Geißenklösterle

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The articles Swan Bone Flute , Geißenklösterle and Aurignacien # Flutes made of bone and ivory overlap thematically. Help me to better differentiate or merge the articles (→  instructions ) . To do this, take part in the relevant redundancy discussion . Please remove this module only after the redundancy has been completely processed and do not forget to include the relevant entry on the redundancy discussion page{{ Done | 1 = ~~~~}}to mark. Bertramz ( discussion ) 08:07, 31 Aug 2017 (CEST)
Geißenklösterle

Geißenklösterle cave (September 2004)

Geißenklösterle cave (September 2004)
Location: Swabian Alb , Germany
Geographic
location: 		48 ° 23 '54 "  N , 9 ° 46' 20"  E Coordinates: 48 ° 23 '54 "  N , 9 ° 46' 20"  E
Geißenklösterle (Baden-Württemberg)
Geißenklösterle
Type: Karst cave

The Geißenklösterle is an abri in the Ach Valley and at the same time an important archaeological site of the Upper Paleolithic . The half cave is located south of Weiler , a district of Blaubeuren in the Alb-Donau district in Baden-Württemberg , Germany . In 2017 it was included in the UNESCO World Heritage as part of the World Heritage Site Caves and Ice Age Art of the Swabian Alb .

geology

Geißenklösterle in the Bruckfels massif (Achtal)
View from the footpath up to the Geißenklösterle. The excavation area is protected by a grid.
The Geißenklösterle

The Geißenklösterle is part of a find landscape in today's Blau - und Akhtal, where in the Pleistocene on the southern edge of the Swabian Alb a deep valley was dug into the Jura formations . This cut into some cavities in the karst system . Many of the resulting caves of the Eight Valley were already used by Neanderthals of the Middle Paleolithic as a storage place (in addition to the Geißenklösterle also in the Glass Cave and the Great Grotto near Blaubeuren). Others, like the nearby Hohle Fels , show multiple intensive phases of settlement by anatomically modern humans ( Homo sapiens ).

The Geißenklösterle is now about 60 m above the valley floor. The entrance is protected by two protruding rock walls.

archeology

The Geißenklösterle was only discovered in 1957 by Reiner Blumentritt as an archaeological site. The student at the time dug with the Tübingen prehistoric expert Gustav Riek in the eyeglass cave in the Achtal. During this time, in 1963, Riek carried out a first probe in the central cave area.

In 1973, Eberhard Wagner , archaeologist at the Baden-Württemberg State Monuments Office , directed another probe in the Geißenklösterle, which continued the trench that Riek had already begun to the rock face. Together with Joachim Hahn ( University of Tübingen ) he began the systematic excavation in the Geißenklösterle in 1974. This was continued in numerous campaigns until 1991 under Hahn's direction.

After his death, the excavations were continued in 2001 and 2002 by Nicholas Conard and Hans-Peter Uerpmann from the Institute for Prehistory at the University of Tübingen and were provisionally completed in 2002.

The excavations up to 1983 were presented in a monograph, which mainly presented finds from the Aurignacien . Particular attention was paid to the layer formation within the cave. Six find horizons could be distinguished within the Aurignacien and seven find horizons within the Gravettien . However, they do not represent phases of use, but were created through natural processes.

The following stratigraphic sequence was established (in the listing from older to younger):

Iron Age , Middle Ages

Middle Paleolithic

In the last excavation years from 2000 to 2002, the basal layers of the Middle Paleolithic were examined. Three archaeological horizons could be distinguished (AH IV to VI), which correspond to the geological layers GH 18-20. Between the lowest Aurignacian horizon and the layers of the Middle Paleolithic there was a largely empty layer (GH 17), which is characterized by mica and coarse-clastic limestone rubble.

Charcoals indicate the use of fire, but there are no pronounced layers of fire.

Aurignacia

There is evidence of small groups of people staying during the last Worm Ice Age , roughly between 43,000 and 32,000 years ago.

The manufacture of stone tools, the processing of bones, antlers and ivory into everyday objects, jewelry or art objects or the treatment of animal skins in the cave have been proven. It is possible that some of the items were not only made and used here, but also deposited. Remnants of burns indicate that the fires stoked with bones were not only used for food preparation, but also for warming, as a light source and as protective and work aids. The raw material supply with jasper (chert) probably came primarily from the area; Banded jasper, however, refers to connections between the residents in the Bavarian region.

Figurative cabaret

The Geißenklösterle achieved worldwide importance through the finds of carvings made of mammoth ivory belonging to the Aurignacien , which together with the finds from the nearby Hohlefels and the Vogelherd Cave in the Lone Valley are among the oldest known figurative works of art.

Flutes made of bone and ivory
Replica of the flute 1

In 1990, a 12.6 cm long swan bone flute ("Geißenklösterle 1") from the radius of a whooper swan was found in the Geißenklösterle . In addition to the well-preserved Flute 1, Hahn and Münzel presented a second, very fragmentary bird-bone flute (Flute 2). Both specimens come from the Archaeological Horizon II (Upper Aurignacien) and show carefully laid out notches and flat-cut finger holes , which allow a clear interpretation of the finds as flutes. Another flute (Flute 3) from the Geißenklösterle was identified later, which was surprisingly made from two hollowed out mammoth ivory shavings and then glued together. Like the bird bone flutes, this flute was recovered from the upper Aurignacia layer complex AH II. A part of Flute 3 had already been published by Hahn in 1988 as an ivory stick fragment decorated with a row of notches, but could not yet be identified as a flute due to missing parts. Recent research has shown that these flutes are around 42,000 to 43,000 years old, making them the oldest known musical instruments currently (2012).

Flute 2 and Flute 3 can be seen in the Prehistoric Museum Blaubeuren .

Another bone flute was found in the neighboring Hohlen Fels in 2008 . As briefly mentioned in the article by Conard, Malina and Münzel (2009), there are some other fragments with clear flute features, also from the Vogelherd cave .

The flute, made from griffon vulture bones, is between 35,000 and 40,000 years old and is also on display in the Prehistoric Museum in Blaubeuren.

Painted stones

In addition to the small figurative works of art, there are several stones with paint in the Aurignacien layers of the Geißenklösterle. In its significance as a small work of art, a piece of limestone painted in three colors (black, red and yellow) protrudes from the Aurignacia layer IIb. The red paint jobs consist of hematite , the yellow ones of limonite . Pieces of yellow ocher were also found in the same layers as mineral remains, so that the connection to the regular pigment applications is secured. With an age of around 35,000 years, the painted stone is the oldest in the region.

It is exhibited in the Blaubeuren Prehistory Museum together with five other painted stones that come from the Hohlen Fels .

Gravettias

Several campfire sites were found: a large one in the northern, protected area, a small one in the southern, open cave area. It was probably used in spring.

See also

Gallery of the finds from the Geißenklösterle from the Aurignacien

literature

  • Hans Binder , Herbert Jantschke: Cave guide Swabian Alb. Caves - springs - waterfalls . 7th completely revised edition. DRW-Verlag, Leinfelden-Echterdingen 2003, ISBN 3-87181-485-7 , p. 212-213 .
  • Thomas Higham , Laura Basell, Roger Jacobi et al .: Τesting models for the beginnings of the Aurignacian and the advent of figurative art and music: The radiocarbon chronology of Geißenklösterle. In: Journal of Human Evolution . Volume 62, No. 6, 2012, pp. 664-676, doi: 10.1016 / j.jhevol.2012.03.003
  • L. Moreau: Geißenklösterle. The Gravettia of the Swabian Alb in a European context. Kerns, Tübingen 2009, ISBN 978-3-935751-11-7 .
  • Eberhard Wagner: Ice Age Hunters in the Blaubeuren Valley. (= Guide to arch. Denkm. Bad.-Württ. Volume 6). Theiss, Stuttgart 1979, ISBN 3-8062-0225-7 .
  • Prehistory in Upper Swabia and the central Swabian Alb. On the status of recent studies of Stone Age archeology. (= Arch. Inform. Bad.-Württ. Volume 17). Stuttgart 1991, ISBN 3-927714-09-7 .
  • Michael Zick: The first artists. In: Adventure archeology . No. 1, Spektrum, Heidelberg 2006, pp. 28ff. ISSN  1612-9954 .
  • Joachim Hahn: A portrayal of people from the Auragnicia period from the Geißenklösterle near Blaubeuren, Alb-Donau district. In: Preservation of monuments in Baden-Württemberg. 9. Vol. 2, 1980, p. 56ff. (PDF)
  • Georg Hiller , Stefanie Kölbl (Hrsg.): Welt-Kult-Ur-Sprung. Jan Thorbecke Verlag, Ulm 2016, ISBN 978-3-7995-1168-1 . (on the ice age art of the Alb, German and English)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Nicolas Conard, Maria Malina: Final excavations in the Geißenklösterle near Blaubeuren, Alb-Donau district. In: Archaeological excavations in Baden-Württemberg 2002. Theiss, Stuttgart 2003, pp. 17–21. ISSN  0724-8954
  2. ↑ Joachim Hahn: The Geißenklösterle cave in the Achtal near Blaubeuren: Find horizon formation and settlement in the Middle Paleolithic and Aurignacia. (= Research and reports on prehistory and early history in Baden-Württemberg. Volume 26). Theiss, Stuttgart 1988, ISBN 3-8062-0794-1 .
  3. ^ NJ Conard, M. Malina: New excavations in the lowest layers of the Aurignacien and the Middle Paleolithic in the Geißenklösterle near Blaubeuren. In: Archaeological excavations in Baden-Württemberg 2001. Theiss, Stuttgart 2002, pp. 16–21.
  4. ↑ Joachim Hahn, Susanne Münzel: Bone Flutes from the Aurignacien of Geißenklösterle near Blaubeuren, Alb-Donau-Kreis. In: Find reports from Baden-Württemberg. Volume 20, 1995, pp. 1-12.
  5. ↑ Nicholas J. Conard, Maria Malina, Susanne C. Münzel, Friedrich Seeberger: A mammoth ivory flute from the Aurignacien of Geissenklosterle. In: Archäolog. Correspondence sheet. 34, 2004, p. 447 ff.
  6. ↑ Joachim Hahn: The Geißenklösterle cave in the Achtal near Blaubeuren I. Formation of the find horizon and settlement in the Middle Paleolithic and Aurignacia. In: Forsch. U. Ber. z. Early and early morning in Baden-Wurttemberg. Volume 26, Stuttgart 1988.
  7. ↑ idw-online. from May 24, 2012: “Oldest art even older.”
    Earliest music instruments found . BBC website (accessed May 25, 2012). Original scientific publication : Thomas Higham , Laura Basell, Roger Jacobic, Rachel Wood, Christopher Bronk Ramsey, Nicholas J. Conard : Testing models for the beginnings of the Aurignacian and the advent of figurative art and music: The radiocarbon chronology of Geißenklösterle . In: Journal of Human Evolution . May 8, 2012, doi : 10.1016 / j.jhevol.2012.03.003 (English, online [accessed on May 25, 2012] paid content).
  8. ^ Nicholas J. Conard, Maria Malina, Susanne C. Münzel: New flutes document the earliest musical tradition in southwestern Germany. In: Nature. June 24, 2009, doi: 10.1038 / nature08169
  9. ↑ Harald Floss and others: Lascaux on the Alb? References to cave art in the German southwest. In: Ice Age: Art and Culture. Thorbecke, 2009, ISBN 978-3-7995-0833-9 , pp. 303-306.

Web links

Commons : Geißenklösterle  - collection of images, videos and audio files