Stránská skála is a

hill A hill is a landform that extends above the surrounding terrain. It often has a distinct summit. Terminology The distinction between a hill and a mountain is unclear and largely subjective, but a hill is universally considered to be not a ...

and a national nature monument in Brno in the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

. It refers to a Mid-Pleistocene- Cromerian interglacial most important paleontological site in

Central Europe Central Europe is an area of Europe between Western Europe and Eastern Europe, based on a common historical, social and cultural identity. The Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) between Catholicism and Protestantism significantly shaped the a ...

Location

Stránská skála is situated in the northern part of the

Brno-Slatina Slatina is a city borough of Brno, the second largest city in the Czech Republic. It is located in the eastern part of the city and is somewhat separated from other parts. Slatina became a part of Brno in 1919 and as of 2011, it had 9,360 inhabit ...

district, in the eastern part of Brno. From the geomorphological point of view, Stránská skála belongs to the

Dyje–Svratka Valley The Dyje–Svratka Valley ( cs, Dyjsko-svratecký úval, german: Thaya-Schwarza Talsenke) is a geomorphological feature (a special type of vale) in South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. History The Dyje–Svratka Valley has been a natural ...

within the

Outer Subcarpathia Outer Subcarpathia ( pl, Podkarpacie Zewnętrzne; uk, Прикарпаття, ''Prykarpattia''; cs, Vněkarpatské sníženiny; german: Karpatenvorland) denotes the depression area at the outer (western, northern and eastern) base of the Carp ...

Description

Stránská skála is dating to approximately 600,000 BP, as supported by

paleomagnetic dating Geochronology is the science of determining the age of rocks, fossils, and sediments using signatures inherent in the rocks themselves. Absolute geochronology can be accomplished through radioactive isotopes, whereas relative geochronology is p ...

. It is a long and wide hill, built from

Jurassic The Jurassic ( ) is a geologic period and stratigraphic system that spanned from the end of the Triassic Period million years ago (Mya) to the beginning of the Cretaceous Period, approximately Mya. The Jurassic constitutes the middle period of ...

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 whe ...

, especially

Callovian In the geologic timescale, the Callovian is an age and stage in the Middle Jurassic, lasting between 166.1 ± 4.0 Ma (million years ago) and 163.5 ± 4.0 Ma. It is the last stage of the Middle Jurassic, following the Bathonian and preceding the ...

- Oxfordian, built from light brown Caleidocrinus (

Crinoid Crinoids are marine animals that make up the class Crinoidea. Crinoids that are attached to the sea bottom by a stalk in their adult form are commonly called sea lilies, while the unstalked forms are called feather stars or comatulids, which are ...

) mostly and Brachiopoddes and

Coral Corals are marine invertebrates within the class Anthozoa of the phylum Cnidaria. They typically form compact colonies of many identical individual polyps. Coral species include the important reef builders that inhabit tropical oceans and ...

and more other types of

s rich of fossil fauna as well. Its northwestern slope is composed from karstified limestone

cliff In geography and geology, a cliff is an area of rock which has a general angle defined by the vertical, or nearly vertical. Cliffs are formed by the processes of weathering and erosion, with the effect of gravity. Cliffs are common on co ...

s in which numerous

fossiliferous A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...

fissure A fissure is a long, narrow crack opening along the surface of Earth. The term is derived from the Latin word , which means 'cleft' or 'crack'. Fissures emerge in Earth's crust, on ice sheets and glaciers, and on volcanoes. Ground fissure ...

s and caves were found. Approximately 48 meter (157 ft) of this slope are covered by complex talus fan.

Paleontology

At this place extensive

excavations In archaeology, excavation is the exposure, processing and recording of archaeological remains. An excavation site or "dig" is the area being studied. These locations range from one to several areas at a time during a project and can be condu ...

were made by

paleontologist Paleontology (), also spelled palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of life that existed prior to, and sometimes including, the start of the Holocene epoch (roughly 11,700 years before present). It includes the study of fossi ...

Rudolf Musil and his colleagues in 1956–1968 which yielded rich paleothological material, including Homotherium moravicumM. Anton et al.: Co-existence of scimitar-toothed cats, lions and hominins in the European Pleistocene. Implications of the post-cranial anatomy of ''Homotherium latidens'' (Owen) for comparative palaeoecology. Quaternary Science Reviews 24 (2004). teeth and approximately 1600 bones and bone fragments of birds from 23 families, 51 genera and 68 species. Earlier (1943) were

Ursus deningeri ''Ursus deningeri'' (Deninger's bear) is an extinct species of bear, endemic to Eurasia during the Pleistocene for approximately 1.7 million years, from . The range of this bear has been found to encompass both Europe and Asia, demonstrating the ...

discovered, an later rich spectrum of coastal animal fossils such as

ostracod Ostracods, or ostracodes, are a class of the Crustacea (class Ostracoda), sometimes known as seed shrimp. Some 70,000 species (only 13,000 of which are extant) have been identified, grouped into several orders. They are small crustaceans, typi ...

s, bivalves and

fishes Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% of li ...

. The other terrestrial fossil animals are represented mostly of

snake Snakes are elongated, limbless, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes . Like all other squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales. Many species of snakes have skulls with several more j ...

s. The site is unique in that it has been a particularly abundant source of prehistoric artifacts (especially stone tools) dating from the

Acheulean Acheulean (; also Acheulian and Mode II), from the French ''acheuléen'' after the type site of Saint-Acheul, is an archaeological industry of stone tool manufacture characterized by the distinctive oval and pear-shaped "hand axes" associated ...

period, ower

Bohunician Bohunician industry was a paleolithic archeological industry in South-Central and Eastern Europe. The artifacts assigned to this culture are dated between roughly 48,000 and 40,000 years ago. They were found at the type site of Brno-Bohunice, S ...

to Neolitics and Eneolitics, which spanned roughly 27,000 to 20,000 B.C. In addition to the abundance of various

stone tools A stone tool is, in the most general sense, any tool made either partially or entirely out of stone. Although stone tool-dependent societies and cultures still exist today, most stone tools are associated with prehistoric (particularly Stone Ag ...

were discovered also

fireplaces A fireplace or hearth is a structure made of brick, stone or metal designed to contain a fire. Fireplaces are used for the relaxing ambiance they create and for heating a room. Modern fireplaces vary in heat efficiency, depending on the design. ...

(the older one 250.000 BP).

Gallery

References

* Valoch, Karel (1989). ''The Early Upper Palaeolithic in the Eastern Part of Central Europe'', ''Anthropologie XXVII, 2–3'', 89–91. * Valoch, Karel (2000). More on the Question of Neanderthal Acculturation in Central Europe, in:''Current Anthropology 41:4, 625–626''. Chicago * Mlíkovský, Jiří, (2002): Early Pleistocene birds of Stránská skála, Czech Republic: 2. Absolon's cave. ''Sylvia'' 38: s. 19–27

External links

National Nature Monuments in CR: ''Stránská skála''
(English)
''Stránská skála Hill''
PDF 16 Seiten, English.
City trafic connection – Tram time table line N°10 TO
(on line, Czech)
City trafic connection – Tram time table line N°10 OF
(on line, Czech) {{DEFAULTSORT:Stranska skala Archaeological sites in the Czech Republic Pleistocene paleontological sites of Europe Brno