Irpfelhöhle
| Irpfelhöhle
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| Location: | Giengen an der Brenz , Heidenheim district , Baden-Württemberg , Germany | |
| Height : | 480 m above sea level NHN | |
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Geographic location: |
48 ° 37 '37.9 " N , 10 ° 13' 22.4" E | |
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| Cadastral number: | 7327/03 | |
| Geology: | White Jura , mass limestone | |
| Type: | Rift cave , partially collapsed | |
| Discovery: | 1892 | |
| Lighting: | no | |
| Overall length: | 54 m | |
The Irpfelhöhle is a karst cave in the Swabian Alb in Baden-Württemberg , on the left edge of the Brenz valley . The cave has a length of 54 meters and leads into the southern slope of the Irpfelberg, which consists of the white Jura and rises about 1.7 kilometers west-northwest of Giengen an der Brenz . The cave entrance at a height of 480 meters above sea level is about 15 meters above the valley floor.
A special feature of this cave is a free-standing rock gate at the entrance. This gate is the last remnant of a cave room, which has fallen victim to the natural slope erosion. The Irpfelhöhle is a natural monument and a protected geotope .
discovery
The cave was discovered in 1892 by chief forester Hermann Emil Sihler, who came across the Charlottenhöhle a year later . Eberhard Fraas carried out the first archaeological excavations and publications in 1893. The discovery of numerous animal bones strengthened the suspicion that the cave must be a hyena nest. The bones of fox , wolf , wolverine and cave lion could be identified. But the cave floor also exposed skeletal parts of cave bears , wild horses , reindeer , mammoths , steppe bison , giant deer and marmots . Subsequent excavations and further research from 1935 by Fritz Berckhemer and Eduard Peters focused primarily on the Stone Age tools. As a starting material of these artifacts were various cherts and quartzites used.
Stone age
The cave is a site of archaeological stone artifacts from the Middle Paleolithic . Various scrapers and tips that are assigned to the Moustérien could be discovered from 1893. Five reindeer poles, which are only slightly gnawed, were probably brought into the cave by Neanderthals .
Trivia
The legend has passed down from 1500 that a goose that was let into a cave on Irpfelberg came to light again in the church behind the altar in Nattheim, eight kilometers away .
literature
- Irpfelhöhle . In: Nicholas J. Conard , Michael Bolus, Ewa Dutkiewicz, Sibylle Wolf (eds.): Ice Age Archeology on the Swabian Alb. The sites in the Ach and Lone Valley and in their surroundings . Kerns Verlag Tübingen, Tübingen 2015, ISBN 978-3-935751-24-7 , pp. 240–241.
- 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. 78 .
- Fritz Berckhemer , Eduard Peters : The Irpfelhöhle near Giengen on the Brenz . In: Find report from Swabia, New Series 8, 1933–1935, pp. 10–15.
- Eberhard Fraas : The Irpfelhöhle in Brenzthale (Württemberg) , in: Journal of the German Geological Society, Volume 45, Issue 1, 1893, pp. 1-14.
Web links
- Irpfelhöhle , Irpfelhöhle on the pages of the Swabian Alb Geopark
- Data evaluation sheet and map in the profile of the individual structure natural monument in the protected area directory of the LUBW
- Geotope profile (PDF) on: Map server of the State Office for Geology, Raw Materials and Mining (LGRB) ( information )
Individual evidence
- ↑ Hans Binder, Herbert Jantschke: Höhlenführer Schwäbische Alb. Caves - springs - waterfalls, p. 78
- ↑ Nicholas J. Conard, Michael Bolus, Ewa Dutkiewicz, Sibylle Wolf (eds.): Ice Age Archeology on the Swabian Alb. The sites in the Ach and Lone Valley and their surroundings , pp. 240–241
- ↑ Hans Binder, Herbert Jantschke: Höhlenführer Schwäbische Alb. Caves - springs - waterfalls, p. 78