Peștera Muierilor

Peștera Muierilor, or Peștera Muierii (Romanian for "The Women's Cave", or "The Woman's Cave"), is an elaborate cave system located in the Baia de Fier commune, Gorj County, Romania. It contains abundant cave bear remains, as well as a human skull. The skull is radiocarbon dated to 30,150 ± 800, indication an absolute age between 40,000 and 30,000 BP. It was uncovered in 1952. Alongside similar remains found in Cioclovina Cave (from c. 29, 000 BP), they are among the most ancient early modern humans in Romanian prehistory. The human skull is that of a woman with obvious anatomically modern human traits, including a high forehead, small jaw, and small supraorbital ridges. Despite the tall cranial vault, the occipital bone forms a distinct dome, a trait normally associated with Neanderthals. The largely intact facial bones indicate a woman with "rugged traits". This mosaic of features mirrors those seen in the Lagar Velho 1 and Peștera cu Oase finds, indicating possible Neanderthal admixture or generally robust (archaic) traits (or both). The early date makes the find referable to the early Cro-Magnon group of finds. On the basis of radiocarbon dating and also the analysis of the archaeological context, some researchers advanced the hypothesis of the association of these bones with Cro-Magnons and the Aurignacian archaeological culture. Others mention the possibility that these fi

Cave data from Wikidata (CC0). Summary from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).