Limestone statue depicting a wolf, from Noves, in Bouches-du-Rhône, France; 2nd or 3rd century B.C. 🇫🇷 The statue, known as “La Tarasque de Noves” was found under a 19th century cemetery and is now on display in the Musée Lapidaire, in Avignon, France.

After its initial discovery, locals had imagined it as a depiction of a mythical reptilian monster known as “La Tarasque”; hence the name given to it. But more careful recent observations have led to the conclusion that the statue was meant to represent a wolf: The long snout, thick hair along the back, non-retractable claws, and a broad, tapering tail (tucked under the right leg), are all traits characteristic of a wolf.

The Noves wolf sits upright like a king, grimly enjoying a meal of human flesh and triumphantly displaying the severed heads of two victims, in classic Celtic warrior fashion. The long beards on the victims’ faces appear to imply that they were intended as members of nobility, perhaps even as kings. The ancient stonemasons carved a penis and testicles onto the wolf, probably to leave no room for doubt as to its intended gender (there are only two), as well as to emphasize the attribute of virility.

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