On Thursday, an international team of archaeologists from China, Canada, France, Israel and Norway unveiled their study of a 13,500-year-old sculpture unearthed from an archaeological site in Central China's Henan province.

The findings suggest that the miniature bird statue might be the oldest known work of Chinese sculpture art.

The discovery shifts not only the origin of sculpture in East Asia back by more than 8,500 years but also the history of bird-related art found in China by 8,000 years.