PARTIZANSKA JAMA CAVE AND ADJACENT OPEN-AIR SITE - NEW PALAEOLITHIC SITES IN SLOVENE ISTRIA. THE FIRST NEANDERTHAL FOSSIL DISCOVERY IN SLOVENIA MAY COME WITH THE FIRST UNCOVERING OF PALAEOLITHIC ROCK ART

In 2008, a trace of red drawing was found on the rock surface of the Partizanska jama cave in Slovene Istria (Fig. 2). A preliminary chemical analysis of the red pigment and of the comparative material has been conducted (Fig. 3). The results confirmed that the image on the cave wall had been drawn with a specifically crafted colour pigment which was essentially based on iron oxide. Recovered from badger burrows (Fig.1/a and 1/b) and from a few kilos of wet-sieved sediment from two layers (max. depth 65 cm) were Pleistocene fauna remains (Tab. 5, Fig. 5,6,7). Amid the remains a Mediterranean mole (T. caeca) was found, the first of its kind ever uncovered in Pleistocene sediments on Slovene ground. Also found were a blade with an abrupt truncation with faceted platforms (Fig. 4) and a human tooth (Fig. 8, 9). Because of the collapse of the cave floor, and subsequent sinking of sediments, and considering that layers have been turned over and over for centuries by the digging of badgers, it is currently not possible to establish at least in the absence of proper archaeological excavation any exact chronological relations between individual animal species found or correlations between the archaeological finds and the sediment sequence in the cave. Relying on its typological features, the blade can already be identified as belonging to Mousterian cultures. Based on the metric and shape-related considerations, the human tooth, i.e. the crown of a maxillary left incisor (l(1)), is believed to have belonged to a Neanderthal. This find has been reported reported as the first Neanderthal osteal fossil uncovered in Slovenia. The faunistic finds do not contradict such chronological classification. On a cultivated field in front of the cave entrance, 103 diverse examples related to stone industry made of high-quality fine-grained chert of different colours were collected. The finds are typical representatives of microlith industry. Ten artefacts were typologically classifiable (T1) and temporarily ascribed to the Upper Palaeolithic or the Epigravettian cultures. The drawing on the cave wall may have been produced either during the stone age by Neanderthal inhabitants whose material and osteal remains were discovered inside the cave or, perhaps, by Epigravettian people who definitely visited the cave, yet tens of thousands of years later. Thus far, our research has not yielded sufficient evidence to disprove entirely that cave paintings were produced later, i.e. in more recent prehistoric periods. Importantly, no material remains more recent than Palaeolithic have been found in the cave or in front of it. The results and comparative chemical analyses may possibly indicate a chronological connection between the cave painting and the Palaeolithic material remains.