The uncanny allure of therianthropes, as the Hohlenstein–Stadel Löwenmensch (Lion-person), discovered in some two hundred fragments in a limestone cave in the Hohlenstein cliffs of Bade-Wurtemberg, southwest Germany. Unearthed in 1939, it was not until 1969 that they were found to form a figure. A restoration was undertaken in 1987; systematic excavation between 2008 and 2013 uncovered additional fragments, and a second restoration was undertaken. The figure was carved from the tusk of a mammoth and stands 296mm tall. It has been dated to 40–39 ka.
The Löwenmensch is unmistakably jaunty in posture and expression: standing arms akimbo, as if the hands were searching for trouser pockets, a relaxed grin spreading across their face.
Perhaps what gets us is not the having a body but the having just one.
