Eurasia (from the Iberian Peninsula to Siberia), Middle to Late Pleistocene, ca. 500,000 to 11,000 years ago, probably from later in the period. A fascinating fossilized skull from the extinct cave hyena, also known as the Ice Age spotted hyena (Crocuta crocuta spelaea). It is displayed so that the mandible is articulated, allowing you to move the incredibly powerful jaw - these animals ate everything from reindeer and horses to woolly rhinos, accumulating their bones and horns in their cave dens. In Siberia, they also ate cave bears! Note the heavy nature of the skull, reinforced for the hyena's rough life of hunting animals larger than itself and contending with neighboring predators - notably wolves. Although their DNA is not significantly different from modern hyenas, cave hyenas were considerably larger than their modern ancestors. Size: 11.5" W x 11" H (29.2 cm x 27.9 cm)

Our own ancestors encountered cave hyenas and depicted them in cave art, as at Chauvet Cave and Lascaux. Archaeologists also found an atlatl weight carved of mammoth ivory in the form of a crouched hyena, perhaps meant to depict the animal stalking its prey, in the La Madeleine rock shelter, dating ca. 12000-17000 years old.

Provenance: private J.H. collection, Beaverton, Oregon, USA

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#149618

Repaired and restored from multiple pieces. This is well done and generally unobtrusive, although some adhesive is visible along one side of the snout. Small losses, but overall the piece is mostly intact and roughly 90% original material. Almost all teeth are present. The mandible is affixed to the skull with thick wire in order to allow the jaw to move as in life.