LMX097 - EUROPEAN ICE AGE STEPPE WISENT BISON SKULL WITH SUPERB COMPLETE HORN CORES

Product Description

ITEM # 

LMX097

ID

Bison priscus

FOUND

River Gravel Deposit - Rhine River, Germany

AGE

PLEISTOCENE:  250,000 - 10,000 years ago

SIZE

37.5" across tip to tip, 14.75" wide at eye orbits

CONDITION

CRACK REPAIR DOWN MIDDLE OF SKULL
ONLY.  HORN CORES PERFECTLY PRESERVED,
UNBROKEN AND COMPLETE.  THE UPPER 
PORTION OF THE EYE ORBITS ARE PRESENT.

NOTE

NEARLY A METER ACROSS.  DO NOT CONFUSE
THIS TRUE ICE AGE EUROPEAN BISON WITH
MUCH LESS RARE UNITED STATES SKULLS
OF A DIFFERENT SPECIES AND NOT TRULY 
OVER 10,000 YEARS OLD.

Actual Item - One Only

Comes with a certificate of authenticity / information sheet

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CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT BISON (WISENT)

This amazingly well-preserved and large fossil skull is of the massive EUROPEAN STEPPE BISON of the Ice Age, aka Bison priscus.  This classic Pleistocene beast is also known as the STEPPE WISENT.  It is important to emphasize that it is of EUROPEAN Ice Age origin and NOT one of the many American bison skulls that often turn up on the market.  Furthermore, this is a TRUE FOSSIL from the days of Europe's last Ice Age when Neanderthals and Cro-Magnon Man hunted these beasts and memorialized their hunts and reverence for these creatures in their famous cave paintings.  It is also important to note that this is a REAL FOSSIL found deep in the Pleistocene Period gravel deposits of the Rhine River in Germany.  Many of the American bison skulls being sold as 'fossil' are NOT true fossils and most often are either artificially-dyed modern skulls being pawned off as fossils to naive buyers, or Holocene skulls that are antique in origin but not from the Pleistocene Period.

We acquired this skull from a recent private museum deaccession but it was found quite some time ago when the gravel deposits in the Rhine produced better quality and more complete specimens by the use of technologically simpler and less destructive machinery.  River gravel deposits are where most European Ice Age fossils reside.  Gravel quarries and river dredges in Europe today use more efficient yet, more destructive machinery than they did in the past when better and more complete fossil specimens were found.  The equipment used today destroys most of the new discoveries therefore, locating a high quality fossil Ice Age skull usually requires finding one from an old collection as this beautiful example came.

Bone preservation and detail is exceptional on this skull.  Only work performed was the center of the skull sustained a break and required repair and crack filling.  There is only this repair to the cranium and the horns are unbroken and complete, being 100% genuine with no fabrication.  The rich and highly aesthetic color is a result of this well-preserved example being buried deep in a protective layer of gravel.  This burial (until recovered in the dredge) is its reason for its remarkably well-preserved condition, as well.  This is an extremely impressive skull from one of the key beasts to human survival in Europe's final Ice Age.  HIGHLY RECOMMENDED and duly impressive to demonstrate the robust size of these revered Ice Age giants.