The Maikop chieftan was buried wearing Mesopotamian symbols of power—the lion paired with the bull—although he probably never saw a lion. Lion bones are not found in the North Caucasus. His tunic had sixty-eight golden lions and nineteen golden bulls applied to its surface. Lion and bull figures were prominent in the iconography of Uruk Mesopotamia

Two in particular drew attention, on segments of animal rib bone. The first was the front half of a horse’s body, covered and preceded by a series of vertical lines, the second an upright shape interpreted by the discoverer as ‘a masked human figure in the act of dancing a ceremonial dance’.

weird human-beast mash-ups like the Lion Man of Ulm (which may actually be a rearing bear) dating to around 40,000 years ago