Sirgensteinhöhle

Sirgensteinhöhle lies in the Swabian Jura near Blaubeuren, inside a limestone rock rising about twenty metres above the Ach valley. Its southwest-facing entrance measures six metres across, while the cave extends forty metres into the rock beneath a broad overhang. Two ceiling openings at the far end let daylight reach the interior.

Eight archaeological layers trace visits by Neanderthals and early modern humans from the Middle to Upper Paleolithic. Mousterian layers preserve stone tools, fireplaces and charred bones, while Aurignacian deposits contain bone points, retouched blades, ivory objects and perforated beads. Gravettian finds include reindeer, horse and snowshoe hare remains, and the Magdalenian layer adds antler tools, ivory drills, scrapers and broken arrow tips. Excavation began systematically in 1906 under R. R. Schmidt, after earlier studies by Felix Fabri and Oscar Fraas.

A small rock shelter above the entrance preserves later traces from the Late Magdalenian. The surrounding Ach Valley caves form part of the UNESCO World Heritage site Caves and Ice Age Art in the Swabian Jura, while one juvenile mammoth tusk fragment recalls the animals that once reached this shelter.