World heritage times two: pile dwellings and Ice Age art

The six caves found in the Swabian Alb and the Ice Age art which was excavated were declared a World Heritage Site. On July 9th, 2017 in Krakow, the responsible committee decided to include the Vogelherd, Bockstein, Hohlenstein-Stadel, Sirgenstein, Geißenklösterle and Hohle Fels sites as well as the oldest human figurative art found there on the World Heritage list.

Since the beginning of the 20th century, scientists at the University of Tübingen have been unearthing and researching the oldest evidence of human figurative art, music and beliefs in the caves in the Ach and Lone valleys. Theanimalfigurines,flutesandpiecesofjewelrymadeofmammothivoryandboneorfigurinessuchastheVenusofHohleFelswereproducedduringthelastIceAgearound40,000yearsago.

Theyareconsidereduniquetestimoniestothehistoryofmankind.

From Wednesday to Sunday, the MUT Alte Kulturen at Hohentübingen Castle displays more original finds from the Ice Age caves than all four other museums combined, including numerous animal figurines made of mammoth ivory from the Vogelherd cave and the newly discovered fragment of a flute made of griffon vulture bone.

In addition to Ice Age art, the Museum Alte Kulturen | Schloss Hohentübingen also houses numerous finds from the Neolithic and Late Bronze Age wetland settlements on Lake Federsee. The world-famous "pile dwelling settlements" have been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2011. Together with the collections of Iron Age Celtic settlements, such as the finds from the Heuneburg on the upper Danube and Heidengraben near Grabenstetten on the Swabian Alb, they are presented in the Department of Recent Prehistory.

This makes the University of Tübingen the only university in the world to hold shares in two different World Heritage Sites.

Experience 16 original Ice Age figures, jewellery and tools from the time of the first artists and musicians of mankind.

Museum Ancient Cultures
Burgsteige 11
72070 Tübingen