Lion-Man or Lion-Woman? The debate continues as the figurine is reconstructed from hundreds of pieces. The Lion-Man figurine of Hohlenstein-Stadel in Germany was discovered in the 1930s during an excavation. The Lion-Man has human and animal features, and it has been long debated whether or not the figure is male or female or a religious shaman. There is also conversation about the connections between humans and animals and how it relates to the Lion-Man figurine. Hohlenstein, meaning Hollow Rock, is not really a cave. It is actually a limestone cliff. It is located on the southern rim of Lonetal, Lone Valley, in the Swabian Alps of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. “It is hollowed by numerous small caves, hence the name. The caves are Hohlenstein-Stadel…show more content… Traces of a fire site were found outside the Hohlenstein cave near where the figurine was found. In 1939, an excavator, Claus-Joachim Kind, found a decorated deer’s tooth, the incisors of an arctic fox and ivory beads. It’s believed that these pieces could be from a shaman’s robe. It has been predicted that shamans “…wore furs as costumes when they celebrated rituals around the campfire” (Schulz). Some believe that the Lion-Man is a shaman wearing fur as a costume. Some also believe that the shaman could be a woman. This theory would be harder to prove because we’ll never know what the sculptor was thinking and what he or she meant the figure to…show more content… It connects humans today with humans of the past. This is significant because humans connect easily when they have something in common. The figurine also shows that humans of the past had a significant connection with animals. “Expressed through the art of the neolithic, it seems people of the time felt the border between human and animal was fluid and could be crossed easily” (McDonnell.) Today, we still seem to connect with animals because we tend to fuse our intelligence with the strength and instincts of animals. Humans and animals have been connected for a long time. The Lion-Man is a good example of this connection. Another example of human-like animals are the lion-headed gods of Ancient Egypt and India. In modern times, there are animals in books, on television, and in movies that can talk. “We have animated fishes that travel the seas in search of their family, zoo animals that hijack boats and go back to the wild of East African islands” (McDonnell.) Giving animals human qualities, gives us more of a connection with them because of the shared