Kleine Feldhofer Grotte was a

karst Karst is a topography formed from the dissolution of soluble rocks such as limestone, dolomite, and gypsum. It is characterized by underground drainage systems with sinkholes and caves. It has also been documented for more weathering-resistant ...

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms when ...

cave and a paleoanthropologic site in the

Neander Valley The Neandertal (, also , ; sometimes called "the Neander Valley" in English) is a small valley of the river Düssel in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, located about east of Düsseldorf, the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia. ...

in western Germany. In August 1856, the

Neanderthal Neanderthals (, also ''Homo neanderthalensis'' and erroneously ''Homo sapiens neanderthalensis''), also written as Neandertals, are an extinct species or subspecies of archaic humans who lived in Eurasia until about 40,000 years ago. While the ...

type specimen was unearthed from the cave. Miners uncovered a skull cap and a number of skeletal bones to be labeled

. The bones belong to at least three distinct individuals. Neanderthal-Fundstelle in Erkrath 2008

The cave was situated in a limestone gorge with the interior dimensions of in width by in length by in height, and a opening above the valley floor in the south wall which was high. The cave got its name from the nearby large farm of the ''Feldhof''. The cave was destroyed during the 19th century as a result of industrial-scale

quarry A quarry is a type of open-pit mining, open-pit mine in which dimension stone, rock (geology), rock, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, gravel, or slate is excavated from the ground. The operation of quarries is regulated in some juri ...

ing which widened the gorge. The location of the cave was soon forgotten and by 1900, unknown. In 1997 a successful search for the site of the cave and its deposits yielded 24 fragments of human bone, one of which, identified as ''NN 13'', fit exactly onto the left lateral femoral

condyle A condyle (;Entry "condyle"
in
Neanderthal 1 Feldhofer 1 or Neanderthal 1 is the scientific name of the 40,000-year-old type specimen fossil of the species ''Homo neanderthalensis'', found in August 1856 in a German cave, the Kleine Feldhofer Grotte in the Neandertal valley, east of D ...

fossil. The 2000 excavation resulted in the recovery of thousands of artifacts. The

mitochondrial DNA Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA or mDNA) is the DNA located in mitochondria, cellular organelles within eukaryotic cells that convert chemical energy from food into a form that cells can use, such as adenosine triphosphate (ATP). Mitochondrial DN ...

of two bone samples were fully sequenced, and completed in 2009.

References

{{Navbox prehistoric caves Archaeological sites in Germany Mettmann (district) Neanderthal sites