The Lone is a river in

Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg (; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million inhabitants across a ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. It flows into the

Hürbe Hürbe is a 7 km long river of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It flows into the Brenz near Hermaringen. See also *List of rivers of Baden-Württemberg A list of rivers of Baden-Württemberg, Germany: A * Aal * Aalbach * Aalenbach * Ablac ...

river, a tributary of the Brenz, which in turn discharges into the

Danube The Danube ( ; ) is a river that was once a long-standing frontier of the Roman Empire and today connects 10 European countries, running through their territories or being a border. Originating in Germany, the Danube flows southeast for , pa ...

Course

The Lone rises from a

Karst spring A karst spring or karstic spring is a spring (outflow of groundwater) that is part of a karst hydrological system. Description Because of their often conical or inverted bowl shape, karst springs are also known in German-speaking lands as a ''Top ...

with a large discharge near Urpsring, in the municipality of

Lonsee Lonsee is a town in the Alb-Donau district in Baden-Württemberg in Germany. The population of Lonsee in 2019 is 5010; the town consists of 7 villages – Ettlenschieß, Halzhausen, Lonsee, Luizhausen, Radelstetten, Sinabronn, and Urspring. The ...

. It flows southeast and then turns northeast. After around 37 km it flows into the Hürbe, which in turn is a tributary of the Brenz. The valley of the Lone is fairly shallow, with rises of only around 50 m on both sides. The valley's width is up to 200 m. The flat valley floor is covered by meadows and fields, the slopes of reef limestone are mostly wooded. The

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 ro ...

on the slopes contains various caves and protuberances which were repeatedly visited by prehistoric hunter/gatherer groups as long ago as the

Paleolithic The Paleolithic or Palaeolithic (), also called the Old Stone Age (from Greek: παλαιός ''palaios'', "old" and λίθος ''lithos'', "stone"), is a period in human prehistory that is distinguished by the original development of stone too ...

and post-Ice Age

Mesolithic The Mesolithic (Greek: μέσος, ''mesos'' 'middle' + λίθος, ''lithos'' 'stone') or Middle Stone Age is the Old World archaeological period between the Upper Paleolithic and the Neolithic. The term Epipaleolithic is often used synonymous ...

. Among these are the Bocksteinhöhle,

Hohlenstein-Stadel Hohlenstein-Stadel is a cave located in the Hohlenstein cliff (not to be confused with the Hohle Fels) at the southern rim of the Lonetal (valley of the Lone) in the Swabian Jura in Germany. While first excavations were started after the second ...

and

Vogelherd Cave The Vogelherd Cave (german: Vogelherdhöhle , or simply ''Vogelherd'') is located in the eastern Swabian Jura, south-western Germany. This limestone karst cave came to scientific and public attention after the 1931 discovery of the Upper Palaeol ...

, locations of important pre-historic findings.

References

External links

Rivers of Baden-Württemberg Rivers of Germany {{BadenWürttemberg-river-stub