Hohlenstein-Stadel

Hohlenstein-Stadel is a cave located in the Hohlenstein cliff (not to be confused with the Hohle Fels) at the southern rim of the Lonetal in the Swabian Jura in Germany [1]. The most significant finding was a small ivory statue called the Löwenmensch, which is one of the oldest pieces of figurative art ever found [1]. The first excavations at Hohlenstein were made in 1861 by Oskar Fraas, geologist and paleontologist [1]. On 27 August 1937, excavators discovered the right femur diaphysis, measuring around 25 cm in length, of an archaic hominin in the cave [1]. The femur came from a layer associated with Middle Paleolithic Mousterian artefacts [1]. In 2017, researchers successfully sequenced the full mtDNA genome from the femur [1]. The results confirmed that the femur belonged to a Neanderthal [1].