Salt oven cave

Salt oven cave
Location:	Dead Mountains ; Styria , Austria
Height :	2005 m above sea level A.
Geographic ; location:	47 ° 40 '50.5 " N , 13 ° 56' 9.5" E Coordinates: 47 ° 40 '50.5 " N , 13 ° 56' 9.5" E
Cadastral number:	1624/31
Geology:	Oberalmer Kalk
Type:	Karst cave
Discovery:	1924
Overall length:	3588 m
Level difference:	124 m
Particularities:	archaeological site, closed to the public

The salt furnace cave in the Dead Mountains near Grundlsee in Styria is the highest alpine cave with palaeolithic finds in Austria. The entrance to the cave is on the southwest slope of the salt furnace ( 2070 m ) approx. 65 m below the summit. In 2008 the measured total length of the cave was 3588 meters.

The part of the name “-ofen-” can be traced back to an old name for striking rocks .

history

In 1924 two hunters discovered the first fossils in the salt furnace cave. As a result, it was researched by school councilor Otto Körber from Bad Aussee until 1944. In 1939, 1948–1953 and 1956–1964 excavations took place under Kurt Ehrenberg . In addition to the discovery of numerous animal bones, especially cave bears and cave lions , evidence of human settlement activity in the salt furnace cave was found. It served as a hunting station for Paleolithic people. Stone tools, conspicuously arranged bear skulls and pieces of charcoal were excavated. The age of the charcoal pieces was determined by radiocarbon dating to be 34,000 (± 3,000) years. The C14 dating of the pollen flora and a selection of bones from the culture layer of the Salzofenhöhle showed an age of 31,200 (± 1,100) to> 49,000 years. A one- hole bone fragment from the salt furnace cave, often referred to as a bone flute , is to be regarded as a natural product (bone with a bite mark) according to the current state of research.

Some of the bone finds from the salt furnace cave are exhibited in the Kammerhof Museum in Bad Aussee.

In 1972 a specimen of the blind cave beetle ( Arctaphaenops nihilumalbi ) was first found in the cave .

literature

Maria Mottl: The Paleolithic finds from the salt furnace cave in the Dead Mountains . In: Archaeologia Austriaca: Contributions to the prehistory and early history of Central Europe . tape 5 . Publishing house of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, 1950, ISSN 0003-8008 , p. 24-34 .
Kurt Ehrenberg: The prehistoric sites and finds in the salt furnace cave, Styria . In: Archaeologia Austriaca: Contributions to the prehistory and early history of Central Europe . tape 25 . Publishing house of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna 1959, p. 8-24 .
Richard Pittioni : A Moustérien scraper from the salt furnace cave in the Dead Mountains (Styria) . In: The cave . Journal of Karst and Speleology . 1st edition. tape 35/1 . Association of Austrian Speleologists, Vienna 1984, p. 1–4 ( PDF on ZOBODAT [accessed July 16, 2012]).
Hubert Trimmel : Morphological and genetic studies in the salt furnace cave . In: The cave . Journal of Karst and Speleology . 1st edition. tape 2 . Association of Austrian Speleologists, Vienna 1951, p. 2–7 ( PDF on ZOBODAT [accessed on July 14, 2012] with cave course plan).

cards

ÖK 50, sheet 97 (Bad Mitterndorf).
Alpine Club Map Bl. 15/1 (Totes Gebirge - West), 1: 25,000; Austrian Alpine Club 2014; ISBN 978-3-928777-29-2 .

Individual evidence

^ Association for Speleology in Upper Styria (VHO): The longest and deepest caves of the Dead Mountains and the Dachstein (Styrian part). February 10, 2008, accessed July 14, 2012 .
^ Günter Stummer: Successful expedition 1974 into the salt furnace cave (cat. No. 1624/31) in the Dead Mountains (Styria) . In: The cave . Journal of Karst and Speleology . tape 25 . Association of Austrian Speleologists, Vienna 1974, p. 156 ( PDF on ZOBODAT [accessed on July 14, 2012] information on length and level difference).
↑ Ernst Probst: Höhlenlöwen. Big cats in the Ice Age . GRIN Verlag , Munich 2009, ISBN 3-640-27263-3 , pp. 197 .
↑ Doris Döppes: New dating results of the Salzofen Cave, Totes Gebirge, Austria (= Hugo Obermaier Society for Research into the Ice Age and the Stone Age e.V. 47th Society meeting in Neuchâtel Switzerland, March 29 to April 2, 2005 ). Neuchâtel 2005, p. 27 ff . ( obermaier-gesellschaft.de [PDF; 1.5 MB ; accessed on July 16, 2012]).

↑ Martina Pacher, Doris Döppes: Two fauna elements from Pleistocene cave sites in the Dead Mountains. CANIS LUPUS L. AND GULO GULQ L. In: Geological-Paläontologische Mitteilungen Innsbruck . tape 22 , 1997, ISSN 0378-6870 , p. 130 ( uibk.ac.at [PDF; 2.1 MB ; accessed on July 16, 2012]).

↑ Claus-Stephan Holdermann, Jordl Serangell: Flutes on cave bear bones: Speculation or evidence? In: Bulletin of the Society for Prehistory . tape 6 . Society for Prehistory and Friends of the Prehistory Museum Blaubeuren e. V., 1998, p. 12 ( uni-tuebingen.de [PDF; 7.5 MB ; accessed on July 16, 2012]).

↑ Manfred Fischhuber: Further Arctaphaenops finds from Styria (A. nihilumalbi SCHMID, A. putzi n. Sp. - CoL Trechinae) . In: The cave . Journal of Karst and Speleology . tape 37 . Association of Austrian Speleologists, Vienna 1986, p. 5–9 ( PDF on ZOBODAT [accessed July 13, 2012]).

[1] Association for Speleology in Upper Styria (VHO): The longest and deepest caves of the Dead Mountains and the Dachstein (Styrian part). February 10, 2008, accessed July 14, 2012 .

[2] Günter Stummer: Successful expedition 1974 into the salt furnace cave (cat. No. 1624/31) in the Dead Mountains (Styria) . In: The cave . Journal of Karst and Speleology . tape 25 . Association of Austrian Speleologists, Vienna 1974, p. 156 ( PDF on ZOBODAT [accessed on July 14, 2012] information on length and level difference).

[3] Ernst Probst: Höhlenlöwen. Big cats in the Ice Age . GRIN Verlag , Munich 2009, ISBN 3-640-27263-3 , pp. 197 .

[4] Doris Döppes: New dating results of the Salzofen Cave, Totes Gebirge, Austria (= Hugo Obermaier Society for Research into the Ice Age and the Stone Age e.V. 47th Society meeting in Neuchâtel Switzerland, March 29 to April 2, 2005 ). Neuchâtel 2005, p. 27 ff . ( obermaier-gesellschaft.de [PDF; 1.5 MB ; accessed on July 16, 2012]).

[5] Martina Pacher, Doris Döppes: Two fauna elements from Pleistocene cave sites in the Dead Mountains. CANIS LUPUS L. AND GULO GULQ L. In: Geological-Paläontologische Mitteilungen Innsbruck . tape 22 , 1997, ISSN 0378-6870 , p. 130 ( uibk.ac.at [PDF; 2.1 MB ; accessed on July 16, 2012]).

[6] Claus-Stephan Holdermann, Jordl Serangell: Flutes on cave bear bones: Speculation or evidence? In: Bulletin of the Society for Prehistory . tape 6 . Society for Prehistory and Friends of the Prehistory Museum Blaubeuren e. V., 1998, p. 12 ( uni-tuebingen.de [PDF; 7.5 MB ; accessed on July 16, 2012]).

[7] Manfred Fischhuber: Further Arctaphaenops finds from Styria (A. nihilumalbi SCHMID, A. putzi n. Sp. - CoL Trechinae) . In: The cave . Journal of Karst and Speleology . tape 37 . Association of Austrian Speleologists, Vienna 1986, p. 5–9 ( PDF on ZOBODAT [accessed July 13, 2012]).