By DPA
Heidenheim(Germany) : World’s oldest intact figurine is to go on public show for the first time at the end of this month, exhibition organizers in Germany said Monday.
The four-centimetre tall depiction of a mammoth is the work of an unknown Stone Age carver 30,000 to 40,000 years ago.
Other sculptures from the period, such as a horse and a lion-man, also exist, but are damaged, with their legs broken off. They date from about the same time as ancient European cave paintings.
But the little ivory figure, weighing 7.5 grams, has a special place as the world’s oldest intact sculpture.
It was discovered last year in the Vogelherd cave near Niederstotzingen in south-western Germany, a mine of prehistoric artefacts. It will be on display Oct 20-21 in Niederstotzingen Palace.
Visitors will also be allowed into the cave the same weekend. The first ancient carvings were found there in 1931 and German archaeologists led by Nicholas Conard resumed excavations in the cave in 2005.
They discovered the little mammoth in the spoil shovelled away and not properly sieved in 1931.