[1] Since 2019, archaeologists from the Lower Saxony State Office for Monument Preservation have been conducting excavations there with the Unicornu fossile society, the operating association of the Unicorn cave.

Protected under the collapse of the ceiling made of stone and earth material, the bone artefact lay in a well-preserved Neanderthal cultural layer amidst the remains of hunting prey.

[6] The researchers assume that the Neanderthals deliberately chose bones of the giant deer for their engraving because it was an imposing animal with antlers almost four meters wide.

To determine the cost of the engraving, the researchers conducted experimental archaeology on the foot bone of modern-day cattle, which is comparable to that of the giant deer.

According to Thomas Terberger from the Lower Saxony State Office for the Preservation of Monuments and the Seminar for Prehistory and Early History at the University of Göttingen, the find shows that the Neanderthals took the trouble to produce symbolic marks before the arrival of modern humans in Europe, which suggests considerable cognitive abilities.