and the nearby Šalitrena cave are so far the only cave sites in the Central Balkan mountains, that have produced evidence for human presence in a Gravettian and/or Epigravettian cultural context. Dušan Mihailović argues in "Palaeolithic and Mesolithic research in the Central Balkans" that Gravettian communities populated South-eastern Europe around 26,000 years ago - the beginning of the last glacial maximum, avoided mountainous habitats and preferably retreated to shelters near the coast and the southern Balkans. Stratigraphy The interior sediments are around high and constitute a stratigraphic sequence of five cultural layers. 1. Holocene era top layer of grey clay mixed with fragmented rocks, which contained Iron Age and more recent artifacts. 2. Late Upper Palaeolithic strata of brown and yellowish clay mixed with fine debris, that held flakes and chipped flint artifacts attributed to the Epigravettian culture, implements with abruptly retouched edges point to a deposition of Gravettian or Epigravettian cultural settlement. 3. Archaeologically sterile layer of brown clay with coarse detritus, large rocks and no artifacts. 4. Middle Palaeolithic strata of light brown clay with fine detritus and variously sized deposits of fine gravel, that contained artifacts. The ecological characteristics of layer 4 and 5 are similar. 5. Middle Palaeolithic strata of dark brown clay with coarse detritus and large rocks, that yielded two scraper tools and several artifacts made of quartzite. This layer was further divided into four horizons (a, b, c and d). The cave entrance's sediment structure extends out onto the relatively flat exterior area of some , where excavations to a depth of has not yet reached the bedrock. Hadzi Prodanova has been put under national protection in 1974 and its protection status was reviewed and approved in 2005. References External links BULLETIN OF SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH Annual Report for 2003 Caves of Serbia Limestone caves Neanderthal sites Archaeological sites in Serbia Late Cretaceous Europe Paleontology in Serbia