Journal of Cave and Karst Studies - ISSN 1090-6924
Volume 61 Number 3: 145-149 - December 1999

A publication of the National Speleological Society

New Pleistocene Vertebrate Assemblages in the Breitscheid-Erdbach Cave System (Iberg Limestone, Dill Basin, Germany)
Thomas M. Kaiser

Abstract

A substantial cave system developed in Devonian reef carbonates at the eastern foothills of the Westerwald Mountains (Hessen, Germany) was first opened in 1993 by limestone quarrying. The system is split into 4 karst levels that appear to represent stages of cyclic karst formation. All accessible levels are presently in the vadose state. Clastic sediments filling fossil voids have preserved two rich Pleistocene vertebrate assemblages. Most specimens are identified as bats or the cave bear Ursus spelaeus. The assemblages are at least partly allochthonous. The significance of the accumulations lies in the preservation of an undisturbed surface assemblage, which most likely has not been disturbed since the late Pleistocene.

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