Wiesbaden (archeology-world) - The ice age in about 2, 6 million to 11,700 years living in Germany had to primitive man afraid of a number of large predatory cats. For in this part of the earth existed lions, jaguars, leopards, cheetahs, mountain lions and saber-toothed cats. Then the Wiesbaden science writer Ernst Probst, in his pocketbook "cave lions" out.
Around one million years, the lion-hunting in Thuringia large saber-toothed cat Homotherium with impressive canines, the significantly smaller dagger-toothed cat Megantereon and even the Puma. At the time, primitive man still had no effective weapons, for lances, spears and bows and arrows were not yet invented. They probably also have not ruled out the fire.
Unarmed were probably the first man about 600,000 years ago. Back then wandered around in the area of Wiesbaden in Hessen huge lion, which reached a total length of 3.60 meters. It was the earliest and largest lion in Germany. They are called Mosbacher lions because of them remains in the vicinity of the former village Mosbach at Wiesbaden were found. Teeth and bones of these giant lions are also in Baden-Württemberg (wall come to Heidelberg) and North Rhine-Westphalia (Dechenhöhle in Iserlohn) to light.
contemporaries were these giant lions, jaguars, cheetahs, saber-toothed cats, which are also found in space by finds Wiesbaden. From wall near Heidelberg also known remains of leopards at the time. Wall is the world-famous locality of a lower jaw of Heidelberg man.
In the period before about 300,000 to 11,700 years, Germany seems - judging by numerous findings - to have been a haven for cave lions that have emerged from the Mosbacher lions. The cave lions were with long tail up to 3.20 meters, making it today's lions in Africa, bring it to about 2.90 meters, exceeded. Male cave lion weighed an estimated more than 300 kilograms, about 100 pounds more than current lion. Also during that time there were leopards and saber-toothed cats in the area of Germany.
In encounters with prehistoric cave lions were not defenseless. They could them with lances and spears to counter that there seemed to more than 300,000 years for the first time. Lions were now not only hunters, but sometimes hunted. The food waste of prehistoric man in Thuringia over 300,000 years ago, there were also the remains of Ice Age lion.
Nevertheless even had the early modern man about 30,000 years ago in awe of cave lions. This can be seen in figures carved from mammoth ivory from southern Germany, which physical characteristics of cave lions and humans had. Maybe put this mysterious hybrids are mysterious ancestor or even deities?
