Sophienhöhle

About

Sophie's cave is a natural karst cave near Kirchahorn, a district of the Upper Franconia municipality of Ahorntal in the district of Bayreuth in Bavaria. The stalactite cave is located on the northwestern edge of the Ailsbach Valley, not far from Rabenstein Castle in Franconian Switzerland. With its three large sections and winding passages, Sophie Cave is considered one of the most beautiful show caves in Germany.

Sophie Cave is located on the northwestern valley slope of the narrow, winding Ailsbach Valley near the community of Ahorntal in the Upper Franconia district of Bayreuth. The valley has many steep rock bastions and the highest density of caves in Franconian Switzerland. The entrance to the cave is at 411 m above sea level, the valley 375 m above sea level, and the Klausstein Chapel above it on the site of the former Ahorn Castle at 443 m above sea level. It can be reached from the parking lot at Rabenstein Castle west of the cave on a 650-meter-long footpath, and from the parking lot 30 meters below the cave, directly on Landesstraße 2185, a steep 120-meter-long path leads up.

Sophie Cave is located in fossil sponge reefs in the Franconian dolomite of the Jurassic Malm. The 18-meter wide, six-meter high and uphill tapering entrance portal has a dome-shaped structure. The cave has dome-like halls, some of which are connected by narrow, winding passages. This is typical for caves in the Franconian dolomite. The cave is essentially drawn along the horizontal joints of the sponge reefs. These surface forms can be traced particularly well in the third section on the basis of joints. With a size of 42 × 25 × 11 meters it is one of the largest Franconian cave rooms. Here, large rubble blocks have detached from the ceiling along the joints and cover the floor. The other two compartments also have rubble blocks, which in some places are covered by dripstones. The spatial appearance of the cave indicates a great age.

The cave was formed in standing groundwater along the largely horizontal joints. Carbonated water was able to penetrate through fine cracks and joints in the rock. Although carbonic acid is a relatively weak acid, it can dissolve limestone and dolomite rocks. Large cavities were formed by leaching along numerous cracks and fissures. A deepening of the Ailsbachtal valley caused the water table to drop, exposing the cavities. Later, the rooms and passages were partially backfilled with sediments, partially separating the front compartments.

The Sophie Cave consists of a complex of a total of four caves: the entrance portal, which has always been known, the Ahornloch, the adjoining Kleinstein Cave, the actual Sophie Cave discovered in 1833 and the Hösch Cave, which was initially filled in. Together, the individual caves form the Kleinstein Cave complex or Sophie Cave. It has a length of about 900 meters, with the actual Sophie Cave with its three sections being 500 meters long. In the cave register Franconian Alb, which has more than 3000 caves in an area of 6400 square kilometers, the Sophie Cave is registered as B 27 and the Hösch Cave connected to it as B 24. The cave is designated as geotope 472H009 by the Bavarian State Office for the Environment. See also the list of geotopes in the district of Bayreuth.

Sophie Cave has rich and multiform stalactites. There are ceiling formations like stalactites and sinter tubes, floor formations like stalagmites and sinter basins, and beautiful wall sinter sections. Sintering occurs mainly in the first two sections, but is not completely absent in the third section. The rooms in front of the Sophie Cave, like the Ahornloch and the Klausstein Cave, have very few dripstones. In Sophie Cave there are sinter flags and sinter curtains, which occur on sloping ceilings and overhanging wall sections. The stalactites appear in a wide variety of colors. The transparent sinter tubes and pure white stalagmites are made of pure calcite. By contamination with iron oxide stalactites with yellow and brown colors appear. By manganese oxides some dripstones were colored black.

The cave was formed in standing groundwater along the largely horizontal joints. Carbonated water was able to penetrate through fine cracks and joints in the rock. Although carbonic acid is a relatively weak acid, it can dissolve limestone and dolomite rocks. Large cavities were formed by leaching along numerous cracks and fissures. A deepening of the Ailsbachtal valley caused the water table to drop, exposing the cavities. Later, the rooms and passages were partially backfilled with sediments, partially separating the front compartments.

The Sophie Cave consists of a complex of a total of four caves: the entrance portal, which has always been known, the Ahornloch, the adjoining Kleinstein Cave, the actual Sophie Cave discovered in 1833 and the Hösch Cave, which was initially filled in. Together, the individual caves form the Kleinstein Cave complex or Sophie Cave. It has a length of about 900 meters, with the actual Sophie Cave with its three sections being 500 meters long. In the cave register Franconian Alb, which has more than 3000 caves in an area of 6400 square kilometers, the Sophie Cave is registered as B 27 and the Hösch Cave connected to it as B 24. The cave is designated as geotope 472H009 by the Bavarian State Office for the Environment. See also the list of geotopes in the district of Bayreuth.

Sophie Cave has rich and multiform stalactites. There are ceiling formations like stalactites and sinter tubes, floor formations like stalagmites and sinter basins, and beautiful wall sinter sections. Sintering occurs mainly in the first two sections, but is not completely absent in the third section. The rooms in front of the Sophie Cave, like the Ahornloch and the Klausstein Cave, have very few dripstones. In Sophie Cave there are sinter flags and sinter curtains, which occur on sloping ceilings and overhanging wall sections. The stalactites appear in a wide variety of colors. The transparent sinter tubes and pure white stalagmites are made of pure calcite. By contamination with iron oxide stalactites with yellow and brown colors appear. By manganese oxides some dripstones were colored black.

Numerous bones of Pleistocene animals were found in the cave complex, with remains of the cave bear being the largest part. The bears used the Sophie cave during the winter rest to give birth to their young. Occasionally, animals died of old age or diseases. Over a long period of time, a large accumulation of bones accumulated.

The age of the bones in the Franconian Alb is estimated to be between 28,500 and 60,000 years. This was the result of several radiocarbon dates from Franconian caves. Thus, the bear bones in Sophie Cave are mainly from the Würm Ice Age. There are no age datings about the Sophie Cave itself. In the first section of Sophie Cave, in addition to cave bear bones, there were also isolated remains of mammoth, woolly rhinoceros and reindeer. According to old cave reports, Sophie Cave must be considered outstanding in the Franconian Alps with regard to its numerous reindeer remains. However, most of the fossils found in Sophie Cave have been lost. Many of them were housed in the nearby Rabenstein Castle. Some are in the possession of the Palaeontological State Collection in Munich, such as a lower jaw fragment of a lion from the Pleistocene.

The antechamber of the Sophie Cave, the Ahornloch, was already used by prehistoric people. The name of the cave comes from the noble family of von und zu Ahorn, who are considered the first rulers of the Ahorn Valley and lived directly above the Ahornloch in Klausstein Castle. The parts of the cave that were accessible for thousands of years, the Ahornloch and the Klausstein Cave, were partially filled in by sedimentation over time. The backfill consisted of meter-thick layers of cave bear bones, bat droppings and remnants of human settlements from the Stone and Bronze Ages. In addition, there were frost fractures from the ceiling and sinter deposits. With this material, the low connecting passages between the halls were completely filled. As a result, the cave areas behind the closed parts were forgotten.

The Klausstein Cave takes its name from the Klausstein Chapel above it. There was a castle there, which was demolished. Neolithic period are the oldest finds, when man first became sedentary and practiced agriculture and animal husbandry. However, most of the finds come from the Hallstatt and La-Tène-Zeit. Ceramic sherds were predominantly found, and bronze jewelry was also reported. Whether the finds are based on a use of the cave as a human dwelling or whether cultic acts were performed there, could not be clarified so far.

The bones and deposits found in the cave in the Middle Ages were sometimes attributed magical properties, which is why fossil animal bones and teeth were ground up and sold to pharmacies as medicinal powders. People tried to make gold from cave clay and dolomite ash. In 1490, Hans Breu from Bamberg wanted to extract saltpeter from phosphate-containing cave sediments in the Ahornloch, which was used for the production of black powder. The cave was mentioned for the first time in a document to this effect. The enterprise failed, however, because no saltpeter could be extracted from the bottom sediments.

After this search for usable deposits, things quieted down again around the cave until about the second half of the 18th century. The pastor Johann Friedrich Esper, who is considered the founder of scientific cave exploration in Franconia, visited the Ahornloch in 1774 and 1778 and wrote a detailed description of the Ahornloch:

"It is the highest northern rocky peak on which Klausstein rests, and below it the cave to be described now runs through the several lachter thick rock at a dizzying height. Over a path, which is almost impossible to climb from the valley, and from the top of the rock has a lot of dangerous, one approaches a twenty foot high rock wall, which by unknown coincidence has broken out like a shattered amphitheater in a width of several hundred feet and turns the open to the north. Four layers of rock are here on top of each other and the surface overhangs the baseline by several shoes, a thing that probably may have been caused by weathering... On the very bottom one sees with much care laid clefts, to which hunting dogs are said to have given the cause, which often got lost in this area while refereeing. Also, the water found in the depth of this crevice caused an experiment with ducks, they were let in, and they reappeared in the area of Streitberg. It is certain that these mountains have in their interior many stagnant lakes, and are crossed with interconnected channels.[...]" – Johan Friedrich Esper: Nach einem Bericht von 1778, Ansbach 1790

During excavations in 1788 in the rear part of the maple hole, the Klausstein cave was rediscovered. In the following years, the partition wall to the maple hole was removed in order to create a more convenient entrance. It was also hoped to find something precious. No attention was paid to archaeological finds, such as cave bear bones. The excavated material was thrown into the shaft of the Klausstein cave.

During excavations in 1788 in the rear part of the maple hole, the Klausstein cave was rediscovered. In the following years, the partition wall to the maple hole was removed in order to create a more convenient entrance. It was also hoped to find something precious. No attention was paid to archaeological finds, such as cave bear bones. The excavated material was thrown into the shaft of the Klausstein cave.

Georg August Goldfuß describes the maple hole in one of his reports in 1810:

"The rock mass, where it has reached half of its height, is bent into a semicircle, the curvature of which may amount to several hundred shoes. Through a steep path one reaches the green place which the rock encloses, and now, under an overhang of it, the two entrances to the Klaustein cave are visible. Surrounded by traces of devastation, one timidly ventures into these gorges, in the interior of which nature has covered its workshop with night and horror to the human eye. [...]" –Georg August Goldfuß: Die Umgebung von Muggendorf. Erlangen 1810