Han-sur-Lesse cave
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The cave of Han-sur-Lesse (French: Grotte de Han ) is one of the most famous show caves in Europe. It is located in Han-sur-Lesse , which belongs to the municipality of Rochefort on the Lesse River in the Ardennes ( Namur Province , Belgium ). The slender stalactite columns in their middle section are particularly interesting , the number of which is only surpassed by a few stalactite caves .
In Ice Age Europe, the Lesse initially flowed around the Boine massif , forming a dry valley with numerous meanders that is still geomorphologically visible today . At some point the river disappeared in a hole, the Gouffre von Belvaux (named after a neighboring town of Han-sur-Lesse), and only reappeared on the other side of the mountain. From then on it flowed through the cave that is the attraction in the region today.
Pierre Lambert de Saumery, a novelist also known as a con man and a marriage swindler, discovered in 1743 that it took the Lesse 24 hours to flow through the Boine massif. The first boat visit to the rear part of the cave is said to have taken place in 1771. After the large cave rooms had been discovered between 1814 and 1817, the first cave plan was drawn in 1822. From 1857 the cave was opened up for tourism. From 1912 onwards 80,000 visitors a year came. The writer George Sand visited the cave and had an episode of a novel set in the cave.
The narrow-gauge tram takes you to the cave entrance even today . From there it's two kilometers through the mountain. Stairs and narrow corridors that only become wider towards the middle of the cave lead to some cathedral-like halls . The Salle du Dôme is the largest natural cavity in Belgium. It is 62 m high, 86 m wide and 149 m long. It is only towards the end of the cave that one becomes aware of the emergence of the Lesse, which, alongside the path, strives towards the huge cave portal on the exit side in short descents.
In the 1970s there was still a cave restaurant where you could get food and drinks. Today you can sit on benches and watch a son-et-lumière show . The firing of a Marien cannon has been retained , the sound of which breaks on the walls as an echo , while you exit the cave via a footbridge.
Cave finds
The finds in the cave date from the late Neolithic , Hallstatt A , Latène A, B and D and the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD are also represented. The main mass, however, is made up of Hallstatt B.
- Spätneolithisch are stone axes , arrowheads from flint and a Grand Pressigny- dagger from the river, and collars made of animal teeth and bone spoons from shore.
- Hallstatt B are available (from the river): 15 spout axes. one of which is shanked, 9 needles, 8 spindle whorls , 6 gold earrings, 4 gold jewelry disks, 4 arrowheads, 3 bronze jewelry disks, 3 fish hooks, 3 knives, 2 razor axes, 2 razors, 2 tweezers. 2 finger rings, 1 sickle, 1 lance tip, 1 arm ring, 1 neck ring, in the river and on the bank were large quantities of ceramics. The shards of two vessels containing cereal grains and pulses lay in a stove.
- in Hallstatt C three bronze swords with bracelets can be dated.
- from Latène A and B are primers
- from Latène D come fibulae, glass and amber beads , a fragment of a bracelet and iron lance tips from the river. On the bank, next to ceramics, lay a hearth from which seven human lower jaws come, six of which were placed together as a depot.
- The Roman Empire was represented with three spoons, a finger ring, a coin and a bronze veteran's diploma,
- coins, keys, knives, lance tips,
a bronze holy water barrel and pottery.
A distinction between other finds and votive finds cannot be made, as the entire ceramic material and the detailed circumstances of the find have not yet been presented. The bank stretches seem so intact that the influence of the water cannot have been very strong. The river finds occur in a limited area. There is therefore much to suggest that the majority of them can be regarded as votive finds. The fact that the swords got into the lesse with their scabbards is reminiscent of the Latène swords from the rivers, which are often also stuck in the scabbards. The large number of hatchets and needles from the urnfield time compared to find categories that would be expected to be found in large numbers in settlements, and the very valuable gold finds also speak for an interpretation as votive finds. The fibulae and pearls of the Latène period are reminiscent of finds such as the Latène station and the spring finds. The findings from the banks may reveal something about the ritual events on the river.
- Location of the river inlet into the cave: 50 ° 6 ′ 52.3 ″ N , 5 ° 12 ′ 11.6 ″ E
- Location of the river outlet from the cave: 50 ° 7 ′ 16.6 ″ N , 5 ° 11 ′ 32.6 ″ E
- Location of the entrance to the show cave: 50 ° 7 ′ 6.1 ″ N , 5 ° 11 ′ 55.9 ″ E
literature
- Hans-Jochem Prautzsch: Caves in Belgium 2: The cave of Han-sur-Lesse . In: Mitteilungen der Naturhistorische Gesellschaft Nürnberg , 2, 1973, pp. 35 ff.
- YBB Quinif: Topography de la Salle du Dôme (Gorres de Han-sur-Lesse) . In: Speleo flash , 145, December 1984, p. 7 ff.
- T. Stratford: The Massif de Boine and the underground river Lesse . In: The International Caver , 2, 1992, pp. 35 f.
- Wolf Haio Zimmermann: Prehistoric victim finds from rivers, moors, springs and wells in southwest Germany . In: New excavations and research in Lower Saxony , 6, Hildesheim 1970.
Web links
Coordinates: 50 ° 7 ′ 16.6 ″ N , 5 ° 11 ′ 46.6 ″ E