Prehistoric carved bird. Prehistoric carving in mammoth ivory of a water bird. It is thought to be a diver, cormorant, or duck. This Stone Age (palaeolithic) artefact (47 millimetres long) was found in the period 2001-2 in the Hohle Fels cave, Germany. It has been dated to between 31,000 and 33,000 years ago, and is thought to have been produced by the Aurignacian culture. These early humans lived in Europe in the Late Stone Age (Upper Palaeolithic), between 45,000 and 30,000 years ago.