Almost an entire cave bear skeleton, thousands of animal bones and Stone Age tools – during renewed excavations in Middle Franconia, experts have made further finds that indicate a resting place for people in the Paleolithic.
The Bavarian State Office for Monument Preservation announced on Monday in Munich that seven surprisingly well-preserved jaw fragments from cave bears are particularly interesting for science. These, together with other bones, now almost complete a cave bear skeleton.
Since last year, the excavation team has recovered more than 10,000 bones from the 1,200 square meter site near Endsee in the Ansbach district, the majority from cave bears. In 2022, the State Office for Monument Preservation spoke of an extremely rare and significant find.
In addition to bear bones, some of wild horses, mammoths, rhinos and wolves were also found there. Some of them showed signs of burns. “The bones of mammoths, wild horses and rhinos are undoubtedly hunting and carrion remains – probably from hunters, because cave bears were probably vegetarians,” explained archaeologist Christoph Lobinger.
It has not yet been conclusively determined whether the hunters were Neanderthals or humans. According to the experts, the many bear bones indicate that the area was characterized by caves in the Paleolithic period. These have probably disappeared over the course of thousands of years due to erosion.