Archaeologists working in Germany’s Hohle Fels Cave have uncovered two miniature bird figurines carved from mammoth ivory around 40,000 years ago.
Barely larger than a thumbnail, the figures were recovered by a University of Tübingen team from deep Aurignacian layers inside the UNESCO World Heritage cave. One appears to show a resting or brooding bird, while the other depicts a bird with its wings spread wide.
Researchers presented the sculptures as Hohle Fels’ “Find of the Year,” describing them as rare additions to some of the earliest known figurative art created by modern humans.
Despite their size, both figures preserve remarkably precise anatomical details. The resting bird has prominent rounded eyes, a flattened body and legs drawn close beneath it. The winged figure has a clearly defined beak and parallel incisions across its wings, apparently representing feathers.
Professor Nicholas Conard, who leads the archaeological research at Hohle Fels, said the carvings demonstrate how Ice Age artists transformed careful observations of animals into highly detailed objects.
The Smallest Ice Age Figurine Found in the Swabian Jura
The bird with outstretched wings measures just two centimeters long, one centimeter wide and half a centimeter high. It is the smallest Ice Age figurative artwork yet discovered within the UNESCO World Heritage caves of the Swabian Jura.
The two carvings weigh approximately 1.3 grams and 0.7 grams.
Part of the winged bird’s left wing is missing, and the fragment has not been recovered. Even in its incomplete state, however, the figure clearly represents an animal in motion rather than a simplified outline.
The two birds were found in the same archaeological layer but approximately 1.5 meters apart. Researchers therefore cannot determine whether they were produced by the same carver or by people living at different times.
Their poses are also unusual. Many Ice Age animal sculptures depict creatures standing or resting in static positions, while these birds appear to capture specific forms of behavior.
The low, rounded posture of the resting figure may represent a bird sitting on a nest. The second could show a bird flying, landing on water, threatening a rival or performing a courtship display.
The species remains uncertain. Ptarmigan is one possibility because its bones are commonly found in archaeological deposits across the region. Researchers have also considered capercaillie, other game birds and certain birds of prey.
A Cave Linked to the Origins of Figurative Art
Hohle Fels lies near Schelklingen in the Ach Valley of southern Germany. Its deep archaeological deposits preserve evidence of both Neanderthals and early modern humans.
The cave is one of six sites included in the UNESCO World Heritage area known as the Caves and Ice Age Art in the Swabian Jura. Excavations across the region have produced mammoth-ivory sculptures, personal ornaments and some of the oldest known musical instruments.
Hohle Fels is especially famous for the female figurine often called the Venus of Hohle Fels, as well as ancient bone and ivory flutes. These discoveries have made the cave central to research into the emergence of symbolic behavior, art and music in Europe.
The newly discovered figures may also reveal something distinctive about the people who used this particular cave.
A mammoth-ivory waterbird was found at Hohle Fels approximately 25 years ago. With the latest discoveries, the cave has now produced three bird figurines.
Other major Ice Age art sites in the same UNESCO region have yielded carvings of mammoths, cave lions, horses and other animals, but no comparable concentration of birds.
Researchers suggest that communities working at different caves may have favored particular motifs, giving individual sites their own artistic traditions. The group of bird carvings at Hohle Fels may therefore represent a local visual signature.
The figures may have served as personal objects, ritual items or symbols of group identity, although their original meaning remains unknown.
The two ivory birds will be displayed at the Museum of Prehistory and Ice Age Art in Blaubeuren until April 4, 2027, close to the cave where they were discovered.