engleski

Upper Pleistocene bears rom Cerovačke caves (Mt. Velebit, Croatia)

One of the many cave bears finding places in Croatia, caves Cerovačke pećine are situated on the slopes of Velebit Mt. in Lika. M. Malez discovered the cave bear remains in only one layer of upper pleistocene sediments during the excavation perfomed. After Malez (1975) this layer was deposited during the Last Glacial maximum (W3) and after radiometric dating before more than 40.000 years (Malez et al. 1979). Therefore, by using morphometry and morphogenesis of the most abundant remains (555 teeth and 393 metapodial bones of Ursus spelaeus) we have tried to solve the problem of the cave bears age. Namely, due to their very fast microevolutionary changes previously noticed on the material from Vindija Cave (Paunović 1998), they can be considered as guide elements for particular time intervals of the Last Glacial. The obtained results show two possibilities. 1. Fossiliferous layer was deposited under stable conditions very slowly from the beginning to the end of Last Glacial and the caves served as dens for numerous generations of cave bears in different periods of Upper Pleistocene. 2. The layer was deposited during Last Glacial Maximum and the cave bears were submitted to microevolutionary changes not characteristic for typical Ursus spelaeus. Because the question about the age of cave bears remains open, we think that a new investigation of quaternary sediments in caves Cerovačke pećine is necessary.

Ursus speleaus; teeth; metapodial bones; morphometry; Upper Pleistocene; Cerovačke pećine; Velebit Mt; Croatia

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