Ice Age Art: Arrival of the Modern Mind – in pictures

A small fragment of bone that has been carved with the profile of a horse, thought to be from the palaeolithic era Photograph: The Trustees of the British Museum

A bison sculpted from mammoth ivory that was found at Zaraysk, Russia, and is about 20,000 years old Photograph: The Zaraysk Kremlin Museum

The Venus of Dolní Věstonice, a 26,000-year-old figure thought to be an early example of abstract art Photograph: Moravske ZemskeMuseum

A carving of two reindeer – one of them partly missing – on a palaeolithic reindeer bone from France Photograph: The Trustees of the British Museum

A primitive flute made from the wing bone of a griffon vulture Photograph: Universität Tübingen

A spear-thrower carved into the shape of a mammoth that was found at Montastruc, in the French department of Tarn-et-Garonne Photograph: The Trustees of the British Museum

The Lion Man of Hohlenstein-Stadel in Germany Photograph: Ulmer Museum, Germany

The Swimming Reindeer of Montastruc, a carved mammoth tusk showing two reindeer crossing a river Photograph: The Trustees of the British Museum

The oldest puppet or doll: an articulated figure made of mammoth ivory Photograph: Moravske Zemske Museum

A carved ivory mammoth found in the Vogelherd Cave on the edge of the Lone valley in Germany in 2006 Photograph: University Tübingen