Swabian Jura

The Swabian Jura (German: Schwäbische Alb [ˈʃvɛːbɪʃə ˈʔalp] ⓘ, more rarely Schwäbischer Jura [ˈʃvɛːbɪʃɐ ˈjuːʁa] ⓘ), sometimes also named Swabian Alps in English, is a mountain range in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, extending 220 km (140 mi) from southwest to northeast and 40 to 70 km (25 to 43 mi) in width.

The Swabian Jura occupies the region bounded by the Danube in the southeast and the upper Neckar in the northwest.

The northwestern edge is a steep escarpment (called the Albtrauf or Albanstieg, rising up 400 m (1,300 ft), covered with forests), while the top is flat or gently rolling.

In economic and cultural terms, the Swabian Jura includes regions just around the mountain range.

Since limestone is soluble in water, rain seeps through cracks everywhere, forming a karst landscape, featuring subterranean rivers which flow through a large system of caves before they emerge.

Much of the Swabian Jura consists of gentle to moderate hills often covered with forest or cleared for small-scale agriculture.

At Holzmaden, outside of Weilheim unter Teck, a small private museum, called Urwelt-Museum Hauff, provides visitors with the opportunity to "dig" for fossils in their shale deposits.

In a number of caves (including Vogelherd, Hohlenstein-Stadel, Geißenklösterle and Hohle Fels), all just a few kilometers apart, some of the oldest signs of human artifacts were found.

[2][3] Best known are: a mammoth, a horse head, a water bird, and two statues of a lion man all of surprising quality and all more than 30,000 years old.

The oldest known musical instruments have been found here, too: flutes[4] made from the bones of swans and griffon vultures, some 35,000 years old, and in 2004 a flute carved from the tusk of a mammoth dating from the Ice Age, around 37,000 years ago, and the oldest representation of the human body, the Venus of Schelklingen.

The limes actually cuts across the plateau at Aalen, which gets its name from the original Roman cavalry post, or ala, on the outskirts of the modern town.

A modern water supply system (outstanding for its time) was built in the late 1880s, which eased the situation.

The dialect at the top of the plateau (German: Albschwäbisch) is markedly different from, and stronger than, even the broadest Swabian of the lowland areas.

Across the whole Swabian region, many phrases and grammar are highly localized, even down to the village level; however, the Swabian dialect of the highland regions is characterised by a sing-song melody, and some of the verb forms are also distinct, not only from Standard German, but also from those of the rest of Swabia.

[5] The Pleißne was spoken by hawkers selling items such as baskets, brushes, and whips, and belongs to Rotwelsch.

[6][7] The "Swabian–Alemannic" carnival is an important tradition in many of the villages, called variously "Fastnacht", "Fasnacht", "Fasnet", or "Fasching".

This is in many instances linked to the after-effects of the Protestant Reformation and the later influence of the Calvinistic Pietists, who more or less strictly opposed such frivolous - even heathen - behaviour.

Swabians generally are expected to go to work as normal on Rose Monday and Fat Tuesday, unlike their neighbors to the northwest.

Still, many high quality textile companies can be found, such as Hugo Boss, Merz b. Schwanen,[8] Trigema, Reusch, Groz-Beckert and others (the town of Metzingen is widely known as a "luxury outlet town", with people from all over Europe coming to buy expensive clothes cheaper).

Because of a special micro climate, a small weather station near the town of Stetten am kalten Markt is known as the "coldest spot in Germany".

These towns often have some of the highest rents in Germany, while land on the plateau itself is considered cheap (by south German standards).

A good way for tourists to get to know the Swabian Jura is to travel on the Schwäbische Albstraße, a "National Scenic Byway", leading from Tuttlingen or Trossingen to Nördlingen or Aalen.

It is perhaps for this reason that Schwäbische Alb has sometimes been translated into English as 'Swabian Alps', thus avoiding the lesser-known name Jura.