SAN TELMO MUSEOA Human fascination with lions has been a constant throughout Zuloaga Plaza, 1. 20003 Donostia / San Sebastián Our admired time. The oldest evidence of this fascination are the beautiful Tlf.: 943-481580 representations of these felidae made by Late Palaeolithic www.santelmomuseoa.eus | [email protected] rivals @santelmomuseoa hunter-gatherers.

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Panel with lions Bison panel (feline inside) Engravings Aurignacian painting Magdalenian Altxerri B cave (Aia, Gipuzkoa) Armintxe Cave (Lekeitio, Bizkaia)

Photograph: Juan C. López Quintana. Tracing: C. González Sainz Photograph: Gipuzkoa Regional Government - Jose Latova Armintxa Project. Regional Government of Bizkaia Tracing: Diego Garate Maidagan

“...their merit is all the greater if we consider the high degree of perfection they often Lion panel “Löwenmensch” reached in the execution and fidelity, given that those ancient artists reproduced what Upper Palaeolithic (Lion-man) they observed in their lives with great realism in their drawings. [...] The quaternary Chauvet-Pont-d’Arc Cave artist was not just a perceptive observer, he had a deep feeling for beauty and artistic (Ardèche, France) expression. However, we do not believe it was only “aesthetic feelings” which drove these Despite the name, some researchers postulate that artists to create such works...” The spectacular panel of lions the “lion-man” could be a (Hugo Obermaier in Fossil Man in Spain, 1925). is the most important of the woman. panels found in this cave, in THE ARRIKRUTZ which 447 representations of 14 different species of animal have Lion figure Lion been counted. Aurignacian This cave was discovered in (approximately 35,000 1994 and was declared a World Isturitz Cave (Pyrénées-Atlantiques, France) Aurignacian (approximately and 40,000 years old) Heritage Site in 2014. Magdalenian 40,000 years old) Replica (original in reindeer horn) Vogelherd Cave (Germany) Hohlenstein-Stadel Cave (Germany). Ulm Museum, Photograph: Patrick Aventurier. Replica (original in mammoth ivory) Caverne du Pont d’Arc Germany Association Gaztelu - Grottes d’Isturitz & Oxocelhaya Private collection Replica (original in mammoth ivory). Museo de la Evolución Humana, Burgos LION EXHIBITION SAN TELMO MUSEUM 2018-11-15 // 2019-2-10

KULTURA ETA HIZKUNTZA POLITIKA SAILA DEPARTAMENTO DE CULTURA Y POLêTICA LING†êSTICA In every corner Family portrait lthough today we associate lions with the African savannah, The Arrikrutz lion during the Pleistocene they also lived in Eurasia and North GORDAILUA (Gipuzkoako Ondare Bildumen Zentroa/ America. The oldest lion fossils in Europe are seven hundred During the Late Pleistocene (126,000 to 11,700 years ago) A MACHAIRONDONTINAE FELINAE PANTHERINAE thousand years old. These Eurasian lions, bigger than present-day Gipuzkoa Heritage Collection Centre)-Eusko Jaurlaritza/ there were three groups of lions which traditional palaeon- lions, belonged to the species known as “cave lion” (Panthera spelaea) Basque Government tology has classified as three distinct species, something and occupied different ecological niches during both glacial and supported by some genetic studies. As we await core DNA inter-glacial periods. data, these three groups correspond to present-day lions The Arrikrutz lion skeleton is currently the most complete on the (Panthera leo), cave lions (Panthera spelaea) and American Iberian Peninsula. It was discovered by Iñaki Zubeldia in 1966, and lion (Panthera atrox). Lynx Cheetah Puma Cats Lion Leopard Jaguar Tiger Our ancestors lived alongside these large felidae and drew or engraved 0 __ them on the walls of many caves and represented them in small studied by Jesús Altuna. It belonged to an adult individual which Homotherium Smilodon statuettes. Thanks to these images we know that either the males did died in the cave. It has been estimated to have been 1-1.2 m tall to - 10.000 __ not have a mane at all or they had a very small one. the withers, weighing about 250 kg. Despite its large size, superior to current males, it is not one of the biggest; there were cave lions - 2.500.000 __ weighing more than 300 kg. We do not know the cause of their extinction but their disappearance __ could be related to the climate change which took place at the end of - 5.000.000 the last ice age and hunting by humans. Panthera Panthera Panthera Areas covered - 7.500.000 __ spelaea atrox leo by enormous ice The most complete cave lion skeleton on the Iberian Peninsula has been (cave lion) caps during the Late - 10.000.000 __ recovered at Arrikrutz cave (Oñati, Gipuzkoa). Pleistocene glaciations. -12.500.000 __

__ -15.000.000 Felidae are a family of carnivores who appeared approximately thirty million years ago. During the Pleistocene, human beings lived alongside felidae from Kings in danger - 17.500.000 __ three distinct sub-families: those known as sabre-toothed (Machairodontinae), __ the group including cats, lynxes, cheetahs and pumas (Felinae) and the group Of the three species of lion alive during Today, there is only a small population -20.000.000 encompassing lions, leopards, tigers and jaguars (Pantherinae). The closest the Late Pleistocene, only Panthera leo in India (in the Gir Forest National __ living relative to current lions is the leopard, which is currently the large felidae survived the transition to the Holocene Park), and African lions occupy highly with the widest geographical distribution. (which began 11,700 years ago). During fragmented territories to the south of this period, this sub-species occupied the Sahara. This panel shows a simplified “family portrait”. New fossils and genetic studies the entire African continent, the Balkan are enabling us to discover the evolution of these carnivores in greater detail. Peninsula, the Caucasus and south-west According to the IUCN, in the period Asia, from Anatolia to the majority of from 1993 to 2014 their population Cranium and mandible Cranium with mandible (Crocuta crocuta) Cranium and mandible Cranium The front paw Hunting accident? Another lion India. has dropped by more than 30%, and (Cuon alpinus) Carrión archaeological site, Pinilla del Valle (Madrid) (Panthera pardus) (Ursus spelaeus) of a hunter Pathological ribs of the 1. Right femur of the this brutal trend towards reduction in The different cultures that lived their area of extension and population Obaretta Cave (Bizkaia) Allekoaitze Cave (Gipuzkoa) Askondo Cave Phalanges, metacarpals and Arrikutz lion (Panthera spelaea) Arrikrutz lion Hypercarnivores alongside lions, such as Mesopotamia, appears to be ongoing. Teeth (Mañaria, Bizkaia) carpus of the right front paw 2. Right femur of Panthera Mandible (Crocuta crocuta) Greece and Egypt, have left us multiple of the Arrikrutz lion (Panthera spelaea from the Larrayoz Labeko Koba (Arrasate, Gipuzkoa) representations of them. Lions are social hunters who hunt different species of ungulate. Lions and felidae in general follow a hypercarnivore diet. spelaea) gallery (Arrikrutz Cave) Their teeth are especially adapted for this type of diet: they In Eurasia and Beringia we know that during the Pleistocene they have fewer dental pieces and have cutting edges like scissors, Dholes or Asiatic wild dogs are The spotted hyenas that are group leaders. They have Leopards arrived in Europe in the The cave bear, one of the icons of Females hunt in a coordinated Fossils also give us information In the same cave system where mainly hunted bison and reindeer, but also horses and rhinoceroses. Heracles’ fight with enabling them to cut meat. On the Iberian Peninsula, where there was little presence of cold- social canids, smaller than a inhabited Europe were bigger been present in Europe since Middle Pleistocene and the last prehistoric megafauna, inhabited manner, stalking, and can reach about the lifestyle of animals the lion skeleton was discovered, the Nemean lion wolf but bigger than a fox. They than the present-day African the Early Pleistocene and the examples survived on the Iberian Europe, the Urals, the Caucasus high speeds for a short period from the past. The Arrikrutz lion the femur of a second lion has Greek amphora climate fauna, they hunted large bovidae (bison and aurochs), deer currently survive in Central Asia. ones and, despite certain oldest European spotted hyena Peninsula until the beginning of and Asia from the end of the of time. During hunting, front skeleton shows signs that during also been recovered. The weight 6th century BC and horses. Left hemimandible (Panthera leo fossilis) They were common in Europe physical differences, they belong find is that of the T4 level in Gran the Holocene. Middle Pleistocene and during paws play an important role in the life of this animal it fractured of this individual has been © Trustees of the British Museum Middle Pleistocene. throughout the Middle and Late to the same species. Their social Dolina (Atapuerca Sierra). In Europe they were solitary the Late Pleistocene. It became bringing down and immobilising three ribs, which were in the estimated at more than 330 kg. Trinchera Galería site. Atapuerca Pleistocene, and they survived biology is very unusual and the They became extinct during the hunters of medium-sized prey extinct 28,000 years ago. It was their prey, which they kill by process of healing when it died. The difference in size between Replica Distribution of Private collection on the Iberian Peninsula until the females, bigger than the males, Late Pleistocene. such as goats and ibexes. large, similar in size to current strangulation of asphyxiation. these two femurs could be due Panthera leo at the Early Holocene. bears (Kodiak and polar). to sexual dimorphism. present time

Lion hunt Ashurbanipal Palace Archaeological Museum / Cranium with mandible: Regional Archaeological Museum of Madrid GORDAILUA (Gipuzkoako Ondare Archaeological Museum / GORDAILUA (Gipuzkoako Ondare Bildumen Zentroa /Gipuzkoa Heritage Collection Centre). 7th century BC Assyria Distribution of Regional Government of Bizkaia Mandible: GORDAILUA (Gipuzkoako Ondare Bildumen Zentroa /Gipuzkoa Bildumen Zentroa /Gipuzkoa Heritage Regional Government of Bizkaia Eusko Jaurlaritza/Basque Government (now Iraq) Panthera leo in the Heritage Collection Centre). Eusko Jaurlaritza/Basque Government Collection Centre). Eusko Jaurlaritza/ © Trustees of the British Museum historical era Basque Government