Lion Man of Hohlenstein-Stadel – Paleolithic Replica

Over 40,000 years ago, at the dawn of symbolic thought, humanity began carving visions into ivory. At the threshold of the Upper Paleolithic, when Homo sapiens had just arrived in Europe, art was no longer a mere ornament—it became a spiritual and imaginative phenomenon.

Among the earliest creations of portable art—those that could be carried, unlike the cave paintings fixed to walls—emerged one of prehistory’s greatest enigmas: the Lion Man of Stadel Cave. Carved from mammoth ivory, this hybrid being—human body with the head of the cave lion, the most feared predator of the last Ice Age—stands as the oldest known representation of a mythical creature.

Discovered in 1939 in hundreds of fragments inside a German sanctuary, the figure was reconstructed decades later, revealing not only extraordinary technical mastery but also an unprecedented act of imagination. The artist did not copy reality: he invented the invisible, giving shape to gods, spirits, and rituals that had only existed in the human mind.

Scholars believe the Lion Man may have had a religious role, perhaps used in ceremonies where firelight and chanting awakened its power. Inside its mouth, traces of organic matter were found—suggesting offerings or rituals lost to time. Its surface shows the wear of many hands, as if it had been passed from generation to generation, not as an object but as a sacred companion.

This sculpture is not just the oldest of its kind: it is the birth of myth. From it flows a lineage that connects to Mesopotamian lamassus, Egyptian sphinxes, and even the heroes of Greek legend. The Lion Man is the ancestor of every god, every monster, every story carved into human memory.

🟫 MATERIAL INFORMATION

🛠️ This sculpture is made of solid high-density resin filled with museum-grade and prosthetic-quality materials. It is the very same material we use in our workshop to create official replicas for some of the world’s leading museums and accessibility projects for blind and visually impaired visitors.

❌ We do NOT use:

❌ Plaster (too fragile)

❌ Mineral-based mixes like stone powder composites (which lose definition)

❌ Plastic or anything similar (which reduces both quality and weight)

✅ We specifically choose this resin for its:

💎 Durability

🧬 Precision

🖐️ Ability to capture every fine detail — veins, folds, facial expressions — with a level of fidelity that traditional materials simply cannot match.

🏛️ This is the same professional-grade resin we have used in prestigious projects, producing tactile replicas for public exhibitions in top cultural institutions worldwide.

📌 We want every collector to be fully informed and confident about the quality of the piece they receive.

✨ Unique Value
You will not find this sculpture anywhere else in the world.
We are the only workshop that has recreated the Lion Man with historical accuracy and museum-level finishing, transforming a Paleolithic myth into a true collector’s piece.

❓Would you like to hold in your hands humanity’s first mythical creature, recreated with the seriousness and dedication it deserves?