Šipka is a

cave A cave or cavern is a natural void in the ground, specifically a space large enough for a human to enter. Caves often form by the weathering of rock and often extend deep underground. The word ''cave'' can refer to smaller openings such as sea ...

located near Štramberk,

Moravian-Silesian Region The Moravian-Silesian Region ( cs, Moravskoslezský kraj; pl, Kraj morawsko-śląski; sk, Moravsko-sliezsky kraj) is one of the 14 administrative regions of the Czech Republic. Before May 2001, it was called the Ostrava Region ( cs, Ostravský ...

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

, 440 m above sea level. In 1880, a

mandible In anatomy, the mandible, lower jaw or jawbone is the largest, strongest and lowest bone in the human facial skeleton. It forms the lower jaw and holds the lower teeth in place. The mandible sits beneath the maxilla. It is the only movable bone ...

of a

Neanderthal Neanderthals (, also ''Homo neanderthalensis'' and erroneously ''Homo sapiens neanderthalensis''), also written as Neandertals, are an extinct species or subspecies of archaic humans who lived in Eurasia until about 40,000 years ago. While the ...

child was found there. The age of the child has been estimated to be between 9 and 10 years.Jiří Svoboda, Vojen Ložek, Emanuel Vlček, "Hunters between East and West: the Paleolithic of Moravia", 1996, , pp.52-5
(Google books)
/ref> The archeological work in Šipka was conducted from 1879 to 1893 by Karel Jaroslav Maška. The cave was probably alternatively inhabited by Neandertals and

cave bear The cave bear (''Ursus spelaeus'') is a prehistoric species of bear that lived in Europe and Asia during the Pleistocene and became extinct about 24,000 years ago during the Last Glacial Maximum. Both the word "cave" and the scientific name ' ...

s. The site also yielded

Mousterian The Mousterian (or Mode III) is an archaeological industry of stone tools, associated primarily with the Neanderthals in Europe, and to the earliest anatomically modern humans in North Africa and West Asia. The Mousterian largely defines the l ...

tools and traces of hearths. This was the first discovery of Neanderthal remains in their cultural context.

References

External links

*
Archeolog.cz: Description, site map, photo gallery and literature
(in

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus' Places * Czech, ...

). {{DEFAULTSORT:Sipka 1879 archaeological discoveries Caves of the Czech Republic Prehistoric sites in the Czech Republic Neanderthal sites Archaeological sites in the Czech Republic Moravian Wallachia Nový Jičín District Mousterian