Many of the sculptures of animals in Ice Age art are depicted in still positions. The Crouching Lion from Pavlov I is a fine exception. Discovered in 1952 close to the Upper Paleolithic archaeological site near the village of Dolní Věstonice, Moravia in the Czech Republic, this sculpture carved from mammoth ivory depicts a lion in motion; crouching or, more likely, leaping. Also known as the Pavlov Lion, it was discovered in a pile of bones next to a wolf skull and just metres from a hearth. Most of the lion’s outline has been cut and rounded, but parts have been left unworked.

Culture taking its name from the La Gravette site, Dordogne, France, and lasted from about 28,000 years ago until 22,000 years ago. Original elements in Gravettian cave art include the use of hand stencils, and the type of female statuette widely but incorrectly known as 'Venus' first appear in the portable art of this period.

Source: Dr Jean Clottes

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