Bukovac Cave Revisited: Recent Excavations of an Early Upper Paleolithic Site in the Gorski Kotar Region of Croatia

Abstract

Excavations of Bukovac cave indicate that humans utilized the cave infrequently and that the site was primarily a den for cave bears (Ursus spelaeus). Human presence is indicated by only two artifacts, a massive-based bone point (found in the early 20^th century) and a core for flake production (found in 2013). This article presents radiocarbon dates, as well as attempts to correlate stratigraphy between three different phases of excavation. The result indicates that the bone point is ~ 34 ky cal BP based on calibrated ¹⁴C, while the core may be slightly older. Thus the Bukovac cave provides the first evidence of early modern human presence in the near-alpine zone in Croatia and contributes to our understanding of the early modern human geographic and ecological distribution in central Europe.