Hamburg-Wittenbergen c. 200,000 BP: Heads

Site excavated and interpreted by Walther Matthes, University of Hamburg. Numerous publications include Matthes, W. (1969). Eiszeitkunst im Nordseeraum. Otterndorf, Gr: Niederelbe-Verlag; (1964/1965). Die Entdeckung der Kunst des Alteren und Mittleren Palaeolithikums in Norddeutschland. Jahrbuch for Prahistorische und Ethnographische Kunst (IPEK) 21:1-18; (1963). Fruhe bildende Kunst in Europa. Zeitschrift fur Religions-und Geistesgeschichte XV/1:164-179. In addition to the figurines in the gallery below, Matthes found representations of mammoth, elephant, wild boar, rhino, sitting birds, flying birds, fish, faces and grotesque masks, and double faces.

This gallery focuses on sculptures of hominid/human heads, faces, profiles, double faces and profiles, and grotesque masks.

By tool typology the site is Clactonian and dated to the Treene interglacial by geological stratigraphy. Alfred Rust and Gustav Steffens. (1962). Die Artefakte der Altonaer Stufe von Wittenbergen. Eine mittelpleistozäne Gruppe der Heidelberger Kulturen. Neumünster.

Photographer © Walther Matthes or as otherwise noted.