Hundreds of Mammoth Bones and Prehistoric Remains Found in 'Paradise Cave'

Researchers have discovered hundreds of prehistoric animal bones—including the remains of a cave lion and a mammoth—at a cave in Poland.

The so-called Paradise Cave (Jaskinia Raj), located in the country's Świętokrzyskie region, is considered one of the most significant archaeological sites in the country.

"Paradise Cave is one of the most famous and important archaeological sites in Poland, and we actually know very little about it," Małgorzata Kot of the Faculty of Archeology at the University of Warsaw, who is supervising the current research, told the Polish Press Agency (PAP).

Shortly after its discovery, research was carried out in the cave during the 1960s, but it has not been properly investigated in the years since.

"What was found then was a huge amount of animal bones and traces of Neanderthals having visited this place at least twice," Kot said. "Since then, nothing more has happened in terms of research. However, over 60 years laboratory methods have advanced so much that we will be able to say much more about the finds and the history of this place."

One of the aims of the latest research is to examine changes in the prehistoric climate and environment of southern Poland and relate these to human settlement strategies from around 60,000 to 14,500 years ago. As part of the project, researchers intend to analyze remains from several caves in southern Poland.

Despite covering only a modest area of around 5 square feet so far, the Paradise Cave excavations have already yielded intriguing discoveries in just a few days, including woolly rhino, mammoth, cave lion, cave bear and horse remains, as well as many reindeer antlers. In total, the researchers have documented roughly 200 large and well-preserved bones.

"What was striking was the size of the antlers—they are mostly preserved as a whole, but they are relatively small," Kot told Newsweek. "We will study the whole collection of bones later on to identify if there are any cut marks or any other traces of [human] impact on the bones. What remains to be answered is whether the reindeer antlers and the biggest concentration of bones are connected with Neanderthal occupation. Here, we need to wait for radiocarbon datings to tell more."

"But apart from bones, we also found a large number of flint artifacts. They were found within the layers which were identified as representing Neanderthal occupation. We expected two to three pieces and ended up with over a hundred flint artifacts," she said.

Kot said the team was optimistic about unearthing even more artifacts, potentially numbering in the thousands, as the excavation progresses.

"We are now able to assess that not only Neanderthals but also modern humans lived in the Raj Cave. This has not been recorded before," Kot told PAP.

The painstaking work of collecting, sorting and cleaning soil samples from the cave is underway at the European Center for Geological Education, a research center that is part of the University of Warsaw's Faculty of Geology.

Meanwhile, researchers are keen to validate a hypothesis surrounding the abundance of reindeer antlers discovered at the site.

"According to the hypothesis, Neanderthals used the collected antlers to create barricades and protection for the cave entrances," Kot said. "We will try to verify whether this was possible, whether it actually concerns the same period in which Neanderthals lived."

The Paradise Cave was formed in limestone rocks, once located at the bottom of a shallow sea, around 360 million years ago. Notably, it features around 47,000 stalactites—icicle-shaped deposits that hang from the ceiling of caves.

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Update 03/01/24, 1:32 p.m. ET: This article was updated with comment from Małgorzata Kot.