Bird carvings: old ones, really old

Source Archaeologists have discovered two remarkable mammoth ivory carvings in southwestern Germany: intricate miniatures that are about the size of your thumbnail and date back 40,000 years. One depicts a resting bird, possibly brooding over its eggs, with a clear shape and a carefully carved head, beak, and eyes. The other seems to have its wings partly outstretched, with a distinctive beak and feather markings visible. These fine figurines were found at the well-known Hohle Fels Cave, part of the UNESCO World Heritage area of the Swabian Jura. The layer of sediment they were discovered in places the carvings to when the first modern humans would’ve been arriving in the Upper Danube region during the most recent Ice Age. “The figurines demonstrate that the earliest artists were skilled ivory-carvers, who could depict delicate motifs in miniature form,” director of excavations Nicholas Conard, from the University of Tübingen, said in a statement. “The carvings are not highly stylized…