@article{
author = "Димитријевић, Весна",
year = "2021",
abstract = "Од свих фосилних организама, остаци сисара очувани
у пећинским наслагама имају највећи значај за биостратиграфију плеистоцена
Србије. Наслаге које садрже остатке фосилних сисара у највећем броју пећина и
поткапина датују се у последњи глацијал, док су наслаге средњоплеистоценске
старости откривене једино у пећинском комплексу Баланица у Сићевачкој
клисури и карстној шупљини Камењак на Венчацу. У пећини Пештурина на
обронцима Суве планине археолошка ископавања, започета 2004. године, открила
су наслаге из претпоследњег интерглацијала, које до сада нису биле познате
у Србији. Резултати ових истраживања, према томе, пружају могућност за
допуну фаунистичке секвенце средњи-касни плеистоцен на територији Србије., Although they have a relatively small distribution, particularly in relation
to loess and alluvial deposits, out of all types of Quaternary formations in Serbia,
cave deposits have the greatest significance for chronology and stratigraphy of the
Quaternary period, given that they contain numerous and varied faunal remains,
especially mammals, as well as traces of human occupation. In the largest number
of caves and rock shelters these deposits have been dated to the Late Pleistocene,
i.e. the Last glacial (Dimitrijević, 1991, 1997, 1998; Cvetković and Dimitrijević, 2014; Mihailović, 2014, b), while the Middle Pleistocene deposits were discovered
only in the cave complex Balanica in Sićevo gorge and karst cavity Kamenjak on
Venčac (Bogićević et al., 2010; Rink et al., 2013; Mihailović, 2014).
In the course of the excavation in the Pešturina cave, deposits have been
discovered dated to the penultimate interglacial that contains a number of Paleolithic
artifacts, as well as rich and well preserved mammalian fauna. Therefore, Pešturina
sequence provides information for the period between the Middle Pleistocene and
upper part of the Late Pleistocene, thus completing the faunal sequence of Middle
and Late Pleistocene in this area.
The Cave Pešturina, or Jelašnička cave (Figure 1), is located on the northern
slopes of the mountain Suva Planina, southwest of Niš and northwest of the village
Jelašnica, at an altitude of 330 m. It is 22 m long, and dry, and the bottom and the
plateau in front of the cave is covered with Quaternary deposits (Mihailović and
Milošević, 2012; Mihailović, 2014). Archaeological excavations began in 2006, and,
intermittently, have continued till today. Sediments, the thickness of which exceeds
5 m, were deposited in the Late Pleistocene, including the penultimate interglacial
and the last glacial.
The archaeological excavations since 2006 were carried out on an area of
24 square meters. Faunal material was collected manually and selected contexts
were sifted dry and wet. Faunal sample selected for the presentation of taxonomic
composition (Table 1) presented in this paper was collected during excavations of
nine square meters to a depth of 5m, completed with the year of 2013, and refers
to the mammalian fauna, except micromammals (defined in this study as rodents
weighting less than 5 kg, insectivores and bats).
Mammalian fauna of the Pleistocene deposits of the cave Pešturina is
characterized by great diversity, which is the result of various factors of accumulation
of their remains. The main agents of accumulation are predators who dragged their
pray, acquired by hunting or scavenging, into the cave. This applies primarily to
hyena and wolf, as evidenced by traces of their teeth on many bones, as well as of
humans, whose activity is indicated by traces of fire, traces of artifacts on bones
made by animal bodies joint separation and removing flesh from bones, as well as
traces of blows made on the occasion of bone-breaking to get to the bone marrow.
The diversity is completed by the remains of bears, both cave and brown, which
might have used the cave as a den for overwintering. Their remains, however, are
few, unlike most cave sites of Pleistocene fauna in Serbia, where the remains of cave
bears are predominant (Cvetković and Dimitrijević, 2014).
Representatives of herbivores of different size are found, from the largest
– the mammoth and rhinoceros, large herbivores from the odd-toed and eventoed ungulates – bison, horse, giant deer, red deer and hidruntinus, medium size
ruminants, such as fallow deer, roe deer, alpine ibex, and chamois, as well as small
ones from the orders of rabbits and rodents. Predators are also pretty diverse, and
of a considerable range of sizes, from the largest – cave and brown bear and cave lion, then the large and medium-large, such as cave hyena, leopard, and wolf, to
small ones, such as fox, cat, and badger.
By its richness, mammalian fauna of Pešturina can be compared only with
the Late Pleistocene mammalian fauna of Baranica, the cave on the bank of the
Timok near Knjaževac, wherein there was a section with hyena den (Baranica II),
while the other section (Baranica I) was probably the habitat or temporary shelter
of bears, but also of hyenas and other predators, including men (Dimitrijević, 2011;
Mihailović, 2014). The deposits of Risovača near Arandjelovac, the cave where the
largest-scale excavations were carried out and the most numerous animal remains
were collected, also contain diverse fauna, which includes herbivores and predators
ranging from the largest to the smallest, as well as traces of man (Rakovec, 1965;
Gavela, 1988; Dimitrijević, 1997). However, among these and other cave sites in
Serbia, the Pešturina cave can be singled out for containing deposits of longer time
span, namely the penultimate interglacial and the last glacial period, and therefore
the remains of animals adapted to cold environment in the upper and those adapted
to warm climate in the lower layers. A characteristic representative of cold age
fauna is the woolly rhinoceros (Coelodonta antiquitatis). Although the remains of
the largest Pleistocene mammals, mammoths and rhinos, are common in alluvial
deposits, they are relatively rare in cave sediments. This type of rhinoceros had
previously been discovered only in Baranica near Knjaževac and in Janda on Fruška
Gora (Dimitrijević, 2011; Dimitrijević and Cvetković, 2014).
The remains of mammals from the layer 4 are, however, of particular
significance, since they originate from the earlier period of the last glacial (4a) and
the penultimate interglacial (4b-c), the period which has not yet been confirmed at
the territory of Serbia. Of warm-loving representatives in the layer 4 in Pešturina
the remains of porcupine (Hystrix vinogradovi), fallow deer (Dama dama), roe deer
(Capreolus capreolus) and pigs (Sus scrofa) have been confirmed. The remains of a
porcupine, from which a complete, well-preserved skull with lower jaw has been
discovered, were the first ones found in Pleistocene deposits in Serbia; although a
bone of a large mammal with characteristic traces of teeth of this big rodent had
been previously found in the Smolućka Cave (in layer 5) (Dimitrijević, 1991). This
type of large rodent is characteristic of the interglacial stages of Europe (Baryshnikov,
2003; van Weers, 2005). Fallow deer and roe deer are also represented in Middle
Pleistocene Balanica (Roksandić et al., 2011), while the remains of deer and pig are
almost absent in the last glacial cave deposits of Serbia, and only appear in deposits
that are supposedly related to the early stages of the last glaciations (Dimitrijević,
1997, 1998).",
publisher = "Београд : Српска академија наука и уметности",
journal = "Зборник радова Одбора за крас и спелеологију. 11 : Примљено на I скупу Одељења за математику, физику и гео-науке, 27. фебруара 2021. године",
title = "Кључна допуна фаунистичке секвенце средњи-касни плеистоцен Србије : остаци сисара из наслага пећине Пештурина (Јелашница, источна Србија), Key addition to faunal sequence of Middle-Late Pleistocene of Serbia : remains of mammals",
pages = "91-102",
url = "https://hdl.handle.net/21.15107/rcub_dais_13230"
}
