Artwork
Löwenmensch Figurine
History & Civilizations
Spirituality & MythWhat is the Löwenmensch figurine?
The Löwenmensch figurine, also called the Lion-man of Hohlenstein-Stadel, is a prehistoric ivory sculpture discovered in a German cave, determined by carbon dating to be between 35,000 and 41,000 years old. In Archetype.1, it is cited as one of the oldest-known examples of an artistic representation and the oldest confirmed statue ever discovered.
In short
Archetype.1 presents the Löwenmensch figurine as evidence that Homo Sapiens already had a sharp imagination and capacity to express ideas in the Upper Paleolithic era. The sculpture combines a human-like body with the head of a cave lion, suggesting a human-animal spiritual connection that the article links to animism. The edition uses it to support the argument that archetypes have long been following the development of our species.
Key facts
- How old is the figurine?
- Between 35,000 and 41,000 years old, determined by carbon dating of the layer in which it was found.
- What does the figurine depict?
- A visual representation of a human-like body with the head of a cave lion, suggesting a human-animal spiritual connection.
- Why does the article discuss the figurine?
- As a solid example of how Homo Sapiens already had a sharp imagination and capacity to express ideas back in the Upper Paleolithic era, supporting the claim that archetypes have followed human development.
What is the Löwenmensch figurine?
The Löwenmensch figurine is a sculpture carved from mammoth ivory, found in 1939 in the Hohlenstein-Stadel cave, in the Swabian Jura of Germany. About 31 centimetres tall, it joins a human body to the head of a cave lion. The year of the find, the height and the place come from outside the article and are marked for the author's verification.
How does the figurine appear in Archetype.1?
In Archetype.1, the Löwenmensch figurine appears in the introduction as an interesting artefact for considering the origins of symbolic thinking. The article describes it as a prehistoric ivory sculpture discovered in a German cave, between 35,000 and 41,000 years old, and calls it one of the oldest-known examples of an artistic representation and the oldest confirmed statue ever discovered. The author reads the human-animal hybrid form as evidence of a spiritual connection and uses it to affirm that archetypes have long been following the development of our species.
Source editions
Where this entry comes from in the Agency editorial.