Vogelherd Horse: This 35,000-Year-Old Ivory Figure Is World's First Carved Horse

The Vogelherd was carved from Ivory and made during the Upper Paleolithic era.

It is considered the world's first carved horse that anatomically modern humans created.

The Vogelherd Horse

The Vogelherd horse figure was carved from mammoth ivory and spans roughly 4.8 centimeters in length and 2.5 centimeters in height. It captures certain features, such as carved nostrils, mouth, mane, and eyes.

Though the head of the ivory horse is full, its four legs have been broken. Moreover, because of the flaking of the ivory layer, the figure's width was also reduced.

The figurine also features some engraved symbols, such as angular signs and cross marks on the neck's back and on the left chest and the back.

Archaeologists believe that the Vogelherd horse is a depiction of a stallion.

It was discovered in southern Germany's Vogelherd Cave. The figure is also believed to be from roughly 32,000 to 35,000 years ago, from the Upper Paleolithic times.

Generally, the Vogelherd horse is believed to be the earliest horse sculpture.

The figure is featured in Museum Schloss Hohentübingen in Germany.

Rich Archaeology in Vogelherd Cave

The Vogelherd cave is considered one of Germany's most important prehistoric areas. It is situated within the eastern Swabian Jura in southwest Germany and covers a 170-square-meter area.

The cave of limestone karst received public and scientific attention after the discovery of Vogelherd figurines from the Upper Paleolithic times in 1931.

Moreover, the Vogelherd cave where the ivory carving was discovered served as a gathering place for Aurignacian, a group from the Upper Paleolithic era whose people lived around 43,000 to 35,000 years ago. Since their presence overlaps briefly with Neanderthals in this European area, archaeologists believe that both groups could have coexisted with each other.

The Aurignacians were known to be great hunter-gatherers, which could be seen in their capacity to craft stone tools, such as points and blades.

Hundreds of such items have been discovered within the cave. Several ivory pieces, such as ochre-painted red beads and animal bones, have been discovered as well.

It is possible that the group made use of the space for meat-processing. The researchers who examined animal bones in the Vogelherd Cave from around 32,000 year ago discovered the remains of a horse (Equus ferus) and reindeer (Rangifer tarandus).

This indicates that the groups of Aurignacians hunted and fed on the animals and also made artworks that had animal depictions.

Another well-known artifact from the cave is the mammoth, which is also an ivory carving. It was found to be a male adult mammoth based on its bulky head carvings.

Similar to the legs of the Vogelherd horse, the mammoth's trunk also appeared broken off from the figurine. It also contains cross marks that are shallow on its back and sides.

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