Haldenstein cave
| Haldenstein cave
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| Location: | Urspring , Alb-Danube district , Baden-Württemberg , Germany | |
| Height : | 570 m above sea level NHN | |
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Geographic location: |
48 ° 32 '52.3 " N , 9 ° 53' 30.4" E | |
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| Cadastral number: | 7425/01a | |
| Geology: | White Jura δ , mass limestone | |
| Type: | Rift cave , partially collapsed | |
| Lighting: | no | |
| Overall length: | 68 m | |
The Haldensteinhöhle (formerly "Urspringer Höhle") is a partially collapsed cleft joint cave located on the western outskirts of Urspring in Baden-Württemberg .
Geographical location
The cave is located in the foot of a Haldenstein rock known Jurassic - rock on the western slope above Steingädele, about 20 meters above the southwest and 90 meters of Lonequelltopfs . The two cave entrances are located at 570 m above sea level. NHN .
topography
Since the collapse of the cave ceiling in the late Middle Ages, the entrance area with a base area measuring 6.5 by 4 m has only been limited by towering, bulging rock walls. From the north, the access is at ground level via a chasm; opposite it, access is via steps and a retaining wall through a large rock eruption. In the bottom of the horseshoe-shaped entrance boiler there is a cave shaft filled with clay, which is probably a connection to the Lone spring pot. It is assumed that the Lone originally arose from the Haldensteinfels and the source outlet sank to today's level with increasing karstification. Towards the rock massif, there are two cave passages which, due to their high, narrow shape with smooth walls and isolated cavities, characterize the Haldenstein cave as a typical cleft cave. The right passage is 4 m long and accessible, the left main passage is closed by a grille. It rises steeply over a length of 6 m and ends in a round shaft boiler, which descends over a length of 2 m. A vertical slip leads into a 9 m long hangwärtigen passage which is filled at its end with clay. If you follow the main corridor through the shaft boiler, you will reach an S-shaped bend to the left via a transverse chasm, which leads into another cave room.
Between 1977 and 1979 the Haldenstein cave was measured and mapped by members of the Kirchheim cave research group, the length of the cave passages is given as 68 m, the difference in height is ± 9 m.
Research history
In one of the first " SS excavations" carried out by the German Ahnenerbe Research Foundation during the Nazi era , the Haldenstein Cave was excavated in the summer of 1936 under the direction of Gustav Riek . The small archaeological inventory and lack of fire indicators suggest that the Haldenstein Cave was rarely inhabited and for a short time due to its small size. Riek suspected the main settlement zone in the area of the cave forecourt, which had already been removed in 1865 when a retaining wall was built at the southern entrance of the cave. He documented ten strata in the up to 7.5 m thick cave backfilling , which dated from the late Middle Ages through several empty layers to the late Upper and Middle Palaeolithic .
The Magdalenian Horizon VI contained only a few blades made of jasper, as well as a human radius and kneecap . At fauna remains were woolly rhinoceros , reindeer and red and fallow deer are detected.
The two extremely carefully crafted leaf tips from bean jasper found in Horizon VIII represent a specialty, as they are considered to be the most southwestern evidence of the leaf tip group to date . A large, approximately 13 cm long blade comes from the same layer. In addition to woolly mammoths , woolly rhinoceroses, horses , reindeer and cave bears , the bones of carnivores such as cave hyenas and wolves were also found here .
| layer | Thickness in cm | description | Finds | Time position |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| I. | 385 | Large white jurassic blocks of the collapsed cave ceiling | - | Late Middle Ages |
| II | 30th | Stony, humus soil | Inclusions not further defined | Late Middle Ages |
| III | 45 | Humous soil with few limestone fragments | - | - |
| IV | 12 | Browning layer (degraded humic soil) | - | - |
| V | 15th | Medium to large limestone rubble, partly clay | - | - |
| VI | 55 | Vertically dispersed finds | Few blades , a human spoke and kneecap , remains of woolly rhinoceros , reindeer , red deer , fallow deer | Magdalenian |
| VII | 7th | Medium to large limestone rubble, partly clay | - | - |
| VIII | 23 | Finely split calcareous debris with a loess-rich backfill | Two leaf tips , one large blade, remains of woolly mammoth , woolly rhinoceros, horse , reindeer, cave bear , cave hyena , wolf | Leaf tip group |
| IX | 12 | Brownish-black, lenticular deposits with little limestone rubble | Two atypical stone artifacts , a bone patch , numerous remains of toads and frogs | - |
| X | 165 | Mostly ocher-yellow, red-streaked clay in narrow crevices, not completely excavated | - | - |
literature
- Nicholas J. Conard , Michael Bolus, Ewa Dutkiewicz, Sibylle Wolf: Ice Age Archeology on the Swabian Alb Kerns Verlag, Tübingen 2015, ISBN 978-3-935751-24-7 , pp. 161–163.
- Hans Binder, Herbert Jantschke: Cave guide Swabian Alb . DRW-Verlag, Leinfelden-Echterdingen 2003, ISBN 3-87181-485-7 , pp. 155, 166.
- Sigrid Clarke, Susanne Haas-Campen: Guide to archaeological monuments in Germany, Vol. 33 - Ulm and the Alb-Donau-Kreis , Theiss Verlag, Stuttgart 1997, ISBN 3-8062-1219-8 , pp. 157-159.
- Hans Binder, Herbert Jantschke, Peter Heinzelmann, Karl-Heinz Pfeffer: Karst and Cave 1993, Karst Landscape Swabian East Alb . Association of German Cave and Karst Researchers V., Munich 1993, ISSN 0342-2062 , pp. 191, 192.
- Joachim Hahn: Guide to archaeological monuments in Baden-Württemberg - Ice Age Caves in the Lone Valley . Konrad Theiss Verlag, Stuttgart 1985, pp. 49-52.
- Fritz Weidenbach: Annual books for karst and cave studies - karst and caves in the Brenz and Lone area (Swabian Alb) . Association of German Cave and Karst Researchers V., Munich 1960, pp. 58-61.
Remarks
- ↑ In popular scientific publications , 1938 is often given as the year of the excavation. However, the excavation took place as early as 1936. In 1937/38 Riek was fully involved in the major Hohmichele project.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Gustav Riek: Haldenstein cave. In: Yearbooks for Karst and Speleology 1960 . Association of German Cave and Karst Researchers eV Munich, Munich 1960, p. 58-61 .
- ↑ Hans Binder, Herbert Jantschke, Peter Heinzelmann, Karl-Heinz Pfeffer: Karst und Höhle 1993, Karstlandschaft Schwäbische Ostalb . Association of German Cave and Karst Researchers eV Munich, Munich 1993, p. 191, 192 .
- ↑ Hansjürgen Müller-Beck: Lon (e) talforschung 1931-1941. In: Communications from the Society for Prehistory, Volume 19 . Blaubeuren 2010, p. 131-155 .
- ↑ Michael Strobel: The Prehistoric Institute of the University of Tübingen between 1933 and 1945. In: The University of Tübingen in National Socialism . Franz Steiner Verlag, Stuttgart 2010, p. 340 .
- ↑ Sigrid Clarke, Susanne Haas-Campen: Guide to archaeological monuments in Germany, Vol. 33 - Ulm and the Alb-Danube district . Theiss, Stuttgart 1997, p. 157-159 .
- ↑ Michael Bolus, Oliver Rück: A leaf tip from Wittislingen district Dillingen ad Donau. In: Archäologisches Korrespondenzblatt Heft 2, 2000 . Publishing house of the Roman-Germanic Central Museum, Mainz 2000, p. 164-172 .