The Lion Man sculpture (UNESCO World heritage), a left mammoth tusk and mammoth ivory fragments from the excavations in the Hohlenstein-Stadel cave, Lone valley, Swabian Alb, Germany, were non-invasively analysed by means of external ion beam analysis (IBA) at the microfocus beamline at the particle accelerator AGLAE. The Lion Man was reconstructed from about three hundred mammoth ivory fragments, while the tusk is a separate find, and the fragments are individual pieces that could not be placed in the Lion Man. A characteristic trace element fingerprint, based on zinc, bromine and strontium contents, was established according to previous IBA studies of Aurignacian-era mammoth ivory and allowed for a comparison of the mammoth ivory objects. The specific Hohlenstein-Stadel cave trace element fingerprint could be distinguished from that of other Aurignacian sites in Europe but closely resembles that of the contemporary ivories from the neighbouring Hohle Fels cave. Although this study highlights that the Lion Man sculpture is chemically inhomogeneous due to diagenetic alterations, the left tusk and individual ivory fragments are chemically very similar to the Lion Man. However, further analyses are required to relate them to the same animal. Secondary minerals such as black manganese oxide dendrites and iron-rich aluminosilicates could be identified on the Lion Man and the other ivory objects at the surface. While dendrites are a characteristic diagenetic feature of mammoth ivory, the origin of iron-rich aluminosilicates can be linked either to sediment traces or surface treatment and use wear of the sculpture. Iron-rich zones are identified on particular parts of the Lion Man, namely, at the snout and at the left forearm with decorative signs. The snout is also particularly enriched in carbon, whose origin still needs to be clarified.

This paper examines Isings 111 form, a type of glass vessel widely encountered during the Late Antique period, discussing its occurrence at several archaeological sites from the former Roman province of Scythia, delimited by the Danube River (Danubius) and the Black Sea (Pontus Euxinus). After a comprehensive presentation of this glass form, new chemical data obtained by PIXE-PIGE analysis are reported for 62 glass fragments of Isings 111 forms recovered during the excavations at three archaeological sites—Histria, Tomis, and Beroe—in present-day Romania, corresponding to settlements of various size and importance within ancient Scythia. The glass finds were broadly dated to the Late Antique period (4th–6th c. AD); most of them were attributed to the 6th c. AD. The samples were prevalently made of naturally coloured glass, displaying various hues of green, blue or olive. Chemical data indicate that the majority of Isings 111 fragments were made of Foy Série 2.1 glass, in agreement with the prevalence of this chemical type of glass during the Late Antique period. Chemical data on four goblets from Histria hint at the presence of halophytic plant ash alongside natron, a compositional pattern rarely but consistently encountered within this geographical and chronological frame.