What is "lion-man"

The Löwenmensch figurine or Lion man of the Hohlenstein Stadel is a very early prehistoric sculpture that was discovered in the Hohlenstein-Stadel, a German cave in 1939. The lion-headed figurine, alternately called (by its German names) (lion-human) and (lion-woman), is an ivory sculpture that is both the oldest known zoomorphic (animal-shaped) sculpture in the world, and the oldest known uncontested example of figurative art. The figurine was determined to be about 40,000 years old, by carbon dating of material from the same layer in which the figurine was found. It is associated with the archaeological Aurignacian culture. The figurine is 29.6 cm (11.7 inches) in height, 5.6 cm wide, and 5.9 cm thick. It was carved out of woolly mammoth ivory using a flint stone knife. Seven parallel, transverse, carved gouges are on the left arm. It is now in the museum in Ulm, Germany. By 2015, the ancient figurine was more appropriately being called a lion-headed figurine and identified as Löwenmensch.