The Sićevo Gorge (; sr-cyr, Сићевачка клисура, ), a river gorge and archaeological site in southeastern Serbia, is the locally most prominent geological and topographic feature formed by the Nišava River. The gorge is located between the towns of

Bela Palanka Bela Palanka (Serbian Cyrillic: Бела Паланка, ) is a town and municipality located in the Pirot District of southeastern Serbia. According to the 2022 census, the population of the town is 7,140, and the population of the municipality i ...

and

Niška Banja Niška Banja ( sr-Cyrl, Нишка Бања) is a town and one of five city municipalities which constitute the city of Niš. It is also one of the spa resorts in Serbia. It is located east of Niš. According to the 2011 census, the population ...

. It is long and deep, in some parts developing canyon-like structures (including the inverse valley slopes at the Gradiški kanjon). The gorge is cut into the Kunovica plateau, between the southern slopes of the Svrljig Mountains and the mountain of Suva Planina. The surrounding areas are known for their high-quality vineyards. The gorge contains a stone quarry, the Ostrovica and six villages. The largest, Sićevo is the

eponym An eponym is a noun after which or for which someone or something is, or is believed to be, named. Adjectives derived from the word ''eponym'' include ''eponymous'' and ''eponymic''. Eponyms are commonly used for time periods, places, innovati ...

of the gorge.

Archaeological findings

In June 2008, a

lower jaw In jawed vertebrates, the mandible (from the Latin ''mandibula'', 'for chewing'), lower jaw, or jawbone is a bone that makes up the lowerand typically more mobilecomponent of the mouth (the upper jaw being known as the maxilla). The jawbone i ...

fragment was excavated in the Mala Balanica cave, one of several cave sites in the gorge. This

hominin The Hominini (hominins) form a taxonomic tribe of the subfamily Homininae (hominines). They comprise two extant genera: ''Homo'' (humans) and '' Pan'' (chimpanzees and bonobos), and in standard usage exclude the genus '' Gorilla'' ( gorillas) ...

jaw bone

fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserve ...

was dated to be between 397,000 and 525,000 years old on the basis of

electron spin resonance Electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) or electron spin resonance (ESR) spectroscopy is a method for studying materials that have unpaired electrons. The basic concepts of EPR are analogous to those of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), but the spin ...

in combination with

uranium series In nuclear science a decay chain refers to the predictable series of radioactive disintegrations undergone by the nuclei of certain unstable chemical elements. Radioactive isotopes do not usually decay directly to stable isotopes, but rather ...

isotopic analysis and infrared/post-infrared

luminescence dating Luminescence dating refers to a group of chronological dating methods of determining how long ago mineral grains were last exposed to sunlight or sufficient heating. It is useful to geologists and archaeologists who want to know when such an event ...

. The morphology of the

mandible In jawed vertebrates, the mandible (from the Latin ''mandibula'', 'for chewing'), lower jaw, or jawbone is a bone that makes up the lowerand typically more mobilecomponent of the mouth (the upper jaw being known as the maxilla). The jawbone i ...

differs significantly from the more recent ''

Homo heidelbergensis ''Homo heidelbergensis'' is a species of archaic human from the Middle Pleistocene of Europe and Africa, as well as potentially Asia depending on the taxonomic convention used. The species-level classification of ''Homo'' during the Middle Pleis ...

'' and completely lacks any prominent ''

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

'' features. The jaw represents one of an increasing number of specimen discoveries in the south-eastern part of the European continent. It demonstrates

plesiomorphic In phylogenetics, a plesiomorphy ("near form") and symplesiomorphy are synonyms for an ancestral character shared by all members of a clade, which does not distinguish the clade from other clades. Plesiomorphy, symplesiomorphy, apomorphy, an ...

''erectus''-like traits that are coupled with synapomorphic traits common to

Chibanian The Chibanian, more widely known as the Middle Pleistocene (its previous informal name), is an Age (geology), age in the international geologic timescale or a Stage (stratigraphy), stage in chronostratigraphy, being a division of the Pleistocen ...

hominins. It was recently suggested that the fossil specimen could belong to the newly described species '' Homo bodoensis''.

References

{{Navbox prehistoric caves Canyons and gorges of Serbia Archaeological sites in Serbia Nišava District Nature parks in Serbia