Length 40 m (130 ft) | ||
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Location Kaisertal, Tyrol, Austria Address Kaisertal, 6330 Kufstein, Austria Similar Kaisertal, Pettakere cave, Las Caldas cave, Gudiyam Cave, Gatecliff Rockshelter | ||
Kufstein austria
The Tischofer Cave (German: Tischofer Höhle) is a cave in the Kaisertal valley in the Kaisergebirge mountains in Austria. It was important locally as a gathering place and weapons cache for local rebels during the Napoleonic Wars. The roughly 40 m long cave, which is about 8.5 m high at the entrance, was used during the Stone Age by bears and other predators as shelter, as evinced by the excavated remains of bones. The cave bear bones and heads of tools made of bone discovered here, which may be viewed today in the local history museum in the fortress at Kufstein, have been dated to about 27,000 - 28,000 years ago. That makes the Tischofer Cave the oldest proven site of human occupation in Tyrol.
Discoveries of human skeletons and tools also indicate that the cave acted as a copper smithy and foundry in the Bronze Age.
The Tischofer Cave may be reached on foot via the Kaiser Path (Kaiseraufstieg) in the Kaisertal valley, a pathway secured with cable railings. It is recorded in the Tyrolean Cave Register as number 1312/001.