The Espélugues Caves was much frequented. This small horse was discovered in 1886 in a fissure in the rock. Many other tools and decorated objects have also been discovered in this cave-shelter.
This small statuette has been carved longitudinally from a mammoth’s tusk. Mammoths measured between 2.80 and 3.50 metres. Their upper incisors, developed into tusks, could reach 3 metres in length. To compensate for a lack of wood, prehistoric man in Eastern Europe used these bones as frames for their tents. Mammoths disappeared from Europe around 8,500 BC.
Materials and techniques
Ivory of mammoth
Origin and date
Grottes des Espélugues, (Lourdes, Hautes-Pyrénées)
Around 13,000 BC
