Case file · Folklore / legend
The Lion-man of Hohlenstein-Stadel
A 31 cm ivory figure of a human body with a cave lion's head, carved some 35,000–41,000 years ago and found in 1939 in the Hohlenstein-Stadel cave in southern Germany, the oldest known image of an imagined being.
1939 CE · 48.55, 10.17 · status: official
The account
Hundreds of ivory fragments were found just before the Second World War and pieced together decades later. The figure is part of the Ice Age caves of the Swabian Jura World Heritage Site. Many researchers see it as evidence of myth or shamanic belief in a part-animal being.
The sceptical view
Its meaning is unknown: a god, a spirit, a shaman in costume or a story character are all possible.