Curious. Carbon dating can confirm the mammoth tusk to -40k but why is it assumed it was carved then? Someone could have found the tusk later and carved it.

The site is part of a UNESCO World Heritage cluster in the Swabian Jura known for yielding some of the earliest figurative art in human history.

40’000 ya, that’s right when homo sapiens began settling europe, and neanderthals were becoming extinct. I wonder if the authors have a hunch whether this is the work of sapiens or neanderthals.