Reassessing the Cultural Stratigraphy of Vogelherd Cave

Abstract Vogelherd Cave is located in the Lone Valley near the town of Niederstotzingen (Baden-Württemberg, Germany). Gustav Riek from the University of Tübingen together with four workmen completely excavated the site during three months in 1931. The team dumped the backdirt from the site directly in front of the southwestern and southern entrances of the cave. In his monograph from 1934, Riek describes nine archaeological layers, from top to bottom I-IX. The two Aurignacian layers IV and V, represent thick anthropogenic layers with high find densities. After nearly three quarters of a century, from 2005 to 2012 and again in 2022 and 2023 N. Conard led a re-excavation of the backdirt from Riek’s dig. This work greatly increased the amount of archaeological material available for study, while confirming Riek’s assessment that the great majority of the artifacts originate from the Aurignacian deposits at Vogelherd. The recent phase of excavation led to the discovery of dozens of new fragments of ivory figurines, musical instruments, over 220.000 lithic artifacts, and well over a thousand artifacts of ivory, bone and antler, as well as vast amounts of faunal material that was overlooked during the excavation in 1931. After examining both the assemblages and documentation from Riek’s and Conard’s excavations, we identified areas where the cultural stratigraphy of Vogelherd requires revision. New techno-typological data, radiocarbon dates, refits and new information on the research history of Vogelherd help to reassess the stratigraphy, identify problems and provide insights into the history of occupation and site use at Vogelherd spanning the Middle, Upper Paleolithic, the Meso- and Neolithic.