A lion headed figure, first called the lion man

A lion headed figure, first called the lion man is an ivory sculpture that and one of the oldest known sculptures in general. The sculpture has also been interpreted as anthropomorphic, giving human characteristics to an animal, although it may have represented a deity. The figurine was determined to be about 32,000 years old. Its pieces were found in 1939 in a cave named Stadel-Höhle im Hohlenstein. Due to the beginning of the Second World War, it was forgotten and only rediscovered thirty years later. The first reconstruction revealed a humanoid figurine without head. During 1997 through 1998 additional pieces of the Sculpture were discovered and the head was reassembled and restored. The sculpture is 29.6 cm (11.7 inches) in height, 5.6 cm wide. and 5.9 cm thick. It was carved out of mammoth ivory using a flint stone knife. There are seven parallel, horizontal, carved gouges on the left arm. Recently the ancient figurine is more often called a lion headed figurine, rather than the title 'lion man'. The current German name, "Löwenmensch"—meaning "lion-human"—similarly, is neutral.After this artifact was identified, a similar, but smaller, lion-headed sculpture was found, along with other animal figures and several flutes, in another cave in the same region of Germany. This leads to the possibility, that the lion-figure played an important role in the mythology of humans of the early Upper Paleolithic. The sculpture can be seen in the Ulmer Museum in Ulm, Germany.