This limestone karst cave came to scientific and public attention after the 1931 discovery of the Upper Palaeolithic Vogelherd figurines, attributed to paleo-humans of the Aurignacian culture.

[1] The site is located on the edge of the valley of the river Lone near Stetten ob Lontal, part of Niederstotzingen in the eastern Swabian Jura, Baden-Württemberg, southern Germany.

Two large, 2.5 to 3.5 meter high entrance holes are connected by an approximately 40 m (130 ft) long curved gallery – called the "Big Cave".

A passage between the two caves is except for a tiny gap at the top completely filled with debris and sediment deposits.

On 23 May 1931 amateur archeologist Hermann Mohn unearthed a number of flintstone flakes while examining a badger's den.

Excavations in the cave were undertaken in the same year by paleo-historian Gustav Riek from Tübingen over the course of three months from 15 July until 1 October 1931.

More excavations at the cave began in the summer of 2005, conducted by the Institut für Ur- und Frühgeschichte of the University of Tübingen.

The oldest scattered objects – stone artifacts – date back to the Middle Paleolithic – older than 40,000 years, representing traces and remains of occasional occupation by late Neanderthals.

[6] Although hundreds of tools and artifacts made of stone, bone, ivory and antler are documented in all sediment layers beginning in the Eemian (ca.

130,000 years ago) to the top strata of the Bronze Age, human fossil discoveries are rare and most are attributed to the late Neolithic (ca.

Frequent and widespread occupation took place during the Upper Palaeolithic – between 40,000 and 10,000 years ago – the Aurignacian deposits offer the primary source of information, the Gravettian is not present.

A total of 910 stone tools were recorded, distributed mainly in the vicinity of these fireplaces, the most common items being scrapers and gouges.

[10] The Vogelherd figurines are some of the world's oldest-known works of figurative art, artefacts "made from the ivory of woolly mammoths" and "finely carved and exquisitely detailed."

[11] Interpretations of the carvings have been made in the context of these animals' great importance for paleo-human survival and related hunting rituals and they may have served a purpose in pre-historic beliefs, cults and shamanistic practices.

Although nearly equal in number, mammoth was according to the excavation data not actively hunted, but collected from natural death sites.

Moderate evidence of Middle Paleolithic presence of late Neanderthals suggests sporadic, non-frequent and seasonal occupation.

Each valley would contain a core area of around 3 to 4 km (1.9 to 2.5 mi) length, surrounded by a buffer zone of a least 100 m (330 ft) width.

In addition, they were the venue where performers used the excavated musical instruments and where the social groups lived from which the artists sprang.