Ilsenhöhle
| Ilsenhöhle
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| Location: | Ranis , in the castle hill | |
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Geographic location: |
50 ° 39 '45.3 " N , 11 ° 33' 53.5" E | |
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| Geology: | Zechsteinriff (reef dolomite) | |
| Particularities: | Outstanding paleontological site, ground monument | |
The Ilsen cave is located below the Ranis Castle in the Thuringian town of the same name .
Reference
The Ilsenhöhle is located in the Upper Orlatal . There is a flat landscape in front of the cave . Reefs flank the southeastern side of the valley, which runs between the Zechsteinausstrich and Buntsandstein in a southwestern direction to the Saale valley to Saalfeld / Saale . The valley evidently represents an old course of the Saale, which led from Saalfeld to Pößneck and from here in a north-westerly direction through the red sandstone landscape to today's Saale valley near Orlamünde. The last section of the valley is used today by the Orla.
The reef carries the Ranis Castle (first mentioned in 1084). In addition to the moat that crosses the reef, the cave opens on the southeast flank, with a terrace-like protruding, 20 x 30 m forecourt, lined with crash blocks, about 40 m above the surroundings. The reef reaches a height of about 400 m above sea level and protrudes more than 60 m above the area.
The cave consists of an approximately 10 to 15 m wide, at least 8 to 10 m high vestibule, whose abri-like vaulting is set back by collapse. The cave continues in the reef dolomite into two crevice-like cavities, each more than 10 m in length (north and south cave). Both start at around 3 m wide, but quickly taper to less than 1 m wide.
After preliminary investigations in the years 1926–1931, archaeological excavations took place from 1932 to 1938 . Parts of the forecourt, the vestibule and the columns were examined. On the outer part of the forecourt, three probes, each 4 by 4 m in size, were carried out. A total of 250 m² of the cave and the forecourt were excavated - without the probes. The preliminary investigations were carried out by Dietrich von Breitenbuch from Ranis , the subsequent excavations by the then State Institute for Prehistory in Halle .
geology
Like numerous other caves in the bryozoal reefs of the Zechstein streak, the Ilsen cave also primarily goes back to caverns in the reef dolomite, which were filled with loosely baked reef sands and were emptied by weathering and erosion processes. Additional weathering of the dolomite led to the expansion of the cavities, whereby the formation of vertical fissures also played a role. In the course of the last 120,000 years the cavities of the Ilsenhöhle have been filled with sediments and frost fractures or frost debris. The thick sediment filling shows the following structure:
- Layer XI. The lower brown, up to 1 m thick layer is deposited on weathered dolomite . It consists of a clayey-sandy loam and contains only a few pieces of rubble, only occasionally fallen blocks. The sandy parts go back to the dolomite sands of the reef or the decay of the reef dolomite.
- Layer X. Above it is the so-called gray layer (up to 0.3 m thick), a very sandy loam to loamy sand colored gray by humus, which hardly contains any rock debris. It is partially interspersed with bone ash.
- Layer IX. This is followed by the middle brown layer, also an average of 0.3 m thick. It consists of sandy loam that has been discolored to a chocolate-brown color due to weak soil formation (weathering, soil formation). It occasionally contains lumps of debris and smaller blocks.
- Layer VIII. The black layer (0.1-0.3 m thick) consists of sandy, slightly humus-rich, dark-gray-brown, dark-gray to black-colored loam, heavily interspersed with bone ash and charcoal, which is free from rock debris.
- Layer VII. The upper brown layer (1.5 to 2.0 m thick). It is a sandy, skeletal clay. In addition to weathering debris, it contains the fall blocks of the Abri.
- Layer VI. The yellow layer. It is up to 3 m thick and represents a blown silt . It is enriched with fine pieces of frost-weathered debris and more and more falling blocks towards the top.
- Layer V. So-called "rodent layer". This 0.2 to 1.0 m thick layer is deposited like a blanket over all older parts. In depressions or on an inclined surface, it has greater thickness. It consists of yellow-brown silt, which forms the matrix for a skeleton made of fine rock rubble and countless skeletal remains. The latter come from small to medium-sized mammals, especially small mammals, bats and other small vertebrates. They are mainly due to the vaults of birds of prey (owls), while the remains of bats come mainly from cave dwellers. Larger skeletal remains are dogged and present as splinters. The upper part of the rodent layer becomes increasingly humic and is therefore colored gray (Va).
- Layer IV. Black-gray layer (0.1-0.5 m thick).
- Layer III. Gray-brown layers (0.2 - 0.4 m thick) represent a humus surface horizon consisting of a silty matrix and fine-grained skeleton.
- Layer II. On silt, which is rich in fine debris, another humus surface horizon was created (a total of 0.5 m thick).
- Layer I. Above it was stored until 3 in mighty medieval rubble.
Apparently, layer XI comprises the lower / older part of the Weichsel early glacial (in terms of cycles Ia2 to IIb from Ascherslebener See). Larger sedimentation gaps mark the horizon; there is no evidence of the particularly cold stage around 55,000 to 65,000. Layer XI contains the inventory of Ranis 1. Layers X, IX and VIII contain the inventories of Ranis 2 and 3. Da Ranis 2 is included in the Nietoperzowa cave according to parallel findings Kraków (horizon 6) whose 14C age is said to have been dated to around 38,000 before today. Based on this comparison alone, strata VIII to X could be classified as the time of the beginning of the Middle Softness or the second section of the Weichselian early glacial (in terms of cycles III, IVa, IVb, V from Ascherslebener See). The soil formation in layer IX would correspond to one of the interstadials (Moershoofd, Hengelo?). The brown clay horizon with the blocks of the large ceiling collapse also belongs to this time, because the loess VI with its frost debris and fall material can be assigned to the main loess of the Vistula high glacial, between 22,000 and 15,000 before today. The rodent layer V belongs to the late glacial and shows transitions to the Holocene (Va), to which all other layers can be assigned.
Perhaps the great ceiling collapse does not come from the time of the Middle Weichsels, but really represents the special early glacial event of the very cold, relatively humid 5th stage between 55,000 and 65,000 BC. Then the inventories of the horizons Ranis 2 and 3 lying under the collapse would have to be much older than 38,000 before today and be assigned to the outgoing classic early Weichsel (first section of the early Weichsel according to the interpretation of the A-schersleben lake profile)! The more recent inventories are linked to the layers as follows: Ranis 4 with VI, Ranis 5 with V. The pollen analyzes of horizons VI to IX speak for open steppe landscapes with isolated woody areas which, with respect to horizon VI, consisted exclusively of birch and subordinate pine. In the horizons VII and VIII, in addition to these woody species, some warmth-loving species appear: hazel, oak and linden. This is unusual, at least for the Mittel Weichsel in the northern low mountain range, but not for the interstadial of the first early glacial section 65,000 years ago. In retrospect, unfortunately, no clear indications can be found for an exact classification of the fund horizons. Apart from the classification of the Ranis 2 and 3 horizons on the basis of typological comparisons of stone artefacts in the period around 40,000 before today, horizons VII to XI would be drawn from geological considerations and the intimate knowledge of the early Elbe climatic development and the geological phenomena controlled by it in the Elbe-Saale region put in total in the time before 55,000 vh:
VII as dolomite sand, probably loess-containing loam with the large ceiling collapse into the particularly intensive 5th stage, the humus horizon X and the layer IX that follows it, which is overlaid by silting, as well as the black layer VIII as an expression of the early mundane interstadial in the third and fourth interstadial, the lowest horizon XI in the period immediately preceding this interstadial. A gray humus soil formation like that of layer X has not been observed during the Vistula period after the stadial between 55,000 and 65,000, which corresponds to the last occurrence of heat-loving woody plants. If the presumed assignment is correct, then the inventories Ranis 2 and 3 should be a bit older than 65,000 before today.
Archaeological finds
At the bottom is the find horizon Ranis 1 (layer XI), followed by Ranis 2 (layer X and lowest parts of IX), Ranis 3 (layer VIII and lowest parts of VII). Ranis 1 and 2 are late Middle Paleolithic inventories, Ranis 3 is at the transition to the Upper Paleolithic . The Upper Paleolithic are Ranis 4 (layer VI), which is obviously to be placed in the Gravettian , and Ranis 5 (layer V), a Magdalenian .
Ranis 1
The Ranis 1 layer provided only a few artifacts : 6 artifacts from flint , 10 artifacts from yellowish quartzite . They were found very scattered in layer XI (Ranis la, 1b, Ic) and should belong to an inventory. But that is hardly the case. A settlement horizon was not observed. Two bifacially trimmed leaf tips are conspicuous. One has a transverse thinned base. It consists of flint stone, as it occurs in southern Germany, and is only partially retouched from the edges. Dorsally and ventrally , it still has large parts of the natural surface (bark). It is referred to as the " hand ax blade " (cover 1977), but its tip-tip character is unmistakable. The other tip of the blade, like the other flint tools, was made of Baltic flint. It is also pointed at the base, retouched over the entire surface, but only finely retouched dorsally on both longitudinal edges. There are also four flint cuts: A blade-shaped cut forms a knife with a natural back and with a use retouching on the cutting edge. Fragment of another blade with retouching from use, a thin cut, a wide, flat disc core cut. Among the less typical quartzite artifacts - mostly debris and coarser flakes - some shapes stand out. A wedge-like, roughly retouched point, a knife with a natural back and retouched cutting edge, a disc core chop with a faceted base, the remainder of a stalk-shaped core stone with a prepared striking surface and a mining surface. The quartzite and flint artifacts of Ranis 1 are typologically to be assessed as generally Middle Paleolithic. They were classified as mousteroid artifacts by Toepfer (Mania and Toepfer 1973) . The two leaf tips are difficult to connect with them. They are getting closer to Ranis 2. Apparently, with Ranis 1, there are sparse remains of culturally and chronologically different inventories, which also indicate multiple inspections of the Ilsen cave at the beginning of the Vistula glacial.
Ranis 2
The “gray layer” (X) represents an intact inspection horizon, which today, however, would be excavated more carefully and, above all, silted up. Artifacts have found their way into the basal parts of this horizon through relocation - probably already through human activities. In various places, slabs of Kulmgrauwacke were found in or on the gray layer, which apparently served to pave the uneven cave forecourt. A fireplace could be proven. Otherwise, pine charcoal and bone ash or charcoal prove that the cave has been used for a longer period of time. All the more astonishing that no workplaces were observed, not even in the form of accumulations of chips, splits and other waste from stone processing. Certainly a large part of the rich fauna remains in the form of bone splinters and remains of teeth can be traced back to human food waste. The type composition of the artefacts as well as their wide distribution contrasts with the certainly longer period of settlement or the numerous, short-term successive stays in the Ilsen cave. They are made from Baltic flint. There are 63 objects that were found scattered around the cave entrance and on the forecourt. Almost without exception, they represent devices such as blade tips, double blade tips (including Szeleta tips), blade tips, various types of scraper. Tees and core stones are largely missing. There are also 7 bone planks and a chisel-like cut ivory stick. There are no references to punching or retouching areas, but also to workplaces where these devices were used, or they escaped the observation and assessment skills of the excavators who were not specialized in or employed in the Paleolithic. But according to the monograph, which was written about 40 years after the end of the excavations (Mantel 1977), at least no artifacts should have been overlooked - if there were any findings. Sifting and sifting the excavation spoil on the forecourt would certainly bring some surprises.
Ranis 3
Ranis 3 still shows Middle Paleolithic accents (disc core technique, levalloid blade technique, surface retouching ), but tends towards aurignacia with its mainly edge-retouched blade tools (Hahn 1977). The blade tips or pointed blades, despite their surface retouching, which are placed dorsally on one side, have a different, predominantly cutting function than the blade tips of Ranis 2, which are also symmetrical in the plane. These show the intention of the manufacturer, with the help of surface retouching that flattens out on both sides how to create symmetrical projectile shapes in the plane. They come into consideration as the top reinforcement of darts. Most of the leaf tips were probably used in a similar manner. Instead, the large blade tips assume a cutting function rather than large knives. But here too, with the appropriate stocks, these extremely symmetrical and very flat tips can be used as arrows or spear reinforcement. The object only needs to be cemented sufficiently, except for a narrow cutting edge and tip section, so that it is secured against breakage. Ranis 2 and 3 do not indicate a special use of the Ilsen cave ("Schlachthaus" - Shell 1977), but rather a longer-term use as living accommodation / storage space by groups of hunters who hunted in the steppes and park areas in the area.
paleontology
Pollen analysis
Certain points were Pollen analysis of some horizons performed ( Schütrumpf in Case 1977). They had the following results:
- Layer X and IX. Grasses and herbs (especially gramineae , less cyperaceae ) predominate with 91% compared to 9% tree pollen. Birch and pine appear, the latter also as charcoal. The imprint of an alder leaf was found. Selaginella (moss ferns) stands out among the non-tree pollen .
- Layer VIII. 80% grasses and herbs (Gramineae and Cyperaceae about the same frequency, composites , Chenopodiaceae ). The tree pollen density is relatively high at 20%. The most common is the birch, followed by willow and pine. There are also remains of charcoal from the birch.
- Layer VII. 85% grasses and herbs (very often Gramineae, often Cyperaceae, also umbellifers , composites). 15% tree pollen: birch 8.5%, pine 2.4%, corylus (hazel) 1.8%, quercus (oak) 1.2%, tilia (linden) 0.6%. Pine also used as charcoal.
- Layer VI. 80% gramineae, cyperaceae and composites. 20% tree pollen: birch (most common), pine and sea buckthorn ( Hippophae ).
Vertebrate fauna
From the horizons VI to XI come rich vertebrate remains , some of which go back to hyena nests and some - especially in connection with the cultural horizons - to human prey. However, their origins cannot always be clearly separated from one another. No particular differentiation can be established according to the empirical presentation by Mantel (1977); a detailed study of these faunas has not yet been carried out.
- Layer XI. Rhinoceros (probably mainly woolly rhinoceros , Coelodonta antiquitatis ), red deer ( Cervus elaphus ), reindeer ( Rangifer tarandus ), cave bear ( Ursus spelaeus ), cave hyena ( Crocuta crocuta spelaea ).
- Layer X. Woolly mammoth ( Mammuthus primigenius ), Coelodonta antiquitatis , Cervus elaphus , Rangifer tarandus , Ursus spelaeus , Crocuta crocuta spelaea .
- Layer VIII. Mammuthus primigenius , Coelodonta antiquitatis , cattle ( Bos sp.), Horse ( Equus sp.), Cervus elaphus , Rangifer tarandus , Ursus spelaeus , Crocuta crocuta spelaea , cave lion ( Panthera spelaea ), a large species of bird.
- Layer VI. Coelodonta antiquitatis , Equus sp., Cervus elaphus , Rangifer tarandus , Bos sp., Musk ox ( Ovibos moschatus ), Ursus spelaeus , probably also brown bear ( Ursus arctos ).
This mammal fauna is very similar to that of Königsaue and also corresponds to a transition frühglazialen fauna, primarily in open meadows quilting has lived up forest steppes. Some more sophisticated elements still occur, such as the red deer .
literature
- Werner M. Cover : The Ilsen cave under Ranis Castle Thuringia . Urban & Fischer, Munich 1977, ISBN 3-437-30254-X
- Sigrid Dušek (Ed.): The secrets of the Ilsen cave under Ranis Castle - results of archaeological research in text and images - In: Prehistory and early history of Thuringia, (Thuringian State Office for Archaeological Monument Preservation, Weimar), Theiss, Stuttgart 1990, p. 40 -41, 2 colors.
- Hans Joachim Bodenbach: Dr. phil. habil. Werner (Matthias) envelope - prehistoric, born November 7, 1903 in Reutlingen, † August 3, 1974 in Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt [U. a. Head of the excavations in front of and in the Ilsenhöhle from 1932 - 1937] , in: State Office for Monument Preservation and Archeology Saxony-Anhalt (Ed.): Annual Journal for Central German Prehistory, Volume 92, Halle (Saale), 2008 (2011), p. 447 –504 (with 14 illustrations) [1]
