Lion Man of Hohlenstein Stadel

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CONTENTS

• The World's Oldest Sculpture
• Discovery and Reassembly
• Characteristics of Lion Man
• How Old is the Lion Man?
• Cultural Significance
• References

The World's Oldest Sculpture

The ivory carving known as "The Lion Man of Hohlenstein Stadel" is one of the greatest treasures of prehistoric sculpture in the archaeological record.

It marks an important point in Stone Age culture in general, and human cognitive development in particular.

The therianthropic Lion Man is carbon-dated to between 38,000 and 33,000 BC, and belongs to the era of Aurignacian art.

It is the world's oldest figurative sculpture (along with the Venus of Hohle Fels), as well as the oldest known evidence of religious belief in history.

Archaeologists speculate it had a totemic role for the inhabitants of the region.

In 2017, Stadel Cave became a World Heritage Site.

Note: In Germany, the Lion Man carving is commonly referred to as the "Löwenmensch" figurine, meaning "lion-person" or "lion-human". This is due to uncertainty over its gender.

Note: For the world's oldest wood carving of the Stone Age, see the Russian Shigir Idol (10,000 BC).

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Discovery and Reassembly

The carving was recovered from Hohlenstein Mountain, in 1939, in the Swabian Jura of southwest Germany, during excavations directed by paleontologist Robert Wetzel (1898-1962).

Fragments of the carving were unearthed in the limestone cave of Stadel-Hohle, by archaeologist Otto Völzing (1910-2001).

Put aside for three decades, because of World War II and its aftermath, the fragments were partly reassembled in 1969, by Joachim Hahn, a professor at the University of Tubingen.

But it took another twenty years before the humanoid figure was reunited with its lion-like head.

The Swabian Jura harbours a large number of paleolithic caves and rock shelters, including the Vogelherd, Geißenklösterle and Hohle Fels caves, as well as Hohlenstein-Stadel.

These sites have yielded several important items of mobiliary art, including:

• The Venus of Hohle Fels (38,000-33,000 BC), the oldest of the famous venus figurines and the joint-oldest figurative sculpture.
• The 'small Lion Man' (2.5 cm tall) found in Hohle Fels Cave. This dates to 31,000 BC.
• The Stone Age carvings found in Vogelherd Cave, featuring a lion, a horse and several woolly mammoths (31,000 BC).

Similar examples of Upper Paleolithic art discovered across the border, in Austria and the Czech Republic, include: the Venus of Galgenberg and the Venus of Willendorf (both dated 28,000 BC), and the Venus of Dolní Věstonice (27,000 BC).

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Lion Man of Hohlenstein Stadel: Description & Characteristics

• The Lion Man of Hohlenstein Stadel had definite totemic value. It was carved from the ivory tusk of a woolly mammoth, the largest and most powerful animal of the day, and depicts the fiercest predator of the day - a lion - which in those days stood 30 cm taller than today's African lions.
• The Lion Man itself measures 31 cm in height; 5.6 cm in width; and is 5.9 cm thick. It is largest of all Ice Age sculptures recovered from the Swabian Jura.
• The figurine has the head of a cave lion with a human body. It stands upright, legs apart and arms by its sides. It has a slender, leonine body, but with strong shoulders. Its gaze, like its stance, is directed at the observer.
• The sculpture was carved by someone using a simple flint-cutting tool. It has seven parallel, transverse, gouges on its left arm. Recent tests performed with similar Ice Age tools, indicate that the Lion Man took more than 400 hours to carve - a huge investment of time in 'non-productive activity'.

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How Old is the Lion Man?

The carving was not dated directly but with reference to the stratigraph layers of material between which it was sandwiched. These were carbon-dated to between 38,000 and 33,000 BC. This makes the Lion Man the oldest prehistoric art of its type in the world.

Cultural Significance

Whether therianthropic or merely anthropomorphic, the Lion Man's hybrid appearance - part animal, part human - is quite unique for its age.

According to the British Museum, the Lion Man is "the oldest known representation of a being that does not exist in physical form but symbolises ideas about the supernatural."

The length of time devoted to the Lion Man's creation strongly suggests it was regarded as an important symbol, possibly used in group rituals and ceremonies.

This masterpiece of paleolithic art was recovered from a cold, dark inner chamber, carefully stashed away with only a few fox teeth and reindeer antlers for company.

• To see how the Lion Man of Hohlenstein Stadel fits into the chronology of Stone Age sculpture, see: Prehistoric Art Timeline.
• See also: World's Oldest Art.

References

(1) "Palaeolithic ivory sculptures from southwestern Germany and the origins of figurative art". Conard, Nicholas J. (2003). Nature. 426 (6968): 830–832.
(2) "A female figurine from the basal Aurignacian of Hohle Fels Cave in southwestern Germany". Conard, Nicholas J. (2009). Nature. 459 (7244): 248–252.
(3) "The Lion Man: an Ice Age masterpiece." Jill Cook, British Museum Blog. 10 October 2017.