Paleolithic chert blade/scraper 16.56 g, from Baiersdorf or Altmühltal, Germany, Upper and Middle Paleolithic: 200,000-15,000 years ago

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Width: 20 mm Depth: 10 mm Moh’s hardness: 8.0-9.0 Archeological excavation sites: 1. Altmühltal, Germany, south Nuremberg 2. Baiersdorf, Germany, north of Nuremberg 3. Braderup, NE Germany, near Denmark 4. Memleben, Germany 5. Other locations From the Wedemeyer collection (North Germany) acquired in the 1970’s. Introduction: The Altmühl Valley—A Key Spot for Palaeolithic Archaeology. Due to a dense cluster of archaeological sites, the Altmühl Valley, and especially its lower part between Riedenburg and its confluence into the Danube near the city of Kelheim, is one of the most essential regions of southern German Palaeolithic research (Freund, 1964 Uthmeier, 2004 Züchner et al., 2006 Richter, 2016). This valley is part of the southern Franconian Alb (Trappe 2010), which in turn belongs to a karst formation of the Upper Jurassic (Malm) that stretches from Bavaria and the Swabian Jura in the east to the Swiss and French Jura in the west. The Jurassic limestone formations consist of carbonated rocks formed in shallow seawater basins, which were subsequently eroded (Trappe, 2010). The Altmühl Valley is far too broad for the relatively small Altmühl River (Hilgart, 1995 Trappe, 1996 Hilgart et al., 1999). Its dimensions are explained by the fact that the primal Danube initially flowed through it, with a much higher run-off. At the end of the penultimate glaciation, the gravel charge of the Danube had filled up what today is the Altmühl Valley. In combination with a continuous erosion of the neighbouring river valley of the Schutter, this made the Danube leave its original riverbed and run through the Schutter Valley. Consequently, parts of the former Danube Valley fell dry, whereas much smaller rivers used other parts. In the case of the Altmühl River, this applies to the valley between Dollnstein and Kelheim. One example for a landscape originally formed by the Danube is the dry valley of Wellheim, where the Weinberghöhlen are situated. An extraordinarily high density of Palaeolithic sites can be observed in the last 15 km of the Altmühl Valley. If only excavated sites are considered, there are eight sites with Middle Palaeolithic occupations, two sites with Aurignacian materials, three sites with Gravettian sensu lato (understood as an overarching term including the facies of both the Western and Eastern Gravettian

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