History

The cave has been known locally since medieval times but was first explored archaeologically in the nineteenth century. Systematic excavation by Nicholas Conard and the University of Tubingen began in 1977 and has produced an almost continuous stratigraphic sequence from the earliest modern human occupation of the region (approximately 43,000 years ago) through the Gravettian and Solutrean into the Magdalenian. The density of symbolic objects found in Aurignacian layers at Hohle Fels and the nearby cave sites of Vogelherd, Geissenkloesterle, and Bockstein — all within a 30 km radius — is unmatched anywhere in the world for this period, leading Conard and colleagues to propose that the Swabian Jura was a centre of “cultural modernity” during the initial occupation of Europe by modern humans. This has been contested by researchers who argue that comparable symbolic behaviour exists in earlier African and Levantine contexts, and that the concentration in Swabia reflects excavation intensity rather than a genuine cultural centre.

The most celebrated single find is the Venus of Hohle Fels, discovered by Conard in September 2008 in six connecting fragments in a layer dated by radiocarbon to approximately 35,000–40,000 years BP. The figurine depicts a female figure with exaggerated breasts, wide hips, and explicitly rendered vulva; it has no head, but a perforation at the top indicates it was worn as a pendant. A phallus of similar age and technique from the same cave had been found earlier; the Venus was the first figurative sculpture of a human body found anywhere at such an age, pushing back the origin of the figurative art tradition by approximately 5,000–10,000 years from the previous best candidate. A vulture-bone flute found at Hohle Fels, with five finger holes drilled into it, was reported by Conard in 2009 and dated to approximately 40,000 years BP — the oldest known musical instrument in the world, displacing a previous candidate from the nearby Geissenkloesterle cave.

The UNESCO World Heritage inscription in 2017 covered six sites in the Swabian Jura (Hohle Fels, Vogelherd, Hohle Stein, Geissenkloesterle, Bockstein, and Hohle Stein im Lonetal), recognising the region as an exceptional concentration of evidence for the earliest known art and music. The inscription specifically notes that the finds represent “the earliest evidence for the expression of metaphysical thought and social identity” in human history.