An ivory carving appearing to show the head of a human being marks Modern Man’s first attempt at figurative art, archaeologists believe.

The carving was found with primitive tools and two human teeth at a site dating back further than any other settlement found in Europe.

It is forcing scientists to reassess the date at which Modern Man occupied Europe after leaving Africa, and the routes that were taken.

The settlement is thought to be about 45,000 years old. It is much farther north than any other similar site. Until the discovery, at Kostenki, close to the River Don in southern Russia, Modern Man, who evolved about 195,000 years ago, was thought to have moved to Europe between 40,000 and 42,000 years ago.

Artefacts found suggest that the inhabitants had learnt to make jewellery, were skilled at toolmaking and had begun to trade. The carving seems to have been discarded before the artwork had been completed.

Archaeologists are confident that it represents the earliest known carving of a human figurine but accept that there may be some dispute over whether it really shows a head.

The international team, including academics from University College London, involved in the dig was stunned at the dating results which show that the site at Kostenki to be the earliest evidence of occupation in Europe by Modern Man.

“The big surprise here is the very early presence of modern humans in one of the coldest, driest places in Europe,” said John Hoffecker, of the University of Colorado at Boulder in the United States.

“It is one of the last places we would have expected people from Africa to occupy first.”

Animal bones uncovered show that the inhabitants were expanding their diet to include small mammals, fish and other aquatic creatures.

This, the researchers said, suggests that the people were “remaking themselves technologically” and may have used snares to trap hares and Arctic foxes, and nets for fish.

The remains of other animals at the site, which were likely to have been hunted and eaten, include reindeer and horses.

Evidence of early trading networks was thrown up by the realisation that the shells the inhabitants used for jewellery had come from the Black Sea, more than 300 miles away.

Similarly, the stone they used for toolmaking had been transported as far as 100 miles. Among the tools found was a rotary drill which was used to make holes in stone ornaments. Antlers were used by the settlers to dig and other tools included blades, scappers and awls. Reporting their findings in the journal Science, the team of archeologists said that it was clear that there was a “fully developed Upper Paleolithic industry on the central East European Plain” and that the number of artifacts showed that it was a well-used site.

They said that the arrival of Modern Man in the region appeared to have taken place “several thousand years before their spread across Western and Eastern Europe”.

They added: “It has implications for both the timing and routes of modern human dispersal.”

The dig was led by archaeologists from the Russian Academy of Sciences and the University of Colorado.

Neanderthals occupied the region before Homo sapiens arrived but there is little evidence that they occupied the area simultaneously.

The absence of Neanderthal competitors may, researchers said, explain the attractions of the area for Modern Man but the researchers have yet to understand why people travelled that far north in the first place.

Times Recommends

• C&G axed - 1,660 jobs to be lost
• UK house prices rise 1.1% as buyers return
• Mixed reaction to US banks repaying bailouts