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This article presents the results of a multifaceted study of a Palaeolithic hammer made of antler, found in Biśnik Cave in southern Poland. It is the only tool of this type known from this period in Polish prehistory. The results of the 14C dating on the object verifies previous assumptions relating to its chronology and cultural affiliation. The results of Zooarchaeology by Mass Spectrometry (ZooMS) analysis allow us to provide further details in relation to the raw material used in the production of the artefact. This article also presents the results of a detailed traceological study which allow us to interpret the production and function of the tool. This analysis was conducted using Micro CT, alongside varying types of microscopy. The results of all these analyses are then compared and contrasted according to the current knowledge regarding these tool types to provide a broader context for the interpretation of this important artefact. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although debris, loams and clays are usually regarded as typical cave sediments, loess and loess-like sediments are common among clastic cave deposits in the near-entrance facies of caves and rock shelters. Late Weichselian loess layers are very common in caves from the Kraków-Częstochowa Upland and were recognized in almost each excavated cave and rock shelter. These layers were initially dated to the LGM (Last Glacial Maximum), but new chronometric dating results are available that allow us to present a more detailed scheme of the geological age of the series. This paper evaluates the significance of Polish in-cave loess layers as correlative horizons. We present the lateral and vertical stratigraphy and lithological variability of cave loesses and their usefulness as lithostratigraphic markers. These features are especially important for archeology and paleontology, as cave sediments, including loess, are usually the carriers of archeological and paleontological material. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Biśnik Cave is situated in the limestone rock, 6 m above the bottom of the currently dry Wodąca valley. It is located in the Smoleń–Niegowonice Range, in the southern part of the Częstochowa Upland (Poland). The stratigraphic sequence, which encompasses middle and upper Pleistocene sediments, is unique in Central Europe. It enabled the reconstruction of changes occurring in the Middle Palaeolithic in the Polish Jura. Middle Palaeolithic cultural levels at the Biśnik Cave are discussed in the context of spatial analysis of the site's utility zones, with regard to hearths in particular phases of cave inhabitation. The results were linked with typological and use wear analysis of separate assemblages of artefacts. Microstratigraphic analysis revealed a far more complex character of settlement processes, especially with reference to older cultural horizons (A6-A5). Several sub-levels have been distinguished, phases of inhabitation in each layer. It was possible to indicate tendencies in the location of hearths in “cool” and “warm” layers, as well as point to a steady tendency of the shift of the site's utility space towards the entrance of the cave. The functions of particular zones of the site have been determined whenever possible, with the help of the results of traseological analysis. It was possible to characterise the technology and typology of assemblages found in particular layers and provide the description of their cultural character against the background of other Middle Palaeolithic sites in central-eastern Europe. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Biśnik Cave is situated in the limestone rock, 7m above the bottom of the presently dry Wodąca valley. It is located in the Smoleń–Niegowonice Range in the southern part of the Częstochowa Upland. To date, an area of 260m2 has been explored, to the depth of 150–850cm. The results of sedimentological, geomorphological, palaeozoological and archaeological investigations provided the basis for the reconstruction of the history of habitation at the Biśnik Cave, in the background of palaeoenvironmenal transformations. Throughout about 300,000 years of occupation, the cave was surrounded by a changing and widely diversified natural environment, with steppe, tundra and forest ecosystems, and marshland and aquatic biotopes. This, combined with the opportunity to exploit varied ecological niches, made the cave a particularly attractive habitation site. As a result, the cave has remnants of a number of habitation phases: ten in the Middle Palaeolithic, one in the Upper Palaeolithic and at least five in the period between the Neolithic and the Middle Ages. The importance of the Biśnik Cave stems from the fact that it has the longest sequence of cave sediments in Poland, seventeen cultural levels including remnants of the oldest Palaeolithic in this part of Europe and the oldest dwelling structures ever discovered in Poland. The history of environment changes was reconstructed based on sedimentological and palaeozoological data. The multiproxy palaeoecology and climatology data are extremely significant for the reconstruction of palaeogeography of Central Europe in the Middle and Upper Pleistocene as well as human occupation history. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Remains of the steppe bison Bison priscus Bojanus, 1827 from the Upper Pleistocene layers of Biśnik Cave were morphometrically analysed and compared to those from other localities in Eurasia. The remains occurred in accumulations with archaeological artefacts. They bore traces of gnawing by carnivores. Morphometric analyses of the skull and post-cranial skeleton point to the small form of bison. The skull belonged to a small male while the bones of post-cranial skeleton indicate the occurrence of both males and females. Here we present all available and newly obtained calibrated 14C dates of the bison remains from this site, supplemented with new data for five specimens from Biśnik Cave, thus confirming the presence of the species during MIS 3 in Poland. The results are relevant to tracing the migration paths of the bison in the Upper Pleistocene during MIS 4-3. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present is a palaeobiological and taphonomic analysis of a Marine Isotope Stages (MIS) 4–3 (Late Pleistocene) assemblage of animal remains and hominin artefacts from layers 7–5 of Biśnik Cave, Częstochowa Upland, Poland. The analysis indicates that the bone assemblage is the result of a time-averaged palimpsest of both biotic and episodic abiotic events, the former consisting of many successive generations of animals and hominins that frequented the cave, and the latter including hydraulic winnowing. In fact, the taphonomic history of the fossil assemblage from Biśnik Cave's layers 7–5 is partially obscured by the overprint of hydraulic winnowing, which purportedly removed a certain amount of the original specimens. Besides evidence of cave bear deaths from non-violent, hibernation-related mortality and of occupation by generations of denning wolves and hyaenas, there is a wealth of flint artefacts, alongside remains of a few fireplaces and of a structure built in the cave by hominins to partition the cave chambers. The studied layer contains an impressive number of shed antlers, primarily of the red deer Cervus elaphus. Crocuta crocuta spelaea is normally held responsible for such accumulations of shed antlers in various European caves; Biśnik Cave's layers 7–5 will therefore simply add to the list. However, the role of accumulator of shed antlers attributed to the Pleistocene spotted hyena does not match the behaviour of its modern counterpart and seems not accounted for metabolically. The only reasonable alternative is that the antlers were collected by hominins. From this alternative perspective the cave would have functioned as a warehouse, where naturally shed antlers were stored as raw material, potentially to be shaped into tools and/or employed as tools to make other tools. The palaeobiological and taphonomic analysis presented here provides new insights into the succession of pre- and postdepositional events that involved the bone remains accumulated in the cave, as well as into the interactions between the animals and hominins of the time. More importantly, if hominins, and not hyaenas, were responsible for the amassment of the shed antlers in Biśnik Cave, this study raises doubts as to the hyaenid or human origin of other similar cave accumulations of shed antlers throughout Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]