Stajnia cave

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View of the entrance to the cave
View from inside to the entrance of the cave

The Stajnia Cave ("Stallhöhle"; Polish : Jaskinia Stajnia ) is a paleoanthropological and archaeological site in the Kraków-Częstochowa Upland , in the rural municipality of Niegowa , in southern Poland . In 2020, an international group of researchers, including scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology , Leipzig , and the University of Breslau , succeeded in extracting mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) from a large molar of a Neanderthal man discovered in the caveto win. The comparison of his genome with the mtDNA of other Neanderthal finds showed that the owner of the tooth, who lived around 80,000 years ago in what is now Poland, had a greater genetic proximity to the Neanderthals from the southern Caucasus than to the Neanderthals who lived in Western Europe at the time. The stone tools discovered in the Stajnia cave are also similar to those from southern areas.

In November 2021, the same group of researchers reported the discovery of a piece of mammoth ivory that was interpreted as a pendant, only 3.7 millimeters thick and worked , which was dated around 41,000 years ago and was attributed to anatomically modern humans ( Homo sapiens ). If the dating and attribution endure, it would be the oldest Homo sapiens jewelry discovered in Central Europe .

Description of the cave

The Stajnia Cave is located in the Polish district of Myszkowski between the villages of Mirów and Bobolice at an altitude of 359 meters above sea level . It opens to the northeast and was washed out of massive limestone , almost 160 million years old . The cave is only 2 to 4 meters wide and up to 6 meters high, but has a length of approximately 23 meters. Between 2007 and 2010 excavations took place in the rear area of ​​the cave on a total area of ​​16 square meters; the sediment layers reach a maximum depth of 150 centimeters and are in some cases considerably disturbed by natural and human influences and are therefore difficult to date.

Finds

Neanderthals

During the excavation work in the cave, several thousand stone artefacts were recovered which, due to their manufacturing characteristics ( Levallois technique), can be assigned to the Neanderthals and originate from the Micoquian culture .

The cave became known in specialist circles mainly because of the five Neanderthal molars discovered in it: an upper jaw molar M2 (collection number S5000) from an adult, a lower jaw molar M1 or M2 (S4300) from an adult, an upper jaw molar M2 ( S4619) of a child as well as a maxillary premolar (S16455) and another mandibular molar (S19415).

In September 2020, researchers reported that they had succeeded in isolating the mtDNA of the tooth S5000, which was discovered in 2007. At the same time, the tooth could be assigned to the oxygen isotope level 5a , which corresponds to an age of almost 80,000 years. Accordingly, it is the oldest mitochondrial genome of a Neanderthal from Central Eastern Europe to date . The mtDNA of S5000 shows the greatest genetic proximity to the fossil Mesmaiskaja 1 , which was discovered in 1993 in the Caucasus ( Russia ) and whose mtDNA was the second successful detection of DNA in a Neanderthal man after the eponymous fossil Neandertal 1 , but not the same old mtDNA evidence of fossils from the Scladina cave and the Hohlenstein-Stadel cave . The genetic findings as well as the peculiarities of the stone tools that match them were interpreted as evidence of a pronounced mobility of the Neanderthal populations between Poland and the northern Caucasus.

Pendant: left the dotted front, right the back
(line = 1 cm)
Awl (line = 1 cm)

Mammoth ivory jewelry

In 2010, two fragments of a double-perforated piece of mammoth ivory with numerous small dots arranged in lines were discovered (S-22222 + S-23100), in the same layer as a 6.83 centimeter long awl (S- 12160) - made from a horse bone - and numerous other animal bones. The larger of the two related mammoth fragments is 4.5 centimeters long and 1.5 centimeters wide, with a thickness of 0.36 to 0.39 centimeters. The completely preserved borehole has a diameter of 0.23 centimeters and was drilled from both sides.

For the 14 C age of the ivory S-22222, 36,577 ± 183 years were calculated using the radiocarbon method, which corresponds to a calibrated age of 41,730 to 41,340 years ( cal BP ). Due to the puncturing, which is also known in a similar form from other sites in Europe and was ascribed to Homo sapiens there, the two ivory fragments from the Stajnia cave are also ascribed to anatomically modern humans. According to the scientists, it is very unlikely that the ivory was not worked until thousands of years after the mammoth's death; the climatic conditions 41,000 years ago would have led to a rapid decomposition of the ivory.

Cave bear

One of the outstanding finds from the Stajnia cave is also a foot bone (a third phalanx of the toe ) which, based on DNA analyzes , was ascribed to a cave bear ( Ursus spelaeus ). Dating using the radiocarbon method showed an age of around 26,000 years ( cal BP ). This bone is considered to be the most recent evidence of Ursus spelaeus and consequently comes from an era very shortly before the species was assumed to be extinct .

supporting documents

  1. ↑ a b c Andrea Picin et al .: New perspectives on Neanderthal dispersal and turnover from Stajnia Cave (Poland). In: Scientific Reports. Volume 10, Article No. 14778, 2020, doi: 10.1038 / s41598-020-71504-x .
    The oldest Neanderthal DNA in Central Eastern Europe. On: mpg.de from September 8, 2020.
  2. ↑ a b Sahra Talamo et al .: A 41,500 year ‑ old decorated ivory pendant from Stajnia Cave (Poland). In: Scientific Reports. Volume 11, Article No. 220782021, 2021, doi: 10.1038 / s41598-021-01221-6 .
    Earliest man-made jewelry of Eurasia. On: idw-online.de from November 25, 2021.
  3. ↑ a b Marcin Żarski et al .: Stratigraphy and palaeoenvironment of Stajnia Cave (southern Poland) with regard to habitation of the site by Neanderthals. In: Geological Quarterly. Volume 61, No. 2, 2017, pp. 350-369, doi: 10.7306 / gq.1355 .
  4. ↑ Mikolaj Urbanowski et al .: The first Neanderthal tooth found North of the Carpathian Mountains. In: Natural Sciences. Volume 97, 2010, pp. 411-415, doi: 10.1007 / s00114-010-0646-2 .
  5. ↑ Paweł Dąbrowski et al .: A Neanderthal lower molar from Stajnia Cave, Poland. In: HOMO. Volume 64, No. 2013, pp. 89-103, doi: 10.1016 / j.jchb.2013.01.001 .
  6. ↑ Wioletta Nowaczewska et al .: The tooth of a Neanderthal child from Stajnia Cave, Poland. In: Journal of Human Evolution. Volume 64, No. 3, 2013, pp. 225-231, doi: 10.1016 / j.jhevol.2012.12.001 .
  7. ↑ Wioletta Nowaczewska et al .: New hominin teeth from Stajnia Cave, Poland. In: Journal of Human Evolution. Volume 151, 2021, 102929, doi: 10.1016 / j.jhevol.2020.102929 .
  8. ↑ Literally in the study by Sahra Talamo et al: “Although permafrost may allow perfect preservation of mammoth tusks in open-air sites for millennia, these conditions are absent during MIS 3 and MIS 2 in southern Poland. This evidence implies that over thousands of years the mammoth tusk was likely subjected to taphonomic processes causing progressive deterioration of the ivory. ”See also: Is this mammoth-ivory pendant Eurasia's oldest surviving jewelery? On: nature.com from November 29, 2021.
  9. ↑ Mateusz Baca et al .: Retreat and extinction of the Late Pleistocene cave bear (Ursus spelaeus sensu lato). In: The Science of Nature. Volume 103, Article No. 92, 2016, doi: 10.1007 / s00114-016-1414-8 .

Coordinates: 50 ° 36 ′ 58 ″  N , 19 ° 29 ′ 4 ″  E