Geoarchaeology at Hohle Fels

The geoarchaeological work conducted at Hohle Fels has shed light not only on the depositional and post-depositional processes that led to the formation of the deposits but also provided important insights into the human occupation of the cave. Investigations by Goldberg (2003) and Miller (2015) focused on the site formation processes that characterized the cave and developed a depositional model of the site. However, this model did not explain the erosional contact observed between the Gravettian and Magdalenian layers.

As part of his PhD thesis, Alvise Barbieri (et al. 2018, 2021) showed that landscape formation in the Ach Valley during the Pleistocene and Holocene included stages of soil formation, slope denudation, river valley incision, and floodplain aggradation, which led to the erosion of archaeological deposits within the caves. In parallel, the research team also analyzed the anthropogenic nature of the deposits.

In 2003, Schiegl and colleagues performed a micro-contextual analysis of GH 3cf (a Gravettian layer rich in burnt bone fragments), attributing this layer to intentional dumping from multiple hearths. Further analyses by Miller (2015) and Marcazzan (2022) focused on other combustion features, revealing that dumping practices at Hohle Fels were part of a broader cultural and behavioral system aimed at maintaining hygiene and upkeep within the site. This recent work comprised a significant portion of a PhD thesis on the topic of Middle and Upper Paleolithic combustion that was completed by Diana Marcazzan in 2022.