are inaccessible by roads or paths and can be reached only via ropes. Access starts at the southern exit from the village of Sićevo, where the ropes descend below the village's football field. All caves are locked and are opened only when excavations are conducted. The entrances into the caves face south, across the gorge, but overlooking to the west, and the wide South Morava Valley. Entrance into the Mala Balanica is at an elevation of , while the Velika Balanica's mouth is at , or above the Nišava river, which carved the Sićevo Gorge. The caves represent typical karstic cavities. They are located on the Sićevo's state owned cadastre lot No. 6720/1, on the southern slope of the gorge's Brljaski Kamen section, above the right bank of the Nišava river. Discovery The caves in the surroundings of Niš attracted archaeologists already at the end of the 19th century, few decades after science adopted theories of evolution and glaciation. However, Balanica and Pešturina caves were discovered during the survey of the terrain for the construction of the Niš-Dimitrovgrad motorway, at the beginning of the 21st century. Balanica caves were discovered in 2002. Archaeological importance of the caves came to light when the local gold rush hit the area. Gold prospectors used the caves as bivouac shelters. They were discovering abundant quantity of artefacts and various remains, which prompted paleoarchaeologists to begin surveys. Excavations in Belanica began in 2004, led by Dušan Mihailović from the University of Belgrade Faculty of Philosophy. Researchers from the Canadian University of Winnipeg, headed by Mirjana Roksandic, joined Serbian scientists in 2009. It was evident from the start that the localities are important archaeological sources as numerous artefacts, fireplaces, fauna and hominin remains were soon discovered. Mala Balanica Geography The entrance is , the hall is , with average height of . The maximum height is , while the elongated karstic chamber is deep. Hominins In 2006 remains of Homo heidelbergensis were discovered. It was a hemi-mandible, named BH-1. Originally, the researchers were unable to assign it to a specific hominin species. The CT scanning was conducted to create a 3D image of the mandible, while the U-series method of radiometric dating was originally used to determine the jaw's age. Due to the limitation of the process, and some unusual readings, it was tentatively dated to 113,000+72,000-43,000 years, as older specimen was never discovered in this