Europe: Processed stones ЧЕЛОВЕКОЛЕВ / The Lion-Man

ЧЕЛОВЕКОЛЕВ Б.jpg
PHOTO: silosarg 48°32'56.40"С 10°10'20.47"В

Человеколев — статуя существа с человеческим телом и львиной головой, найденная археологами в Германии. Сделанная из бивня мамонта, статуя считается одной из древнейших известных скульптур в мире и самой древней зооморфической скульптурой. Учёные полагают, что фигура возможно представляет собой божество и являлась предметом религиозного поклонения. После проведения радиоуглеродного анализа возраст человекольва был определён в 32 тысячи лет. Во время раскопок в начале 1930-х годов в местечке под названием Stadel im Hohlenstein в долине Лонетал в Швабских горах неподалёку от города Ульм, немецкие археологи обнаружили систему пещер с большим количеством доисторических артефактов. В 1937 году профессор Роберт Ветцель начал проводить систематические археологические раскопки, и два года спустя, 25 августа 1939 года, обнаружил сотни осколков статуэтки человекольва. Это был последний день раскопок, которые прервались по причине начала Второй мировой войны. Без проведения какого-либо научного анализа, находка была сдана на склад музея. Тридцать лет спустя, в 1969 году, профессор Йоахим Хан во время составления списка артефактов в музее, заметил сходство между осколками и догадался, что они представляли собой фрагменты статуэтки. Он провёл работу по реставрации, составив из двухсот осколков человекоподобную фигуру без головы.

 

 

This sculpture was found in in Hohlenstein-Stadel, Germany and is roughly from between 30,000 and 28,000BCE. When this sculpture was found it was in fragments, and since it has been restored to its original state. It was carved out of mammoth ivry and because it is almost a solid foot tall it is considered to be huge during the Paleolithic Era. Because of the two creatures that were combined together to create this sculpture it was clearly from the sculpters mind. This a half human and half feline, the gender of this work of art is not known. And because of the material that it was made of it (mammoth ivry) does this mean that the sculpter and his/her people where capable of killing a mammoth or could they have found it laying dead somewhere? Anyway we are here because this sculpture is one of the earliest sculptures discovered so far.

 Its pieces were found in 1939 in a cave named Stadel-Höhle im Hohlenstein (Stadel cave in HohlensteinMountain) in the Lonetal (Lone valley) Swabian Alb, Germany. Due to the beginning of the The Lion-Man 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.

Originally, the figure was classified as male by Joachim Hahn. From examination of some additional parts of the sculpture found later, Elisabeth Schmid decided that the figure was a woman with the head of a "Höhlenlöwin" (female Cave Lion). Both interpretations lack scientific evidence. European cave lions, male and female, lacked the distinctive manes of the African male lion, and so its absence here cannot lead to an interpretation of 'lioness'.

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.

Interpretation is very difficult. The sculpture shares certain similarities with French cave wall paintings, which also show hybrid creatures. The French paintings, however, are several thousand years younger than the German sculpture.

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 UlmerMuseum in Ulm, Germany.

THE  SAHARA GEOGLYPHS

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