The history of lions in Europe is based on fossils of Pleistocene and Holocene lions excavated in Europe since the early 19th century.[1][2] The first lion fossil was excavated in southern Germany and described by Georg August Goldfuss using the scientific name Felis spelaea, which probably dates to the Würm glaciation and is 191,000 to 57,000 years old.[3] Older lion skull fragments were excavated in Germany and described by Wilhelm von Reichenau under Felis fossilis in 1906.[4] These are estimated at between 621,000 and 533,000 years old.[5] The modern lion inhabited parts of Southern Europe since the early Holocene.