Thumbnail-sized ivory birds from German cave date back 40,000 years

Two bird figurines carved from mammoth ivory about 40,000 years ago, each roughly the size of a thumbnail, were presented on 29 July 2026 by archaeologists from the University of Tübingen in Germany, which named them its “Find of the Year”.

The carvings were recovered in 2025 at Hohle Fels, a cave in the Swabian Jura in south-western Germany that forms part of a UNESCO World Heritage listing for Ice Age art. They lay about 1.5 metres apart in the same layer, which belongs to the Aurignacian period, when modern humans first arrived in the Upper Danube region. The university said the two pieces are of similar age and may have been made by the same person.

Each measures approximately 2 by 1 by 0.5 centimetres; most figurines of the period are between 3 and 9 centimetres. One is complete and shows a bird lying down, possibly sitting on eggs, with prominent eyes. The other is incomplete, with outstretched wings, a distinct beak and markings for feathers; it may be flying, landing or displaying. The university said the resting bird appears to be a ptarmigan, while the second could be a ptarmigan, a grouse or a bird of prey. Such identifications are interpretations, as is any reading of what the objects meant to their makers.

“The figurines demonstrate that the earliest artists were skilled ivory-carvers, who could depict delicate motifs in miniature form,” Nicholas Conard, who directs the excavations, said in the university’s statement. In their present state the pieces weigh 1.3 and 0.7 grams, he said.

Hohle Fels has now yielded three bird carvings, and no other site in the region has produced one, according to the university. A description of the finds was due to appear in Archäologische Ausgrabungen in Baden-Württemberg, an annual volume on excavations in the state. The university said the figurines would be shown at the Museum of Prehistory and Ice Age Art in Blaubeuren in a special exhibition running until 4 April 2027.