The world's oldest statue spent 30 years in a museum as a heap of fragments.

38,000 BC · 1939 · apart: 39,939 years

The ivory Lion-man was found in 1939 but assembled from over 200 pieces only decades later. It is 35,000–41,000 years old.

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The event

• The Lion-man of Hohlenstein-Stadelc. 38,000 BC · Swabian Jura, Germany. Carved from mammoth ivory 35,000–41,000 years ago, this human figure with a cave lion's head is the oldest known statue. Found in pieces in 1939, it lay forgotten in the Ulm museum for some 30 years until an archaeologist assembled it from over 200 fragments.

Prehistory · 20th century

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