Saint-Brais caves
| Saint-Brais caves
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| Location: | Jura , Switzerland | |
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Geographic location: |
577581 / 240200 | |
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The Saint-Brais caves are three caves located at the intersection of the Franconian plateau and the
The western end of the Delsberg basin in the Swiss Jura lies between 950 and 1000 m altitude northeast of the village of Saint-Brais . The caves were visited by humans from the Paleolithic to the Bronze Age and examined by Frédéric-Edouard Koby between 1935 and the 1960s.
Saint-Brais I
The Saint-Brais I grotto, with a total area of more than 200 m², has two entrances. The southern one leads to two tunnels, one of which ends at the western entrance. Koby discovered flint tools from the middle Paleolithic ( Moustérien , around 35,000 BC), cave bear bones and some blades from the late Ice Age as well as traces of fire places. A large Neolithic fireplace with a few small ceramic shards was found in the eastern tunnel . Fragments of a man's skull were found in a younger layer above the Neolithic horizon. The most productive were the discoveries from the Bronze Age (around 1300 BC). More than 800 ceramic shards, a bronze bracelet and millstones indicate that the cave was used for a long time.
Saint-Brais II
The Saint-Brais II grotto consists of an 8 × 10 m room that is connected to a shaft by a passage. Here, too, some worked flints from the Paleolithic (Moustérien) were recovered. In addition, the incisor of a Neanderthal man , traces of hearths and artifacts from the Magdalenian era were found . Two pots from the Bronze Age prove that the cave was used again and again. The finds point to the simultaneous use of both caves, although the second left much less traces.
Saint-Brais III
Saint-Brais III has two entrances, one facing south and the other facing south-east. A use here is also attested by traces of a paleolithic hearth and Bronze Age ceramics.
literature
- J.-P. Jequier: Le Moustérien alpin, révision critique . Eburodunum, 11, Yverdon 1975
- M. Schenardi: L'Âge du Bronze dans le Canton du Jura . Cahiers d'archéologie jurassiennes, 5, Porrentruy 1994
Web links
- François Schifferdecker, François Kohler: Saint-Brais. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland . (see: Chapter Prehistory)