Vilharjeva jama v Risovcu blizu Postojne

Abstract

A new Paleolithic station was discovered in 1977 at Betalov spodmol near Postojna. The beginning section of Otoška Cave was undercut as early as the early Pleistocene, resulting in a natural bridge at one point. Very thick sediments accumulated under it and eventually covered it. Excavations at Vilharjeva Cave, as the site is also called, have uncovered to the present, at a depth of two meters, a Mousterian scraper and two rhinoceros teeth (Dicerorhinus kirchbergensis). The author describes the sequence of other excavations and explains the development and collapse of the cave system. Very old sediments exists at several places in this collapsed cave system, and their excavation could well explicate the development and chronology of the Pleistocene in Slovenia.