UNESCO Caves and Ice Age Art in the Swabian Alb

A clear, delicate note fills the chamber, reaching into its furthest corners. Visitors listen in reverent silence to the melody, which lends the impressive cave an even more enchanting atmosphere. It is hard to believe that the slender instrument played by Gabriele Dalferth can produce such volume: her flute is only around 20 centimetres long and very narrow. It is a replica of a Stone Age flute, from a time when people carved instruments like this from bone and mammoth ivory. It is remarkable that the musician can fill the entire Hohle Fels Cave near Schelklingen with its sound.

The former primary school teacher from Königsbronn taught the flute at a music school. Fascinated by the archaeological discoveries made in her local area, she also completed an archaeological guide training course at the University of Tübingen. When a mammoth carved from ivory and measuring just four centimetres was discovered in Vogelherd Cave in 2006, she was invited to play the flute at its official presentation. Her usual instrument did not seem right for the occasion, so she began exploring the musical heritage of the Stone Age. Today, her Sounds from Prehistory performances are in demand at museums throughout the region. She has also performed at Hohle Fels Cave in the Ach Valley on several occasions.

A narrow tunnel leads into Hohle Fels Cave, one of the largest cavernous caves in the Swabian Alb. Its floor space is roughly equivalent to two tennis courts. At 30 metres high, the chamber feels like a dimly lit cathedral. Artificial lighting casts a fascinating play of shadows across its undulating walls. On the opposite side, the cave floor rises steeply. Dressed in a fur jacket and fur shoes, with leather bands in her hair, Gabriele Dalferth stands at the top as if on a balcony and begins to play. No sheet music has survived, of course, so she gives free rein to her imagination. But whenever reliable information is available, she follows it closely. This is true of her replica flutes, all of which she initially recreated using the tools and techniques available at the time. ‘People scraped out the holes using flint blades,’ she explains, turning the instrument in her hand. It is a replica of a flute discovered by an excavation team at Hohle Fels Cave in 2006: an instrument with five finger holes, made from the radius bone of a griffon vulture.

Some 40,000 years ago, people who had migrated from Africa via the Middle East and along the Danube sought shelter in the caves of the Swabian Alb. There, they left behind tools, jewellery and musical instruments. One of the most remarkable finds was a six-centimetre-tall figurine carved from ivory around 40,000 years ago: the Venus of Hohle Fels is considered the oldest known depiction of a human being.

‘The cave is a sponge reef dating from the Jurassic period,’ explains Otto Schwabe. He regularly leads groups through Hohle Fels Cave and has met people who return time and again to play the guitar or simply spend time at a place they regard as a special source of energy. Schwabe vividly describes the cave’s geology and explains how organic material, such as the ivory of the Venus of Hohle Fels, has been well preserved in the sediment.

Hohle Fels Cave was not the only place where works of art and musical instruments lay buried. Alongside Hohle Fels Cave, Geißenklösterle Cave and Sirgenstein Cave are among the most important archaeological sites in the Ach Valley. The Lone Valley, northeast of Ulm, is home to three further major archaeological sites: Vogelherd Cave, Hohlenstein-Stadel Cave and Bockstein Cave. All six archaeological sites have formed part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site dedicated to Ice Age art since 2017. The world’s oldest known flutes were discovered here, along with animal figurines such as the Ivory Mammoth and the Lion Man, a hybrid figure combining human and animal features.

Hohle Fels Cave is open to visitors except during the winter months, when bats retreat there to hibernate. Visitors enter along a walkway, beneath which archaeologists excavate deep underground in the hope of making further discoveries. They are unlikely to unearth any sheet music, however. Gabriele Dalferth can therefore continue to give free rein to her imagination – along with audiences captivated by the sounds of the cave.