Divje Babe () is a

karst Karst () is a topography formed from the dissolution of soluble carbonate rocks such as limestone and Dolomite (rock), dolomite. It is characterized by features like poljes above and drainage systems with sinkholes and caves underground. Ther ...

cave and archaeological park overlooking the

Idrijca The Idrijca is a river flowing through the Idrija Hills and Cerkno Hills in Slovenia. It is long. It rises near Vojsko, Idrija, Vojsko, flows towards northeast and after passing through Idrija turns to the northwest. After passing through Spodn ...

River in northwestern

Slovenia Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a country in Central Europe. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and a short (46.6 km) coastline within the Adriati ...

. It is noted for its

Paleolithic The Paleolithic or Palaeolithic ( years ago) ( ), also called the Old Stone Age (), is a period in human prehistory that is distinguished by the original development of stone tools, and which represents almost the entire period of human prehist ...

remains, including the worked bone of cave bear known as the Divje Babe Flute, which has controversially been interpreted as a

Neanderthal Neanderthals ( ; ''Homo neanderthalensis'' or sometimes ''H. sapiens neanderthalensis'') are an extinction, extinct group of archaic humans who inhabited Europe and Western and Central Asia during the Middle Pleistocene, Middle to Late Plei ...

musical instrument.

Name

The name ''Divje Babe'' (literally, 'wild women') refers to witches, which were often believed to live in caves. The name therefore means 'Witch Cave'.

Location

Divje Babe is located at above the valley of the Idrijca River. The Idrijca cuts through the

Idrija Hills Idrija (, in older sources ''Zgornja Idrija''; , ) is a town in western Slovenia. It is the seat of the Municipality of Idrija. Located in the traditional region of the Slovene Littoral and in the Gorizia Statistical Region, it is notable for ...

and

Cerkno Hills The Cerkno Hills ( or ) is a transitional region between the Alps, Alpine and the Dinarides, Dinaric landscape, centered on Cerkno in northwestern Slovenia. Several passes in this area connect the Poljane Valley and the Selca Valley with the Idrijc ...

, and opens to the

Soča Soča (, in Slovene) or Isonzo (, in Italian; other names: ; ; or ') is a long river that flows through western Slovenia () and northeastern Italy (). An Alpine river in character, its source lies in the Trenta Valley in the Julian Alps ...

River.

Paleontology

The cave site (Divje Babe I) was excavated from 1978 to 1986 by Mitja Brodar, and again from 1989 to 1995 by Ivan Turk and Janez Dirjec. The excavations dug through of infilling consisting of 26 main sediment layers. Among the artifacts uncovered were

Aurignacian The Aurignacian () is an archaeological industry of the Upper Paleolithic associated with Cro-Magnon, Early European modern humans (EEMH) lasting from 43,000 to 26,000 years ago. The Upper Paleolithic developed in Europe some time after the L ...

finds, including a bone point (in layer 2 or 3) dated to around 35,000 years ago. Around eight layers from the

Mesolithic The Mesolithic (Ancient Greek language, Greek: μέσος, ''mesos'' 'middle' + λίθος, ''lithos'' 'stone') or Middle Stone Age is the Old World archaeological period between the Upper Paleolithic and the Neolithic. The term Epipaleolithic i ...

have been excavated containing around 20

hearth A hearth () is the place in a home where a fire is or was traditionally kept for home heating and for cooking, usually constituted by a horizontal hearthstone and often enclosed to varying degrees by any combination of reredos (a low, partial ...

s, 600

stone tool Stone tools have been used throughout human history but are most closely associated with prehistoric cultures and in particular those of the Stone Age. Stone tools may be made of either ground stone or knapped stone, the latter fashioned by a ...

s, and several bone artifacts. Numerous skeletal remains of the

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 '' ...

have also been found. The Divje Babe Flute was found in layer 8, dated to the

Middle Paleolithic The Middle Paleolithic (or Middle Palaeolithic) is the second subdivision of the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age as it is understood in Europe, Africa and Asia. The term Middle Stone Age is used as an equivalent or a synonym for the Middle P ...

of 50,000 to 35,000 years ago. It was in close vicinity to a hearth, indicating the presence of prehistoric people, probably Neanderthals. The flute is a fragment of a thigh bone from a young cave bear with four recessed holes. The interpretation of the artifact as a flute is controversial and has been subject of fierce debate; some research instead suggests that the holes are of animal origin,

hyena Hyenas or hyaenas ( ; from Ancient Greek , ) are feliform carnivoran mammals belonging to the family Hyaenidae (). With just four extant species (each in its own genus), it is the fifth-smallest family in the order Carnivora and one of the sma ...

teeth marks.

References

{{Authority control Stone Age sites in Slovenia Show caves in Slovenia Caves of the Slovene Littoral