40,000-year-old bird figurines unearthed in German cave offer glimpse into Ice Age life

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The miniature figurines, each around the size of a thumbnail, were carved from mammoth ivory and found at Hohle Fels Cave in south-west Germany.

One appears to show a bird sitting or brooding, with prominent eyes, while the other has outstretched wings and may be shown flying or landing.

Both are thought to date from the Aurignacian period, when modern humans were first arriving in the Upper Danube region.

Professor Nicholas Conard, who leads excavations at the University of Tübingen, said the discoveries show Ice Age artists were capable of detailed work on an extraordinary scale.

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“The figurines demonstrate that the earliest artists were skilled ivory-carvers, who could depict delicate motifs in miniature form,” he said.

The carvings measure roughly 2 cm long, 1 cm wide and 0.5 cm thick.

They weigh just 1.3 g and 0.7 g respectively.

Experts believe the birds may depict ptarmigans - grouse-like birds suited to the freezing Ice Age climate.

The two objects were found in the same archaeological layer, about 1.5 m apart, and may even have been made by the same person.

Researchers say the figurines may have been personal talismans, symbols of identity, or objects used in storytelling and rituals.

Hohle Fels Cave has already produced some of the world’s oldest known figurative art, including the Venus of Hohle Fels, a famous ivory sculpture believed to be among the earliest depictions of a human figure.

Archaeologists also found fragments of a vulture-bone flute during the latest dig, suggesting that art and music may have been part of life in the cave tens of thousands of years ago.