Potok Cave ( sl, Potočka zijalka or ''Potočka zijavka'') is a cave in northern

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, and ...

, declared a high-elevation archaeological and paleontological site, occupied approximately 35,000 years BP (before present) by

anatomically modern human Anatomy () is the branch of biology concerned with the study of the structure of organisms and their parts. Anatomy is a branch of natural science that deals with the structural organization of living things. It is an old science, having its ...

s of the

Aurignacian The Aurignacian () is an archaeological industry of the Upper Paleolithic associated with European early modern humans (EEMH) lasting from 43,000 to 26,000 years ago. The Upper Paleolithic developed in Europe some time after the Levant, where ...

culture during the

Upper Paleolithic The Upper Paleolithic (or Upper Palaeolithic) is the third and last subdivision of the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age. Very broadly, it dates to between 50,000 and 12,000 years ago (the beginning of the Holocene), according to some theories coin ...

. The cave is named after the Potok Farm in Podolševa.SlovLit: Potočka zijalka
The Slovene term ''zijalka'' or ''zijavka'' refers to a flat-bottomed cave with a gaping mouth on a cliff face. Systematic excavations were carried out from 1928 through 1935 by Slovenian archaeologist Srečko Brodar.

Location

The cave is located in the eastern

Karawanks The Karawanks or Karavankas or Karavanks ( sl, Karavanke; german: Karawanken, ) are a mountain range of the Southern Limestone Alps on the border between Slovenia to the south and Austria to the north. With a total length of in an east–west dir ...

in northern Slovenia, on the southern slope of Mount Olševa above

Solčava Solčava (; German: ''Sulzbach'') is a village in the Upper Savinja Valley in northern Slovenia close to the Austrian border. It is the largest settlement and the seat of the Municipality of Solčava. Traditionally it belonged to the region of S ...

, at an elevation of in the

Triassic The Triassic ( ) is a geologic period and system which spans 50.6 million years from the end of the Permian Period 251.902 million years ago ( Mya), to the beginning of the Jurassic Period 201.36 Mya. The Triassic is the first and shortest per ...

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms w ...

. It is Broda, Mitja. 1995. "Potočka zijalka." ''Enciklopedija Slovenije'', vol. 9, Ljubljana: Mladinska knjiga, pp. 193–194. long and varies from wide at the mouth to wide in the interior. Its entry opens toward the south.

Role

There are two explanations of its role. According to the original explanation, the cave was a hunting station. According to the newer one, it was a ritual place.

Excavations

After amateur excavations by Josef Gross, a medical student from

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

, the area was bought by the Museum Society of

Celje ) , pushpin_map = Slovenia , pushpin_label_position = left , pushpin_map_caption = Location of the city of Celje in Slovenia , coordinates = , subdivision_type = Cou ...

. Systematic excavations were carried out on its behalf by archaeologist Srečko Brodar, starting in 1928 and continuing until 1935. The finds from eight layers excavated from the cave included the bones of more than 40 animal species, including

cave bear The cave bear (''Ursus spelaeus'') is a prehistoric species of bear that lived in Europe and Asia during the Pleistocene and became extinct about 24,000 years ago during the Last Glacial Maximum. Both the word "cave" and the scientific name ...

wolves The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the gray wolf or grey wolf, is a large canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, and gray wolves, as popularly un ...

, alpine marmots, hares, red foxes,

weasels Weasels are mammals of the genus ''Mustela'' of the family Mustelidae. The genus ''Mustela'' includes the least weasels, polecats, stoats, ferrets and European mink. Members of this genus are small, active predators, with long and slender b ...

, lynx,

red deer The red deer (''Cervus elaphus'') is one of the largest deer species. A male red deer is called a stag or hart, and a female is called a hind. The red deer inhabits most of Europe, the Caucasus Mountains region, Anatolia, Iran, and parts of we ...

, and chamois, and

muskox The muskox (''Ovibos moschatus'', in Latin "musky sheep-ox"), also spelled musk ox and musk-ox, plural muskoxen or musk oxen (in iu, ᐅᒥᖕᒪᒃ, umingmak; in Woods Cree: ), is a hoofed mammal of the family Bovidae. Native to the Arctic, ...

teeth, as well as 123

arrowheads An arrowhead or point is the usually sharpened and hardened tip of an arrow, which contributes a majority of the projectile mass and is responsible for impacting and penetrating a target, as well as to fulfill some special purposes such as s ...

and one of the world's oldest

sewing needle A sewing needle, used for hand-sewing, is a long slender tool with a pointed tip at one end and a hole (or ''eye'') to hold the sewing thread. The earliest needles were made of bone or wood; modern needles are manufactured from high carbon steel ...

Exhibits

In a village near the cave, a permanent exhibit is open for tourists at the Firšt Inn and Museum in the Logar Valley.Stalna razstava Potočka zijalka (Potok Cave Permanent Exhibit)
The other finds can be seen at the

Celje Regional Museum ) , pushpin_map = Slovenia , pushpin_label_position = left , pushpin_map_caption = Location of the city of Celje in Slovenia , coordinates = , subdivision_type = Cou ...

. Unfortunately much of the collection was destroyed during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

in 1945 Allied bombing raids.

Gallery

File:Srečko Brodar 1962.jpg, Srečko Brodar File:Inside the Potok Cave - Potočka zijalka (Slovenia).JPG, Inside Potok Cave File:Inside Potocka zijalka.jpg, Inside Potok Cave

References

External links

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{{Authority control Limestone caves Caves of Slovenia Karawanks Stone Age sites in Slovenia Landforms of Styria (Slovenia)