Vogelherd Cave
| Vogelherd Cave
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| Location: | Stetten ob Lontal , Swabian Alb , Baden-Württemberg , Germany | |
| Height : | 480 m above sea level NN | |
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Geographic location: |
48 ° 33 '31 " N , 10 ° 11' 39" E | |
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| Cadastral number: | 7427 / 1a, 7427 / 1b | |
| Geology: | White Jura ζ , mass limestone | |
| Type: | Passage cave | |
| Lighting: | No | |
| Overall length: | 40 meters | |
The Vogelherd cave (in short: the Vogelherd ) near Niederstotzingen in the Lone Valley is a karst cave . The cave is an important site of the Upper Paleolithic . It is located in the Vogelherd Archaeological Park on the eastern Swabian Alb , on the 1168 road between Niederstotzingen and Bissingen ob Lontal . In 2017 it was included in the UNESCO World Heritage as one of the six caves of the World Heritage Site Caves and Ice Age Art of the Swabian Alb .
The cave became famous in 1931 after the discovery of the Vogelherd figures from the Aurignacia , the earliest stage of the Upper Palaeolithic, making them one of the oldest works of art known to man. The human remains discovered there, however, which were also assigned to the Aurignacia for decades, including the skulls "Stetten 1" and "Stetten 2", date from the Neolithic . They are not related to the considerably older Upper Palaeolithic minor art of the cave.
topography
The cave has three entrances (mouth holes). The two large, 2.5 to 3.5 m high mouth holes are connected by a 40 m long curved passage and are called the Great Vogelherd Cave . The Kleine Vogelherdhöhle is very narrow at the entrance and approx. 40 m long. The passage between the small and large cave is buried, except for a gap several centimeters high. The area of the cave is about 170 m² and was originally three to four meters high.
The good state of preservation of the cave is due to the sintering of the ceiling, which began with the beginning of the Holocene . Since the cave is very close to the surface, it would have been destroyed by the warm-time climate long ago.
Excavation history
On May 23, 1931, the local history researcher Hermann Mohn from Heidenheim found several flint pleats in the excavation in front of a badger den at Vogelherd, which led to the discovery of the cave. In the excavation of the same year, which lasted only three months, by the Tübingen prehistorian Gustav Riek , a prehistoric settlement of the cave from the base of the sediments ( Eem warm period ) to the upper layers of the Bronze Age was proven, which contain artefacts from the Bronze Age.
The rather sporadic inspection in the Middle Paleolithic was followed by settlement in the early Upper Paleolithic , the archaeological culture of the Aurignacia . The cave is known for the eleven mammoth ivory figures found in the Aurignacian layers , the so-called Vogelherd figures . The layers of the Aurignacien contain bone and stone implements . A total of 910 tools and 1223 unretouched artifacts ( chips and cores ) were found in the cave . Based on the scattering of the artefacts, it was possible to determine that the spaces under the southwest and south entrances and the main hall were used most intensively at the time of the Upper Paleolithic. The most common tools made from chert are scrapers and burins , tools made from bones are mainly spearheads. A perforated rod called “Schwirrblatt” by Gustav Riek was found together with a double-perforated pendant made of mammoth ivory at the confluence of the east aisle in the main hall. Both artifacts are lost today.
stratigraphy
During archaeological excavations in the cave, the following sequence of layers ( stratigraphy ) was found:
- I - Neolithic
- II - Magdalenian
- III - Magdalenian
- IV - Aurignacia
- V - Aurignacia
- VI - late Middle Paleolithic
- (VII - Moustérien )
- VIII - Micoquiae
- IX - Cave floor: Eem warm period (?)
Cultural horizons
About 90% of the stone, bone, ivory and antler tools were found in layers V and IV of the Aurignacien . The most common types of rock were chert and jasper , which came from the area.
- Magdalenian II
The Magdalenian of the Vogelherd cave comprises layers II and III. Layer II contained a rich treasure trove of stone artifacts . These include eleven blade knives, two blades with jagged side edges, two blades with a bark back, two triangular blade cuts, a beveled blade, four pointed blades, a pulp blade, two scrapers and a nucleus with a coarsely carved burin tip. Other finds include a reindeer antler sprout with a cut surface and cuts at the fork, as well as an ivory plate with fine incisions.
- Magdalenian III
Some stone artifacts were discovered in Layer III. The finds include four blade knives, three blade cuts, a corner graver, a wide bark cut and a curved bark cut. In addition, a fragment of a reindeer antler pole was found which has cut surfaces.
- Aurignacia IV
In the "Oberaurignacien", as Riek called the archaeological horizon IV, an area-wide settlement can be recorded in several settlement phases. In addition to the 1729 stone artefacts, such as scratches and burins, 82 organic artefacts were discovered according to Riek's excavation report. Among them were some pieces that were decorated with rows of notches. Other organic finds include the different projectile tips, which are less common in this horizon. One of these has a split base, four others have a massive base and three have only survived in fragments. One of these fragments was provided with marginal notches and X marks.
- Aurignacien V
In the Aurignacia layer V, two clearly separated hearths were found in the main hall and in the south-west entrance. It is about 0.65–0.70 m deep and consists of gray and less compact limestone rubble. A total of 910 stone tools were found , the distribution of which is mainly in the main hall and in the south-west entrance. The most common stone tools found in the cave include scrapers and graver . A large number of combination tools were also found. In addition to the stone tools, numerous bone and ivory artifacts were discovered in Layer V. The bullet tips are among the most common artifacts made from organic material.
- Moustérien VII
The stone artifacts from Moustérien layer VII include a wedge-shaped, wide cut made of yellow ocher and white flint , a point that was retouched on one side made of ocher-brown and gray flint, a point with a groove made of gray-yellow flint, a total of three bow scrapers and two straight scrapers. Furthermore, a fragment of the upper jaw of a wild horse was found. Five of these incisors have been preserved.
The Vogelherd figures
The ivory sculptures of the bird hearth are among the most famous works of Upper Palaeolithic cabaret . After the discovery of eleven figures during the 1931 excavation, they were long considered to be the oldest works of art in the world. Among them was the approx. 32,000 year old wild horse (Vogelherd horse), which broke along the longitudinal axis and is therefore only available as a half-relief today. The object is 4.8 cm long and represents a stallion in typical imposing pose.
The mammoth that was found has changed color as a result of being deposited in the sediment. The color spectrum therefore ranges from weathered ivory white to black blue. The sculpture was provided with markings in some places, which are incised rows of crosses on the skull, the shoulders, the root of the tail, the loins and the abdominal wall. The trunk is no longer there.
Other figures represent a reindeer , a bison , a cave bear and several big cats ( panthers or cave lions ). In 2006, a project at the University of Tübingen (under the direction of Nicholas Conard ) began to remove the excavation from 1931 at the site and to sludge it systematically. In doing so, u. a. Further small Aurignacia sculptures made of mammoth ivory were found, the age of which can be assumed to be around 32,000 BP due to the known layered context . Of these, a 3.7 centimeter tall and 7.5 gram mammoth figure is considered to be the oldest completely preserved small work of art known to man. In contrast to most of the figures, she has relatively few decorations, only the soles are marked with a fine cross pattern and there are six incisions on the head.
Today the Vogelherd figures share their reputation as the oldest figurative works of art together with other small sculptures of the same age from the Hohlenstein-Stadel , the Geißenklösterle and the Hohlen Fels im Achtal .
Prehistoric fauna
The fauna of the bird herd can be reconstructed very precisely on the basis of the numerous remains of fauna in the layers of the Aurignacien . The prey of the Upper Paleolithic hunters mainly included reindeer and horses. Mammoth, woolly rhinoceros, red deer, bison, hare, wolf, fox, hyena and cave bear could also be detected. The Middle Paleolithic horizons show repeated settlements by the Neanderthals.
However, the remains of the fauna only indicate a short-term settlement. Presumably the cave was seasonally inhabited, especially in the colder months of the year. The moderate occurrence of the animal bones suggests that the finds are spoil or food remains of the cave dwellers. The devastation of the bones was caused by hyenas who invaded the cave in search of something to eat.
In the immediate vicinity of the Vogelherd cave in the Lone Valley there are other caves with traces of settlement from the Paleolithic . These include the Hohlenstein about two kilometers away and the Bockstein Cave about three kilometers away.
Museum presentation of the finds
The Vogelherd figures from 1931 as well as some of the new finds since 2006 are exhibited in the Museum of Ancient Cultures at Hohentübingen Castle . They are the main part of the collection of older prehistory of the museum of the University of Tübingen MUT . The mammoth and a cave lion found by the student Markus Schumacher, who worked as an excavation assistant, are in the information center of the Vogelherd Archaeological Park . In addition to the mammoth figure, three fragments of flutes made of bone and ivory were found in 2007. Based on similar finds from the Geißenklösterle and the Hohlen Fels , these tiny fragments could be identified as flute fragments.
Other excavation finds are now shown in various museums in Baden-Württemberg, such as the Württembergisches Landesmuseum Stuttgart , the Prehistory Museum in Blaubeuren and the local history museums in Heidenheim an der Brenz and Stetten ob Lontal .
See also
Gallery of the Vogelherd finds from the Aurignacia
Animal Representation, as Snow Leopard is interpreted and Tuebingen University Museum is presented
Human-like figure made of mammoth ivory, 40,000 years old (from the Aurignacia ), exhibited in Tübingen
Big cat, usually referred to as a lion , with rows of dots and notched crosses, almost nine centimeters long, preserved as a half-sculpture and currently also in Tübingen
A bison , bison, or at least a bovine animal ; the withers are well worked out, so that this is probably an adult male animal
Only discovered in 2006 in the overburden of the large excavation of 1931: a cave lion , exhibited in the Vogelherd Archaeological Park
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literature
- Hansjürgen Müller-Beck (Ed.): Ice Age Art in the South German-Swiss Jura. Beginnings of art. Theiss, Stuttgart 2001, ISBN 3-8062-1674-6 .
- Joachim Hahn , Hansjürgen Müller-Beck, Wolfgang Taute: Ice Age Caves in the Lone Valley. Archeology of a landscape in the Swabian Alb. Theiss, Stuttgart 1985, ISBN 3-8062-0222-2 .
- Georg Hiller , Stefanie Kölbl (Ed.): Welt-Kult-Ur-Sprung , Jan Thorbecke Verlag, Ulm 2016, ISBN 978-3-7995-1168-1 (on the ice age art of the Alb, German and English)
- Gustav Riek : The ice age hunter station at Vogelherd in the Lone Valley. Volume I: The Cultures. Leipzig 1934.
- Gustav Riek: The mammoth hunters in the Lone Valley. New edition. Gerhard Hess Verlag, Ulm 2000, ISBN 3-87336-248-1 .
- Christa Seewald: Prehistoric finds from the Lone Valley. Ulmer Museum, Ulm 1962.
- Jürgen Werner: The ice age hunters in the Swabian Alb. Hess, Bad Schussenried 2008, ISBN 978-3-87336-359-5 .
- Nicholas Conard , Ernst Seidl (Ed.): The Mammut vom Vogelherd. Tübingen finds of the oldest preserved works of art. Museum of the University of Tübingen MUT, Tübingen 2008, ISBN 978-3-9812736-0-1 .
- Ernst Seidl (Ed.): Treasures from the Hohentübingen Castle. Selected objects from the collections of the Museum of the University of Tübingen MUT. MUT, Tübingen 2012, ISBN 978-3-9812736-4-9 .
- Nicholas Conard : The Bird Herd Horse and the Origins of Art , Museum of the University of Tübingen, Tübingen 2016 (Small Monographs of MUT, Volume 5), ISBN 978-3-9817947-7-9 .
- Nicholas Conard / Claus-Joachim Kind : When man invented art. Ice Age Caves in the Swabian Alb , Theiss, Stuttgart 2017, ISBN 978-3-8062-3563-0 .
Web links
- 3D-models of the little horse and mammoth from Vogelherd on www.iceageart.de
Individual evidence
- ↑ Nicholas J. Conard, Pieter M. Grootes, Fred H. Smith: Unexpectedly recent dates for human remains from Vogelherd. In: Nature. 430, 2004, pp. 198-201, doi: 10.1038 / nature02690 .
- ↑ Joachim Hahn: Strength and Aggression - The message of ice age art in the Aurignacien of southern Germany . Publishing house Archaeologica Venatoria, Tübingen 1986, p. 11 .
- ↑ a b c d e f Gustav Riek: The ice age hunter station at Vogelherd in the Lone Valley. Leipzig, 1934.
- ↑ Ulrich Huber: Who was Hermann Mohn? Self-published, Heidenheim an der Brenz 1989.
- ^ Joachim Hahn: Aurignacien. The older Upper Paleolithic in Central and Eastern Europe. Cologne, 1977.
- ^ Sybille Wolf: Jewelery - The ivory processing in the Swabian Aurignacien . Kerns Verlag, Tübingen 2015, p. 234 .
- ↑ a b c Laura Niven: The palaeolithic occupation of Vogelherd Cave. Tübingen, 2006.
- ↑ Christa Seewald: Prehistoric finds from the Lone Valley. Ulm 1962, pp. 40-41.
- ↑ Christa Seewald: Prehistoric finds from the Lone Valley. Ulm 1962, pp. 39-40.
- ↑ Gustav Riek: The ice age hunter station at Vogelherd in the Lone Valley. Leipzig, 1934, p. 54.
- ↑ Gustav Riek: The ice age hunter station at Vogelherd in the Lone Valley. Leipzig 1934, p. 66.
- ^ A b Joachim Hahn: Aurignacien, the older Upper Palaeolithic in Central and Eastern Europe. Habelt, Cologne 1977, p. 91.
- ↑ Christa Seewald: Prehistoric finds from the Lone Valley. Ulm 1962, pp. 30-31.
- ↑ Joachim Hahn: Strength and Aggression. The message of Ice Age art in the Aurignacia of southern Germany. In: Archaeologica Venatoria. Volume 7, Tübingen 1986.
- ↑ Discovered the oldest ivory figure in the world. In: Spiegel-Online. June 20, 2007.
- ↑ Time travel in fast motion. on: niederstotzingen.de , accessed on May 2, 2013.
- ↑ Unique finds. on: archaeopark-vogelherd.de , accessed on May 2, 2013.
- ↑ Nicholas J. Conard, Michael Bolus, Ewa Dutkiewicz, Sibylle Wolf: Ice Age Archeology on the Swabian Alb . Kerns Verlag, Tübingen 2015, p. 117-118 .