Product Description
This superb fossil vertebra is from a horse of Europe's last Ice Age and would make a perfect addition to a European Ice Age fossil collection. It is complete from the base of the neck. The dark walnut brown hue with lighter highlights is natural and adds a spectacular aesthetic. The entire piece has been chemically stabilized to protect its condition but is in its original form as retrieved from deep in a Pleistocene river gravel deposit.
HISTORY
The horse played a very important part in the lives of prehistoric humans in both, Neanderthals, Cro-Magnons and most probably, Homo erectus. Prehistoric carvings and cave paintings in Europe show the horse well-represented with other Ice Age beasts such as the Woolly Mammoth, Woolly Rhinoceros, Aurochs, Bison and Cave Lion. It is highly likely that prehistoric humans not only marveled at the beauty of the horse as they watched them roam free across the European continent, but relied on their hide and meat to survive. To this day, horse meat is a delicacy in the same regions in Europe where they were formerly hunted by prehistoric humans.
This would make a phenomenal display piece laying alongside primitive hunting weapons of prehistoric man! A great compliment to a primitive man stone tool and weapon collection as these magnificent and seemingly magical animals lived in the same environments as prehistoric humans, played a vital role for resources in human survival during the last Ice Age and were hunted / revered by both Neanderthal man and Cro-Magnon man.