Groß Pampau, GR, c. 500,000 BP, Other Animals / c)pampelephs

Identified as 'forest elephants'. The two elephants in back might be taken as mammoth, but as subsequent images indicate, they are actually sculptures of sitting elephants!

Comment: According to Björn Kurtén, the forest elephant, Palaeoloxodon antiquus, only existed in Europe during a period from the Cromer (c. 500,000 BP) through the Eemian (c. 100,000 BP). [Kurtén, B. (1968). Pleistocene mammals of Europe. Chicago: Aldine, tab. 15.] This puts an upper and lower limit on the dating of these figurines and the Pampau site.

Photo © Ursel Benekendorff. Collection Ursel Benekendorff. The site is documented in Benekendorff, U. (1990). From the information recorder stone to a picture book of the stone age. Archaeologische Berichten 20:14-28 and 43-65 (Elst, NL).