Or, the last picture of a Cave Lion in Europe. According to a 2024 paper in Quaternary Science Review, Grotta Romanelli, in southern Italy, has the last portrayal of a Cave Lion (Panthera spelaea) so far discovered. The authors somewhat whimsically refer to it as a portrait of the last Cave Lion.
Our early ancestors in both Eurasia and North America knew Panthera spelaea (the Cave Lion) intimately. “Panthera spelaea, commonly known as the cave lion (or less commonly as the steppe lion), is an extinct Panthera species that was native to Eurasia and northwest North America during the Pleistocene epoch. Genetic analysis of ancient DNA has revealed that while closely related, it was a distinct species genetically isolated from the modern lion (Panthera leo), with the genetic divergence between the two species estimated at around 500,000 years ago.” (Wikipedia)
Early
indications are that Neanderthals wore Cave Lion pelts for protection from the
cold, but it is unknown whether these were actively hunted, or scavenged from
lions that had died. “Panthera spelaea interacted with both
Neanderthals and modern humans, who used their pelts and in the case of
the latter, depicted them in artistic works. Cave lions became extinct about
13,000 years ago as part of the end-Pleistocene extinction event, the precise
cause of which is unknown, though climatic change, changes in prey abundance,
and competition with other carnivores and humans have been suggested as
possible causal factors.” (Wikipedia)
"Early members of the cave lion lineage assigned to Panthera (spelaea) fossils during the Middle Pleistocene were considerably larger than individuals of P. spelaea from the Last Glacial Period and modern lions, with some of these individuals having an estimated length of 2.5-2.9 meters (8.2-9.5 ft), shoulder height of 1.4-1.5 meters (4.6-4.9 ft) and body mass of 400-500 kilograms (880-1,100 lb), respectively, making them among the largest cats to have ever lived. The Late Pleistocene Panthera spelaea spelaea was noticeably smaller although still large relative to living cats, with an estimated length of 2-2.1 meters (6.6-6.9 ft) and whoulder height of 1.1-1.2 meters (3.6-3.9 ft), respectively. The species showed a progressive size reduction over the course of the Last Glacial Period upl until its extinction, with the last P. spelaea populations comparable in size to small-sized modern lions, with a body mass of only 70-90 kilograms (150-250 lb), a body length of 1.2-1.3 meters (3.9-4.3 ft) and a shoulder height of 70-75 centimeters (2.30-2.46 ft) respectively." (Wikipedia)
In other words the Cave Lion got smaller over the ages, finally ending up at about the size of modern lions before disappearing. This still makes for a formidable predator, think of what something the size of the earlier Cave Lions would have presented people with. This awsome animal was often recorded in Paleolithic art.
Looking at the body shape of the Cave Lion from Grotta Romanelli it is more reminiscent of the body of a bison, but looking carefully at the legs they end in tiny claws, thus, a lion.
“On the occasion of the review of the portable art of Grotta Romanelli, a decorated stone with a feline figure was object of an interdisciplinary study. The analysis considered different approaches so to: characterise the stratigraphic setting of the finding, the rock support, look into the techniques used to decorate the stone, elaborate a graphic documentation (photographs, 3D models and tracings), relate the symbolic production with the environmental context, and consider the motifs into the wider late Upper Palaeolithic (LUP) art production.” (Sigari et al. 2024:1)
“The work allows confirming that the represented subject corresponds to a Panthera spelaea, and fixing some issues concerning the variability of the decorating activity, which is in line with the graphic tradition of the European LUP. Style and formal variable features of the figure might have responded to specific social conventions or to single author’s skills, tracing new investigation lines about the cultural behaviour and the decorating activity: from the collection of the raw material and the preliminary modelling of the support, to the different artistic techniques (engraving and painting), from the use of the object to the definition of possible local artistic variations and/or inspiration at large scale. Moreover, it questions the thematic aspect in relation to the local fauna and its influence in the symbolic production, highlighting the importance of this stone in the wider debate about the extinction extinction of the cave lions. Indeed, the Romanelli lion may represent the last evidence of this animal in Europe.” (Sigari et al. 2024:1)
“The people who lived in Grotta Romanelli collected pebble and boulder-sized rock fragments fallen down from the cave-roof and walls and produced portable art objects, occasionally reusing the same pieces. The pebbles were entirely decorated according to the natural shape of the stones and, in case of irregularities, even rubbing to “prepare the canvas”. The fragmentary aspect of the stones should not be explained as the result of a decorated and later broken vault, but as a cultural behaviour or as unintentionally post-decorating breaking off.” (Sigari et al. 2024:12)
NOTE 1: The full list of authors for the paper “The last cave lion of the late Upper Paleolithic: The engraved feline of Grotta Romanelli (southern Italy)” is D. Sigari, C. Bourdier, C. Conti, J. Conti, L. Forti, M. García-Diez, G. Lai, I. Mazzini, P. Pieruccini, and R. Sardella.
NOTE 2: Some images in this posting were retrieved from the internet with a search for public domain photographs. If any of these images are not intended to be public domain, I apologize, and will happily provide the picture credits if the owner will contact me with them. For further information on these reports you should read the original reports at the sites listed below.
REFERENCES:
Sigari, D. et al., 2024, The last cave lion of the late Upper Paleolithic: The engraved feline of Grotta Romanelli (southern Italy), 8 May 2024, Elsevier Ltd., https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2024.108670. Accessed online.
Wikipedia, Panthera Spelaea, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panthera_spelaea.
Accessed online 27 August 2025.
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