It is a unique object, and the archaeologists suspect that it "probably depicted powerful supernatural beings". Two natural-looking faces, with eyes closed, were carved into the bone, though the wand was intentionally broken at both ends, with more faces likely originally adorning the staff.
"The find is very unusual. It's unique. The wand, which was likely used in a long-lost funeral ritual, is one of the only naturalistic depictions of human faces from this time and place," said study co-author Frank Braemer, an archaeologist at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique in France.
Interestingly, the wand was found near a burial site where thirty headless skeletons were discovered previously.