required 360 hours of dedication.
The Swabian Jura complex is considered exceptional by the scientific community. The only older manifestations of figurative art accepted by experts are cave paintings found in Indonesia, such as the scene of human figures and pigs in Sulawesi, which are over 51,000 years old.
