Lindenthaler Hyänenhöhle

The Lindenthaler Hyänenhöhle is an Ice Age cave site on the edge of Gera in Thuringia. It was occupied by cave hyenas and other Ice Age mammals during the Eem and Weichsel periods. The cave was found in 1874 while quarrying stone and soon after destroyed by further work. Excavations led by Karl Theodor Liebe uncovered bones of wild horses, cave hyenas, woolly rhinos, cave bears, cave lions, mammoths, aurochs and reindeer. Every bone showed the distinctive gnaw marks of the cave hyena, giving the site its name. A commemorative panel stands on Pfortener Straße. Gera’s city museum has rebuilt the cave as part of its displays, allowing visitors to walk inside and see the Ice Age remains.