Kleine Feldhofer Grotte
Encyclopedia
Kleine Feldhofer Grotte was a cave, a paleoanthropologic site in the Neandertal Valley in northern Germany
. In 1856, 60 Neanderthal
specimens were unearthed from the cave. The bones come from at least three distinct individuals.
The cave was in a limestone gorge and had interior dimensions of 3 m in width by 5 m in length by 3 m in height with a 1 m opening 20 m above the valley floor in the south wall which was 50 m high. The cave gets its name from the nearby large farm of Feldhof.
The cave was destroyed by quarrying which widened the gorge. The location of the cave was forgotten and by 1900, unknown.
In 1997 a successful search for the site of the cave and its deposits yielded NN 13 bones which fit exactly onto the left lateral femoral condyle of Neanderthal 1
. The 2000 search recovered thousands of artefacts. The mitochondrial DNA
of two samples were fully sequenced, and completed in 2009.
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. In 1856, 60 Neanderthal
Neanderthal
The Neanderthal is an extinct member of the Homo genus known from Pleistocene specimens found in Europe and parts of western and central Asia...
specimens were unearthed from the cave. The bones come from at least three distinct individuals.
The cave was in a limestone gorge and had interior dimensions of 3 m in width by 5 m in length by 3 m in height with a 1 m opening 20 m above the valley floor in the south wall which was 50 m high. The cave gets its name from the nearby large farm of Feldhof.
The cave was destroyed by quarrying which widened the gorge. The location of the cave was forgotten and by 1900, unknown.
In 1997 a successful search for the site of the cave and its deposits yielded NN 13 bones which fit exactly onto the left lateral femoral condyle of Neanderthal 1
Neanderthal 1
Feldhofer 1, Neanderthal 1 is the common name for the initial 40,000-year-old Neanderthal specimen found in Kleine Feldhofer Grotte in August 1856. It represents the beginning of paleoanthropology as a scientific discipline....
. The 2000 search recovered thousands of artefacts. The mitochondrial DNA
Mitochondrial DNA
Mitochondrial DNA is the DNA located in organelles called mitochondria, structures within eukaryotic cells that convert the chemical energy from food into a form that cells can use, adenosine triphosphate...
of two samples were fully sequenced, and completed in 2009.