12,000‑Year‑Old Clay Figurine of a Woman Carrying a Goose — Likely the World’s Oldest Human–Animal Sculpture

12,000‑Year‑Old Figurine of a Woman Carrying a Goose Found at Natufian Village

A tiny clay statuette, roughly 12,000 years old (c. 10,000 BC) and under two inches tall, has been identified as the oldest known sculpture showing a human together with an animal. The figurine was recovered at the Late Natufian settlement of Nahal Ein Gev II, a large, intensively occupied village overlooking the Sea of Galilee in Israel.

The model depicts a crouching woman who appears to be carrying a live goose on her back rather than a hunted carcass. Archaeologists note that geese were important in Natufian life both practically — as a source of food, bones, feathers and talons used for beads and ornaments — and symbolically.

Researchers interpret the scene as evidence that Natufian people may have conceived humans and animals as spiritually connected; the figure may represent intertwined domestic and symbolic lives at a moment when communities were transitioning from mobile foraging to more permanent settlement.

“The figurine captures a transformative moment,” said Professor Leore Grosman of the Institute of Archaeology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. “It bridges the world of mobile hunter-gatherers and that of the first settled communities, showing how imagination and symbolic thinking began to shape human culture.”

Microscopic and chemical analyses detected traces of red pigment (ochre) on both the woman and the goose, and analysts identified a preserved fingerprint likely left by a young adult — possibly an adult female — artisan. Thermal analysis indicates the clay was heated to about 400°C, suggesting the figurine was deliberately fired and representing one of the earliest known uses of controlled heat for artistic or technological purposes.

The figure was discovered inside a semicircular stone structure containing burials and ceremonial deposits. Goose bones and other bird remains were also recovered at the site, reinforcing the bird’s material and cultural presence in the community.

Although human figurines much older than 12,000 years exist — for example the Venus of Hohle Fels and the Lion‑Man (Löwenmensch) dating to roughly 40,000 years ago — this new find appears to be the earliest recorded example that explicitly portrays an interaction between a person and an animal and the earliest naturalistic female representation found so far in southwest Asia.

“This discovery is extraordinary on multiple levels,” said Dr Laurent Davin, lead author of the paper. “Not only is this the world’s earliest figurine depicting human‑animal interaction, but it’s also the earliest naturalistic representation of a woman found in southwest Asia.”

Earlier work at Nahal Ein Gev II includes a 2017 report of a human face carved into a pebble; investigators have since identified several additional carved faces at the site. The research describing the figurine and its archaeological context appears in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Why it matters

• The find provides direct evidence of early narrative and symbolic art during the shift to settled life.
• It demonstrates early, deliberate use of fire in clay working at a pre‑agricultural stage.
• It highlights the cultural importance of geese across millennia, from Paleolithic paintings in Spain to ancient Egyptian art.

Location: Nahal Ein Gev II, Sea of Galilee region, Israel. Period: Late Natufian (c. 12,000 years ago / c. 10,000 BC). Published in: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.