Geißenklösterle
| Geißenklösterle | |
Geisenklösterle Cave interior
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 Location in Germany
Location in Germany
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| Location | Blaubeuren |
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| Region | Ach Valley, Swabian Jura, Baden-Württemberg, Germany |
| Coordinates | 48°23′54″N 9°46′20″E / 48.39833°N 9.77222°ECoordinates: 48°23′54″N 9°46′20″E / 48.39833°N 9.77222°E |
| Type | karst cave |
| History | |
| Material | limestone Karst |
| Periods | Upper Palaeolithic to Middle Ages |
| Cultures | Aurignacian |
| Site notes | |
| Excavation dates | 1973, 1991, 2001 to 2002 |
| Archaeologists | Eberhard Wagner, Joachim Hahn, Nicholas Conard |
Geisenklösterle (German: 'Geißenklösterle') is an archaeological site of significance for the central European Upper Paleolithic, located near the town of Blaubeuren in the Swabian Jura in Baden-Württemberg, southern Germany.
It is one of a number of caves where early modern humans in the Aurignacian, between 43,000 and 30,000 years ago left traces of early artwork, including the Vogelherd, Brillenhöhle, Grosse Grotte, Hohle Fels and Hohlenstein-Stadel caves.
Geisenklösterle was first archaeologically explored in 1963. Systematic excavations began in 1973, from 1974 to 2002 sponsored by the State of Baden-Württemberg. A 1983 monographic publication summarizes the excavation results up to that time.
The cave contains sediments, that were divided into six levels belonging to the Aurignacian and seven levels of the Gravettian. Levels below are accredited to the Middle Paleolithic and those on top reach from the Western European Magdalenian (between 17,000 and 12,000 years ago) to the Middle Ages.
The Aurignacian levels date to between 43,000 and 32,000 years ago, and yielded stone tools, artefacts made from antlers, bones and ivory. Among the most notable items are a sculpture of a flutes of bird bone and mammoth ivory, the oldest known musical instruments with an age of 42,000 to 43,000 years.
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