Ice Age Cave Entrance in Germany Discovered 16,000 Years After It Was Last Occupied

The original entrance of an Ice Age cave last occupied 16,000 years ago was finally found. The cave has been known to the archaeologists for years, but it took them long to locate its entry.

Ice Age Cave Entrance Found

A team of archaeologists led by Dr. Yvonne Tafelmaier of the University of Tübingen located the entrance to an Ice Age cave that was last inhabited between 16,000 and 14,000 years ago during the Magdalenian period in southern Germany, Newsweek reported.

Archaeologists already knew about the cave, but up until now, they had not found the original entrance. According to a press announcement about the discovery, Ice Age hunter-gatherers would have been the last to enter the cave through its original entrance.

Archaeologists collected more information while conducting six weeks of further digs that started in 2021, but the original cave entrance remained a mystery. However, researchers from the University of Heidelberg began exploring the cave in April of this year.

Using an imaging technique, they found a 65-foot cavity, and on July 4, they finally discovered the cave's original entrance. Sediment had entirely sealed the opening, making it difficult to locate until today.

Tafelmaier said in a statement that such a find is exceedingly uncommon in Paleolithic research and provides the chance to use current techniques to address significant concerns concerning the actions of late Ice Age hunter-gatherers.

Tafelmaier and her colleagues also discovered stone tools from the Ice Age and animal bones. When scientists made a hole in the cave's ceiling in 1978, they could determine when it had been in use and discovered a small portion of the cave. They discovered that hunter-gatherers would have likely found shelter in the cave during the Ice Age. Future archaeologists were left to do more research after the cave's opening was sealed off.

Excavations will continue next year.

What Is Ace Age?

Ice Ages started 2.4 million years ago and lasted until 11,500 years ago. The Earth's climate fluctuated between extremely cold periods when glaciers covered a major portion of the globe and extremely warm eras when much of the glaciers melted. Warm times are known as interglacials, while cold periods are known as glacials, per CDM.

However, geologist Ro Kinzler says we are still in the ice age, which has been going on since about 2.5 million years ago. He claimed that the last ice age hadn't ended yet.

He added that the strange thing about ice ages is that the Earth's atmosphere's temperature doesn't stay frigid all the time. The climate fluctuates instead between what scientists refer to as "glacial periods" and "interglacial periods."

Tens of thousands of years pass during glacial periods. More of the earth is covered in ice, and temperatures are substantially colder.

However, the climate during interglacial eras is comparable to today's Earth and lasts only a few thousand years. Currently, we are in an interglacial phase. It started about 10,000 years ago, near the conclusion of the last glacial period.

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