Romuald’s Cave ( Croatian: ''Romualdova pećina'') is a

cave Caves or caverns are natural voids under the Earth's Planetary surface, surface. Caves often form by the weathering of rock and often extend deep underground. Exogene caves are smaller openings that extend a relatively short distance undergrou ...

in the western part of

Istria County Istria County (; ; , "Istrian Region") is the westernmost Counties of Croatia, county of Croatia which includes the majority of the Istrian peninsula. Administrative centers in the county are Pazin, Pula and Poreč. Istria County has the larg ...

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

, that contains the oldest known cave paintings in

southeast Europe Southeast Europe or Southeastern Europe is a geographical sub-region of Europe, consisting primarily of the region of the Balkans, as well as adjacent regions and Archipelago, archipelagos. There are overlapping and conflicting definitions of t ...

, as well as traces of both animal and human

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 ...

habitation. Although the cave has been excavated since late 19th century, the paintings were only found in 2010, by Professor Darko Komšo, while the findings were published in Antiquity in 2019.

Background

Romuald's Cave is located on the eastern slopes of the Lim channel, at an altitude of . Beginning with the end of 19th century, it was excavated multiple times by various archaeologists. It gained notability in the 1980s with the work of Professor Mirko Malez, who was the first to note the existence of Upper Paleolithic

stone tools Stone tools have been used throughout human history but are most closely associated with prehistoric cultures and in particular those of the Stone Age. Stone tools may be made of either ground stone or knapped stone, the latter fashioned by a c ...

. Subsequent research revealed further

and animal remains from

Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( ; referred to colloquially as the ''ice age, Ice Age'') is the geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fin ...

and

Holocene The Holocene () is the current geologic time scale, geological epoch, beginning approximately 11,700 years ago. It follows the Last Glacial Period, which concluded with the Holocene glacial retreat. The Holocene and the preceding Pleistocene to ...

, as well as ceramics, fauna and human skeletal remains from both the

Bronze Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals (such as phosphorus) or metalloid ...

and

Iron Age The Iron Age () is the final epoch of the three historical Metal Ages, after the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. It has also been considered as the final age of the three-age division starting with prehistory (before recorded history) and progre ...

Five basic layers can be differentiated in the cave's

stratigraphy Stratigraphy is a branch of geology concerned with the study of rock layers (strata) and layering (stratification). It is primarily used in the study of sedimentary and layered volcanic rocks. Stratigraphy has three related subfields: lithost ...

: * Layer A contains ceramics which can be dated to late Bronze and early Iron Age of Istria, most often decorated by grooving, fluting, incisions, fingerprints and by plastic applications in the shape of a horseshoe, zig-zag lines and buttons. Faunal remains are of badgers,

rabbits Rabbits are small mammals in the family Leporidae (which also includes the hares), which is in the order Lagomorpha (which also includes pikas). They are familiar throughout the world as a small herbivore, a prey animal, a domesticated form ...

foxes Foxes are small-to-medium-sized omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull; upright, triangular ears; a pointed, slightly upturned snout; and a long, bushy tail ("brush"). Twelve species ...

and

sheep Sheep (: sheep) or domestic sheep (''Ovis aries'') are a domesticated, ruminant mammal typically kept as livestock. Although the term ''sheep'' can apply to other species in the genus '' Ovis'', in everyday usage it almost always refers to d ...

. Skeletal remains of two people were found as well, one male adult above the age of 35 and one child below the age of 5, with the remains being dated to 3150 BP. * Layer B contains rare finds of flint stone tools, which can be dated based on the stratigraphy to early

or the end of

. * Layer C contains rare finds of flint stone tools and numerous finds of

fauna Fauna (: faunae or faunas) is all of the animal life present in a particular region or time. The corresponding terms for plants and fungi are ''flora'' and '' funga'', respectively. Flora, fauna, funga and other forms of life are collectively ...

, which weren't published. * Layer D contains stone tools which can be dated back to the

Middle Paleolithic The Middle Paleolithic (or Middle Palaeolithic) is the second subdivision of the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age as it is understood in Europe, Africa and Asia. The term Middle Stone Age is used as an equivalent or a synonym for the Middle P ...

, with the age of the layer in which they were found being ~40-50 thousand years old, based on

radiocarbon dating Radiocarbon dating (also referred to as carbon dating or carbon-14 dating) is a method for Chronological dating, determining the age of an object containing organic material by using the properties of carbon-14, radiocarbon, a radioactive Isotop ...

. Evidence of fauna is numerous, with remains of animals such as cave bears,

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

, canines etc. being found. * Layer E is believed to be older than 50 thousand years, with only a few artefacts being found, which were at the border between layers D and E

Paintings

A total of 44 paintings were found in Roumald's Cave. The paintings, all of which were made with red pigment, stretch between from the entrance, and are divided into four panels: three on the left and one on the right wall. 28 out of 44 paintings are located on the left panel L2, which also contains all four of the cave's figurative depictions. Two badly preserved depictions are anthropomorphic, depicting humans, one of which appears to have an

erection An erection (clinically: penile erection or penile tumescence) is a Physiology, physiological phenomenon in which the penis becomes firm, engorged, and enlarged. Penile erection is the result of a complex interaction of psychological, neural, ...

. Two of the four figurative depictions are of animals: a

bison A bison (: bison) is a large bovine in the genus ''Bison'' (from Greek, meaning 'wild ox') within the tribe Bovini. Two extant taxon, extant and numerous extinction, extinct species are recognised. Of the two surviving species, the American ...

and an

ibex An ibex ( : ibex, ibexes or ibices) is any of several species of wild goat (genus ''Capra''), distinguished by the male's large recurved horns, which are transversely ridged in front. Ibex are found in Eurasia, North Africa and East Africa. T ...

. As the bison was extinct in

southern Europe Southern Europe is also known as Mediterranean Europe, as its geography is marked by the Mediterranean Sea. Definitions of southern Europe include some or all of these countries and regions: Albania, Andorra, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, C ...

by 13.3 to 12 thousand BP, it sets the

terminus post quem A ''terminus post quem'' ('limit after which', sometimes abbreviated TPQ) and ''terminus ante quem'' ('limit before which', abbreviated TAQ) specify the known limits of dating for events or items.. A ''terminus post quem'' is the earliest date t ...

for the cave art. The U-shaped horns, on both sides of the bison's head, are a convention specific to the Early Upper Paleolithic and can be found in cave art across Europe. The ibex is likewise a common depiction in Upper Paelolithic iconography. The red stain covering both the head and the front of the ibex are a convention of cave art in western Europe, especially those which pre-date the

Magdalenian Magdalenian cultures (also Madelenian; ) are later cultures of the Upper Paleolithic and Mesolithic in western Europe. They date from around 17,000 to 12,000 years before present. It is named after the type site of Abri de la Madeleine, a ro ...

period.

Dating

The dating of the cave paintings was based on three factors: the style of the paintings themselves, the dating of evidence of human habitation at the cave entrance, and

of three charcoal samples near the paintings. There is a noted difference in dates obtained from the habitation traces at the cave entrance, and from those obtained through radiocarbon dating of the charcoal samples. The chronology of dates at the cave entrance is dated to 34 to 31.5 thousand BP, while two of the charcoal samples return a date of 17 thousand BP, and one charcoal sample returning a date of 12.7 thousand BP. With the disparity of present evidence, two possible chronological hypotheses are possible for the cave art: they can either be dated to the Early Upper Paleolithic (34-31 thousand BP), or to the Epigravettian (17 thousand BP), although one of the dates gotten through the radiocarbon dating would then have to be assumed as contaminated.

References

{{Navbox prehistoric caves Prehistoric sites in Croatia Rock shelters Cave paintings Upper Paleolithic sites in Europe

Background

Paintings

Dating

See also

References