12,000-YEAR-OLD NATUFIAN FIGURINE OF A WOMAN AND A GOOSE:

 

Venus of Laussel, Laussel Cave, France. Image from Wikipedia.

Back in July of 2018 I wrote a column about the possibility that the horn held by the 25,000 year old ‘Venus of Laussel’ represented a cornucopia, and was thus evidence of an incredibly long lasting tradition. Now a recent discovery of a 12,000 year old Natufian figurine in Israel appears to possibly point to another very long survival of a theme in ancient myth and legend – Leda and the Swan.

Statue of Leda and the Swan. Timotheos, ca. 300 BC. Getty Museum, 70.AA.110.

The myth, as we know it, is set in the Mythical Bronze Age of Greece (roughly 1600–1100 BCE), the same legendary era as the Trojan War. Zeus, the father of the gods, appears to Leda, a queen of Sparta, in the form of a beautiful swan and seduces her. Leda is the mother of Helen of Troy, linking the myth to that cycle. (Wikipedia)

Leda and the Swan. 1505-1510 CE, by Cesare da Sesto, after a  lost  Leonardo.

The myth of Leda and the Swan remained a favorite of artists throughout the Renaissance.

Now, at a Natufian site in Israel the discovery of a figurine from over ten thousand years earlier than the Greeks suggests the possibility that the Bronze Age Greeks had received the myth from earlier people, handed down orally.

Woman and Goose, Nahal Ein Gev II, Israel. Image from the Hebrew University.

This discovery was made by a team from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. “A 12,000-year-old clay figurine unearthed in northern Israel, depicting a woman and a goose, is the earliest known human-animal interaction figurine. Found at the Late Natufian site of Nahal Ein Gev II, the piece predates the Neolithic and signals a turning point in artistic and spiritual expression. Combining naturalism, light manipulation, and symbolic imagination, it reveals how early communities used art to explore the relationship between humans and the natural world.” (Phys.org 2025) The figurine appears to be, at least, a small figure of a woman with a large bird on her back and its neck and head over her right shoulder.

Artist's reconstruction of the figurine. Image from phys.org.

“The Natufians, who lived across the Levant between about 15,000 and 11,500 years ago, were among the first groups in the region to establish permanent or semi-permanent settlements. Living before the rise of farming, they were already experimenting with artistic forms that would flourish in the Neolithic. The new figurine underscores their growing interest in narrative imagery, mythmaking, and the symbolic links between people and the natural world. Researchers studying the artifact note that the goose, a bird commonly eaten by Natufians and used for ornamentation, is depicted as alive and active, not hunted. Its wings stretch back toward the woman in a gesture of intimate contact. While a practical reading, such as a person carrying game is still possible, the sculptor’s emphasis on movement and interaction favors a mythological reading. The scene may reflect an early animistic worldview in which humans and animals shared overlapping spiritual roles and identities.” (Radley 2025) Additionally, the presence of traces of red ocher on both the woman and the goose, and the fact that the clay had been fired illustrate its intentionality, this is no lump of mud that accidentally looks like a figurine. (Phys.org 2025)

Prof. Natalie Munro and Dr. Laurent Davin with the figurine. Image from the Hebrew University.

“The figurine is only 3.7 centimeters tall and was molded from local clay before being heated in a fireplace at a controlled temperature. Microscopic examination showed traces of red ocher on both figures and even a partial fingerprint left by its maker, likely a young woman, based on ridge-pattern analysis.” (Radley 2025) Identifying the maker as a young woman based on a partial fingerprint in a lump of 12,000 year old clay may be a stretch.

Goose. Online image, public domain.

A number of other indicators were found testifying to the importance of the goose to the people of Nahal Ein Gev II. “Faunal remains from the site reinforce the connection between geese and ritual life. The bird’s feathers were used for decoration, and certain bones were fashioned into ornaments. The artistic focus on a goose and a woman, the researchers argue, points to an early mythic imagination, a symbolic vocabulary that later blossomed in Neolithic cults and figurative traditions across Southwest Asia.” (Phys.org 2025) While I do not question the identification of the faunal remains mentioned above, I do question that there are enough identifiable details in the figurine to positively confirm that it is a goose. Both geese and swans are large bodied birds with similar beaks. The team use the word mythic, and I would like them to consider that this might be an earlier manifestation of the myth cycle that led to Leda and the Swan.

Swan. Online image, public domain.

“This figurine offers archaeologists a rare glimpse into the beliefs and artistic experimentation of communities standing at the threshold of major cultural change, capturing a moment when early sedentary societies began exploring more elaborate systems – long before the emergence of agriculture, permanent architecture, and the more standardized art forms of the Neolithic.” (Radley 2025) Such an artifact testifies to a certain level of importance of this concept, that someone took the time and energy to create the figurine, fire it and decorate it with ochre. That would certainly suggest a likely ritual importance of the figurine. And, if we accept this ritual importance, I would add, perhaps we should consider the possibility that the origins of a Classical Greek myth can be traced back an additional 12,000 years.

NOTE: Some images in this column 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:

Faris, Peter, 2018, The Cornucopia – An Ancient Tradition, 7 July 2018, RockArtBlog, https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/7760124847746733855/3537035597338938690

Phys.org, 2025, The woman and the goose: A 12,000-year-old glimpse into prehistoric belief, 18 November 2025, The Gist, Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Accessed online 18 November 2025.

Radley, Dario, 2025, Rare 12,000-year-old Natufian figurine of a woman and a goose offers a glimpse into prehistoric beliefs, 18 November 2025, https://archaeologymag.com/2025/11/rare-natufian-figurine-of-a-woman-and-a-goose/. Accessed online 18 Nov. 2025. 

Wikipedia, Leda and the Swan, https://en.wikipedia.org/Leda_and_the_Swan. Accessed online 20 November 2025.

WE MAY FINALLY HAVE AN EXAMPLE OF DENISOVAN ART- A LION CARVED OUT OF MAMMOTH IVORY IS ATTRIBUTED TO A DENISOVAN ARTIST:

Denisova Cave, Russia. Internet photograph, public domain.

While science still has a lot to learn about the mysterious hominids known as Denisovan after the cave in the Altai Mountains, Siberia, Russia, where they were first discovered, we now have a work of art and a number of artifacts that have been attributed to them. A small, carved piece of mammoth tusk that has been interpreted as the remaining piece of a broken carving of a cave lion (panthera spelea).

European cave lion. Image from dinotopia.com.

“This is the first such sculptural representation known in Siberia, throughout North and Central Asia, and the first zoomorphic sculpture of such antiquity. Zoomorphic figurines are known in the history of the Siberian Paleolithic, but they are usually no older than 23-21 thousand years. The age of this one is not yet established, but it is located in a stratigraphic context, which, according to the radiocarbon analysis performed at Oxford University and optically stimulated luminescence, is about 45 thousand years old. The chronology will still be specified, but the image is, in any case, not less than 30 thousand years old. This means, it is the most ancient artifact of this kind,’ says Head of the Department of Archeology of the Stone Age IAE SB RAS, Corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Mikhail Shunkov.” (Russian Geographical Society) When the above stated “first such sculptural representation” it did not mean the first one ever discovered, many others have been previously discovered. It meant that as far as we know it may have been the first one created in that region.

Partial figurine identified as a cave lion. Image from Siberiantimes.com.

Carved figurine superimposed over a cave lion silhouette. Online image, public domain.

The figurine is carved out of mammoth ivory. The scientists believe that this means that the material had been carried to the site from 100 – 120 km away from Denisova from the Northern foothills of the Altai mountains. (Russian Academy of Sciences) Apparently there has been no evidence of mammoths within that distance of Denisova Cave to this point. This may, however, be a case of “your lack of evidence is not evidence of lack.”

Hematite crayon from Denisova Cave. Internet photograph, public domain.

“There have been other intriguing objects found within the cave. Some 30 pieces of mammoth ivory have been recovered from the cave. Among the most unique objects are fragments of a glistening green chlorite stone bracelet, beads made of ostrich eggs – and an ancient reddish-brown processed hematite ‘crayon.’” (Seidel 2019)

While the Cave Lion carving is tentatively dated to 45,000 BP by optically stimulated luminescence dating of the stratigraphic layer it was found in, many of the other recovered artifacts cannot share that age with it. One that very possibly does is the hematite ‘crayon,’ but I do not believe that the green stone bracelet can be anywhere near that age. Also carved of mammoth ivory are an eyed needle and what the discoverers are calling a tiara, a mammoth ivory piece that they interpret as a headband that tied around the forehead to keep long hair out of the wearer’s eyes. These may also be attributable to Denisovans, or may not. The reported dates are still not generally accepted, indeed, some believe that these mammoth ivory carvings are attributable to Neanderthals who lived in the Denisova Cave at a later date.

Mammoth ivory headband from Denisova Cave. Image from siberiantimes.com.

“In 2018, a simple tiara made from wooly mammoth ivory was found buried in its depths. It had a hole ground into its rounded end, where a cord was used to tie it at the back of the head. It’s been dated as having been made some 45,000 to 50,000 years ago. It was made to keep hair out of its wearer’s eyes. And it was discarded once it was broken. Was it made by the Denosivans? Or Neanderthals?” (Siedel 2019)

“Here we likely deal with another, more ancient culture, because there was not a single piece of bone belonging to a Homo Sapiens found in the cave’ Novosibirsk Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography researcher Alexander Fedorchenko told the Siberian Times. It’s a pressing question. And one not easily answered.” (Siedel 2019)

So, while at this time we cannot be certain who actually created these artifacts, the possibility that one or more of them may have been Denisovan is certainly exciting.

NOTE: 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:

Liesowska, Anna and Svetlana Skarbo, 2019, Cave Lion Figurine Made of Woolly Mammoth Tusk Found at Denisova Cave, 20 November 2019, Siberian Times, https://siberiantimes.com. Accessed online 28 March 2023.

Russian Academy of Sciences, 20 November 2019, An ancient figure of a cave lion was discovered in the Denise Cave, Siberian Division of the Russian Academy of Sciences, https://www.sbras.info. Accessed online 29 April 2023.

Russian Geographical Society, 2019, An Ancient Cave Lion Figurine Discovered in Denisova Cave, 24 November 2019, https://www.rgo.ru/en/ariticle/ancient-cave-lion-figurine-discovered-denisova-cave. Accessed online 28 March 2023.

Seidel, Jamie, 2019, Denisovan discoveries: Siberian cave studies reveal secrets of our mysterious lost ancestors, 31 January 2019, https://www.adelaidenow.com. Accessed online 8 May 2023.