Ok, without a doubt, one of the most popular topics on this blog has been Breitenwinner Cave and the video posted by three US soldiers of their time spent in the cave hunting for human remains.

All along, my position has been that, their destructive exploration and looting of what they believe to be a human bone was unnecessary and illegal, that there has been no evidence of human remains presented in video or looted materials, and that the claims of giants are obviously false and detract from any scientific value. I have received a number of comments on this issue, some supporting my position, others supporting the actions of the soldiers, and some quite insulting. Among these have also been claims of conspiracy, blames, and spacious accusations of Holocaust denial.

First, I feel the need to address the fact that I do not deny the Holocaust, or the important sacrifice soldiers from around the world made in stopping it. There is no tenable position in denial of the Holocaust, and those who take this position are frequently lead by terrible bigotry. Archaeology and the study of history support the fact that the Holocaust did occur.

The main reason that I am continuing the discourse, however, is to address two of the most frequent claims that have been made in the defense of the soldiers who went into Breitenwinner Cave. The first, is that this cave has gone unnoticed and that it needs to be brought to the attention of officials or professional scholars. This is a terribly incorrect assumption. In fact, with only a few moments on google, one can pull of the following sources addressing the cave.

• Trace Fossils in Caves of Germany and Austria, Wilfried Rosendahl and Doris Doppes in Scientific Annals, School of Geology Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Special Volume 98, 241-249 Thessaloniki 2006.
• Bärenschliffe in fränkischen Höhlen Cramer H., in Fränkische Heimat 10 (7) 1931, 206-209
• Die Höhle bei Breitenwinn, Hagan M. in Abh. Nath. Ges. Nürnberg, 9 1892. 37-51
• Die Breitenwinner Höhle, Berger, A. in Tagungsband anläßlich der 18 Jahrestagung des Verbandes der Deutschen Höhlen- und Karstforscher eV in Velburg/Opf 24.-26.9.1976 (see this site)
• Lorenz, Wilfred Die Breitenwinner Höhle, Der Fränkische Höhlenspiegel 6-1976
• Flurl, M. Beschreibung der Gebirge Baierns und der oberen Pfalz, München 1792

Clearly there is a good deal of discussion out their on this cave, though it might not all be extremely accessible, that is a relatively common issue in the scholarly world. Ignorance or conspiracy concerning this site is clearly questionable. Additionally, since Berger and Lorenz both were written post WWII, they one cannot make the claim that there is some sore of Holocaust conspiracy.

One might then ask, why is the military bombing around the site or why there is not a continued excavation of Breitenwinner cave. The simple answer is that there are countless archaeological sites the world over that must be ignored because they are not as significant as others. Archaeologists, as all scholars, run on a combination of limited funding, limited time, and specific focuses.

Is it a shame that the site is threatened, yes. However, looting will not help this, and scholars will not be attracted by exaggerated claims of giants from sites that are more focused on such pseudo-science than they are on historical events.

My recent post on Breitenwinner Cave and the associate skeletal remains has been drawing quite a few people to the site, and as some may have seen, comments from one of the people in the video. From this, I do have a few updates to make.

The supposition that it could potentially have been a prank seems wrong, I now tend to believe that these individuals are members of the US military, who used to serve in Germany. However, the website that the individual posting at this site is associated with, cavelore.com, is a site focusing on giants, UFOs, and other paranormal phenomenon, which should make everyone skeptical of the claims

There is no evidence of human bones coming from inside of Breitenwinner Cave. The video is too grainy to see anything resembling human remains, and the single clear bone showed was not human. This interpretation has been supported by current PHD student in physical anthropology from SUNY Stony Brook.

The individuals involved, while not on film, claim to have taken a bone from the site, and have had said bone analyzed by an anthropologist. After contacting this individual, I have been told that the findings were inconclusive, and that the species could not be identified. While identification has been made as a humeral shaft, this could come from countless mammalian species, based on the photographs given to said anthropologist.

These photos are available at the cavelore.com website, so anyone can take a look at how grainy they are and see that no measurement was possible.

I would also like to once more remind everyone that looting and site destruction such as this is against both US military policy and international law. These actions were illegal, especially if it was site with human remains, and especially if items were looted from the site. While these individuals may carelessly present a dramatic and appealing image of their activities, anyone in a similar position should instead report finds to local authorities or professional university archaeologists or CRM firms.

Three people claiming to be members of the US Army shot this Video where they go into Breitenwinner Cave in Germany, apparently part of a live fire range on a US military base. While inside, they find a large number of skeletal remains, including some larger peices they claim are giant human skeletons. Of course, they are not, looking clearly like animal remains.
Through their progress they make various other mistakes as well. First, they say that some bones are burried and others are just people that died inside the cave. The low levels of articulation seem to indicate that they actually did not die in the site, since we should then expect at least some articulation. Additionaly, the burried remains may very well just be old remains under the constant fall of sediment.
Finally, they are just terribly abusive to the site, throwing and banging what they claim is a fossilized homid skull, digging violently through layers of bones, and generally disturbing a potential site. After this destruction, they procede to discuss how a proper burrial seems like the right thing to do, which is quite absurd after their behavior.
If these are actually members of the military, they should be repremanded for their destruction of archaeological site. However, I generally an inclined to think this is more of a hoax of some idiot kids.

There is now an update to this article here and here.