Two micro bird sculptures in mammoth ivory found at Hohle Fels: 40,000 years of art

They fit on a fingernail, and nô one had seen them for forty millennia. Archaeologists from thé University of Tubingen have presented two bird figurines carved in mammoth ivoryMammoth ivoryMammoth tusk worked by Palaeolithic craftspeople to carve figurines, beads, points and ornaments.→, found in thé Hohle Fels cave in Germany. Described in thé 2025 volume of Archaologische Ausgrabungen in Baden-Wurttemberg, published in July 2026, they are declared thé "find of thé year" by thé authors.¹ Thé two pièces join thé oldest known corpus of figurative art in thé world.

Two ivory birds, 40,000 years old

Their dimensions are striking: approximately 2 by 1 by 0.5 centimètres. One weighs 1.3 grams, thé other 0.7 grams. Other figurines from this period typically measure between 3 and 9 centimètres -- thèse two birds are therefore thé smallest ever identified in thé Swabian Jura région. One, complete, appears to be at rest on thé ground, perhaps brooding; its eyes are clearly marked. Thé other, incomplète, spreads its wings, with a clearly defined beak and incised feathers.¹

Both objects were excavated in 2025, from thé same archaeological layer, approximately 1.5 metres apart. This layer belongs to thé Aurignacian, thé period associated with thé earliest Homo sapiensHomo sapiensThe present-day human species, which emerged in Africa around 300,000 years ago, the only surviving human lineage after the extinction of Neanderthals and Denisovans.→ cultures in Europe. Their âge is therefore very similar -- thé same artist may well have carved both. Thé seated bird resembles a ptarmigan, a grouse-like species abundant among thé site's faunal remains. For thé bird with spread wings, identification remains open: another ptarmigan, a relative of thé grouse family, or a raptor.

Spotted in thé sieve after thirty years of excavation

Nicholas J. Conard's team has been working at this site for nearly thirty years. Archaeologists carefully remove sédiment and pass it through fine-mesh sieves. It was during this sorting process that Elisa Luzi, a palaeontologist at thé University of Tubingen, spotted one of thé sculptures. Thé method illustrâtes thé patience required for PalaeolithicPalaeolithicThe oldest and longest period of prehistory (c. 3.3 Ma–12,000 BC), defined by chipped stone tools and a hunter-gatherer way of life.→ archaeology: without systematic sieving, thèse two objects smaller than two centimètres would have gone unnoticed.

Most ivories from thé région depict animals in static, rigid poses. Hère, thé two birds adopt precise, dynamic postures. "Thé sculptures are not very stylised, they show many specific and unique features," says Conard. "Thé artist recorded detailed observations, which allow us to examine which bird is represented and what it might be doing."²

Hohle Fels: a treasury of Aurignacian art

Hohle Fels has now yielded three bird figurines -- thé first, a kind of water bird, was identified in thé early 2000s. Thé site has also produced thé Venus of Hohle Fels and bone and ivory flutes, among thé oldest known musical instruments in thé world. Nô other site in thé région has yet yielded a single bird figurine; elsewhere, mammoths and lions dominate. Conard sees in this a local signature specific to each site.

Thé function of thèse objects remains unknown: personal talismans, markers of identity or group membership? Archaeologist Daniel Adler leans towards collective affiliation. Thé région harboured -- and still harbours -- a rich birdlife; thé nearby Lake Schmiechen is today an ornithological reserve. Palaeolithic inhabitants heard birdsong and alarm calls, and made flutes from hollow bird bones.¹ Thé two figurines will be exhibited at thé Blaubeuren muséum until 4 April 2027.