Hohle Fels is a prehistoric cave with evidence of hominin habitation back to at least the Mesolithic era. It is most noted for some of the earliest sculptural art and musical instruments ever discovered. In particular the oldest known sculptural depiction of a hominin was found dating to circa 42,000 years before present in the form of a Venus depiction. The six centimetre high Venus of Hohle Fels depicts an exaggerated female form with prominent breasts, buttocks, and genitalia. Instead of a head, it has a metal polished carved ring, suggesting it was worn as a pendant. Deep incised lines on the body could represent clothing.
Hohle Fels is a UNESCO World Heritage site, and also has yielded Paleolithic animal skeletal remains of reindeer, mammoths, cave bears and horses. There are also numerous finds of figurative art of such species from the Paleolithic; moreover, there was one find from this era of a small sculptured lion/humanoid hybrid figure.
Significant tool findings were retrieved at Hohle Fels, similar to other sites of the Arignacian sites of this part of Europe; however, the tool finds at Hohle Fels represent some of the most striking early tool technology of the Mesolithic. For example, a device with four regular drilled cylindrical holes in a 20 cm long mammoth tusk could be one of the earliest known rope-making tools dating to roughly 40,000 years before present.
The geology of the Hohle Fels Cave features limestone, characteristic of the Upper Jurassic limestone reef ot the Swabian Jura region of southwestern Germany. Mesolithic inhabitants of the site were likely both Neanderthals and Cro Magnon, and this locale is a logical interbreeding site of the two hominids. The flourishing of art and toolmaking circa 42,000 years before present coincides with a period of global warming, when major ice melting commenced, very similar to peaks of human civilisation being correlated with global warming.
References
Conard, Nicholas J. (2009). "A female figurine from the basal Aurignacian of Hohle Fels Cave in southwestern Germany". Nature. 459 (7244): 248–252. Bibcode:2009Natur.459..248C. doi:10.1038/nature07995. PMID 19444215.
Wilford, John N. (June 24, 2009). "Flutes Offer Clues to Stone-Age Music". Nature. 459 (7244): 248–52. Bibcode:2009Natur.459..248C. doi:10.1038/nature07995. PMID 19444215.
"Caves with the oldest Ice Age art". UNESCO. Retrieved 23 November 2016.
Submitted by C, Michael Hogan PhD
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