Tischofer Cave

The Tischofer Cave is a cave in the Kaisertal valley in the Kaisergebirge mountains in Austria [1]. The roughly 40 m long cave, which is about 8.5 m high at the entrance, was occupied by cave bears and other predators as shelter during the Paleolithic as evidenced by numerous excavated skeletal remains [1]. Bone tools of paleo-human inhabitants made of cave bear bones and skulls discovered here and dated to about 27,000 - 28,000 years ago may be viewed in the local history museum in the fortress at Kufstein [1]. That dating makes the Tischofer Cave the oldest known uncontested site of human occupation in Tyrol [1]. Discoveries of more recent human skeletons and associated tools also indicate that the cave served as a copper smithy and foundry during the Bronze Age [1].