Dietfurth Castle (Ruin)

The Dietfurt Castle Cave, a limestone cave, is located beneath Dietfurt Castle. It is a through-cave that traverses the rock and has a portal on both sides. The main passage is about 40 meters long from one portal to the other. Three larger halls (with a height of up to 8 meters) are connected by a passage, and the path drops about 10 meters from one portal to the other, which necessitated some stairs. The cave is developed and was formerly electrically lit, but was never a show cave. It lies at 600 and 610 meters above sea level, respectively.

Early History

The cave contains Tertiary deposits. Above these is a one-meter-thick sinter layer, above which, in turn, are lake sediments from the Riss Ice Age. The Riss glacier had blocked the Danube Valley near Vilsingen at that time, leading to the damming of a large lake.

Neutempler-Orden (New Templar Order)

In 1924, the Neutempler-Orden, also known as Ordo Novi Templi (ONT), acquired the two parcels of land "Ruine" (ruin) and "Burggraben" (castle moat). It traces its name back to the medieval Knights Templar, for whom the order's founder had a special fondness. The castle was designated as the Order Knight's Castle of the Neutempler Erzpriorat Staufen. The hut of the Sigmaringen Mountain Rescue Service was the location and accommodation of the ONT from 1928 to 1939. The ONT had built the hut and developed the castle cave into a cultic sacred space between 1928/1929. The former cave portal was walled up except for a small window, and the three rooms were extensively reworked. The main hall was equipped with a large chandelier and an altar.

The ONT was founded by Josef Adolf Lanz (1874–1954), who came from Vienna and, after studying theology and being ordained a priest (order name: Georg), left the Heiligenstift monastery near Vienna, as an anti-Semitic and anti-feminist secret society. Lanz became known as Dr. Jörg Lanz von Liebenfels; the doctorate and noble title were freely invented but were entered by him into the official Austrian registration register.

The Dietfurt Castle Cave is sealed with a wall erected by the Neutempler. Its Romanesque-inspired windows are the first indications of the sacred character of the inner complex. Above the current massive steel door is the coat of arms of the Silesian noble family von Hochberg. A member of the family financed and led the order's establishment as Prior of the "Erzpriorat Staufen," the cover name of the establishment. Another member in Dietfurt was, with high probability, the later Field Marshal Walther von Brauchitsch, who fell out of favor with Hitler during World War II after a steep career. Written evidence is lacking, but contemporary witnesses clearly remember him.

In the cult room, one can still see on the cave ceiling the deflection point of a chandelier with natural candles, installed by the Neutempler, which is now lost. Below it was a stone altar, in whose slab a sacrificial bowl was incorporated. Here, the "services" of the Neutempler took place, which, since Lanz was a priest and had developed his own liturgy, can be imagined as quite similar to a Catholic service.

There are no indications of the significance of the lower cave hall for the Neutempler. The wall that closes the former exit of the cave to the outside (this probably belongs to the castle's escape system) also originates from the Neutempler. In the window was a stained-glass image of St. Michael, who had special significance for the Neutempler. Just as Michael vanquished the dragon, the Neutempler wanted to annihilate the "subhumans."

Current Use

The cave has been made safely accessible by the Sigmaringen Mountain Rescue Service and equipped with electric light. However, the entire area and the cave are not accessible to the public, but in individual cases, visits are possible after consultation with the Mountain Rescue Service.

Archaeological Research

Looting

After World War II, unknown individuals searched the cave for a legendary treasure. This treasure was said to be a golden skittles game. In doing so, they left behind a large pit, one meter wide, four meters long, and five meters deep, destroying prehistoric find layers.

State Excavation Campaigns

After Urnfield, early, and high medieval pottery shards were discovered in this looters' pit in 1970 by employees of the Sigmaringen Mountain Rescue Service, the State Office for Monument Preservation conducted extensive excavations between 1972 and 1995 in cooperation with the University of Cologne. These had become necessary because there had been repeated larger, uncontrolled looting in this cave. Archaeological research found remains from the Middle Stone Age (Mesolithic), Late Stone Age (Paleolithic), and Magdalenian periods. In 1974, an excavation campaign was carried out by Hartmann Reim in the castle cave. Ten years later, in 1984, an excavation by the State Office for Monument Preservation followed. Due to the finds, another excavation by the State Office for Monument Preservation took place in 1987/1988.

The "Burghöhle" became particularly known for the discovery of a Late Bronze Age (Urnfield period) clay plate with concentric circle decorations. This object, also called an altar plate, suggests a cultic use of the cave.

Dating

A particular focus during the excavations was on the find layers from the Late Paleolithic and Mesolithic. In Franz Josef Gietz's publication, the extensive assignment of the finds to the layers from the not always straightforward stratigraphy of the cave is carried out. Three main complexes are distinguished with Late Upper Paleolithic, Early Mesolithic, and Late Mesolithic/Neolithic find horizons. With this differentiated sequence, the cave is one of the most important sites in Southern Germany with findings and finds from the transition from the Ice Age (Pleistocene) to the Post-Ice Age (Holocene).