Sculpted from mammoth ivory this little horse is part of an originally more rounded representation with longer legs and tail. The head is complete and still shows the engraved mouth, nostrils and eyes. The ears are alert and the neck arched. The mane, back and sides are marked with crossed diagonal incisions. Is this a stallion trying to impress a mare or a horse arching and kicking backwards against a predator?

Vogelherd Cave, near Stetten, southwest Germany.

Museum Schloss Hohentübingen, Tübingen, Germany.

The most ancient culture of the Upper Palaeolithic, between 35,000 and 28,000 years ago. The culture of the first modern humans in Europe was named after the Aurignac site in Haute-Garonne, France, where it was first identified by Édouard Lartet in 1860.

Source: Dr Jean Clottes

→ Ice Age Art Index
→ Ice Age Art Gallery
→ Bison of Tuc D'Audoubert