"Do not try to fight a lion if you are not one yourself” – African Proverb

About 40,000 years ago, possibly after enjoying a splendid lunch, an unknown artist picked up a fragment of mammoth tusk and with a sharp piece of flint whittled the image of a human body. He then gave his creation the head of a lion.

The intention of the carver is unknown. Perhaps the motive was an attempt to influence the power of the animal or maybe he was paying homage to its majesty. He must have based what a lion’s head looks like on first-hand knowledge. Whatever it was that inspired the craftsman, until recently his handiwork lay undisturbed in a cave in a part of the world we now know as Germany.

The artwork was created when the total population of humans was around one million. There........

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