Tischofer Cave
Encyclopedia
The Tischofer Cave is a cave
in the Kaisertal
valley in the Kaisergebirge
mountains in Austria
. It was important locally as a gathering place and weapons cache for local rebels during the Napoleonic Wars
.
The roughly 40 m long cave, which is about 8.5 m high at the entrance, was used during the Stone Age
by bears and other predators as shelter, as evinced by the excavated remains of bones. The cave bear
bones and heads of tools made of bone discovered here, which may be viewed today in the local history museum in the fortress at Kufstein, have been dated to about 27,000 - 28,000 years ago. That makes the Tischofer Cave the oldest proven site of human occupation in Tyrol.
Discoveries of human skeletons and tools also indicate that the cave acted as a copper smithy and foundry in the Bronze Age
.
The Tischofer Cave may be reached on foot via the Kaiser Path (Kaiseraufstieg) in the Kaisertal valley, a pathway secured with cable railings. It is recorded in the Tyrolean Cave Register as number 1312/001.
Cave
A cave or cavern is a natural underground space large enough for a human to enter. The term applies to natural cavities some part of which is in total darkness. The word cave also includes smaller spaces like rock shelters, sea caves, and grottos.Speleology is the science of exploration and study...
in the Kaisertal
Kaisertal
The Kaisertal is a striking mountain valley between the mountain chains of the Zahmer and Wilder Kaiser in Austria's Kaisergebirge range in the Tyrol. In the ravine on the valley floor flows the stream of the Kaiserbach , which discharges north of Kufstein into the Inn...
valley in the Kaisergebirge
Kaisergebirge
The Kaisergebirge is a mountain range in the Northern Limestone Alps and Eastern Alps. It consists of two main mountain ridges – the Zahmer Kaiser to the north and the Wilder Kaiser to the south. The entire range is situated in the Austrian state of Tyrol between the town of Kufstein and the...
mountains in Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
. It was important locally as a gathering place and weapons cache for local rebels during the Napoleonic Wars
Napoleonic Wars
The Napoleonic Wars were a series of wars declared against Napoleon's French Empire by opposing coalitions that ran from 1803 to 1815. As a continuation of the wars sparked by the French Revolution of 1789, they revolutionised European armies and played out on an unprecedented scale, mainly due to...
.
The roughly 40 m long cave, which is about 8.5 m high at the entrance, was used during the Stone Age
Stone Age
The Stone Age is a broad prehistoric period, lasting about 2.5 million years , during which humans and their predecessor species in the genus Homo, as well as the earlier partly contemporary genera Australopithecus and Paranthropus, widely used exclusively stone as their hard material in the...
by bears and other predators as shelter, as evinced by the excavated remains of bones. The cave bear
Cave Bear
The cave bear was a species of bear that lived in Europe during the Pleistocene and became extinct at the beginning of the Last Glacial Maximum about 27,500 years ago....
bones and heads of tools made of bone discovered here, which may be viewed today in the local history museum in the fortress at Kufstein, have been dated to about 27,000 - 28,000 years ago. That makes the Tischofer Cave the oldest proven site of human occupation in Tyrol.
Discoveries of human skeletons and tools also indicate that the cave acted as a copper smithy and foundry in the Bronze Age
Bronze Age
The Bronze Age is a period characterized by the use of copper and its alloy bronze as the chief hard materials in the manufacture of some implements and weapons. Chronologically, it stands between the Stone Age and Iron Age...
.
The Tischofer Cave may be reached on foot via the Kaiser Path (Kaiseraufstieg) in the Kaisertal valley, a pathway secured with cable railings. It is recorded in the Tyrolean Cave Register as number 1312/001.
External links
- Article from Hofmann: Wege im Inntal with comprehensive description
- Die Tischofer Höhle im Kaisertal bei Kufstein at www.tirol-infos.at.
- Tischofer Höhle im Kaisertal at www.kaisergebirge-online.de.