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This comprehensive study examines fossil remains from Niedźwiedzia Cave in the Eastern Sudetes, offering detailed insights into the palaeobiology and adversities encountered by the Pleistocene cave bear Ursus spelaeus ingressus. Emphasising habitual cave use for hibernation and a primarily herbivorous diet, the findings attribute mortality to resource scarcity during hibernation and habitat fragmentation amid climate shifts. Taphonomic analysis indicates that the cave was extensively used by successive generations of bears, virtually unexposed to the impact of predators. The study also reveals that alkaline conditions developed in the cave during the post-depositional taphonomic processes. Mortality patterns, notably among juveniles, imply dwindling resources, indicative of environmental instability. Skeletal examination reveals a high incidence of forelimb fractures, indicating risks during activities like digging or confrontations. Palaeopathological evidence unveils vulnerabilities to tuberculosis, abscesses, rickets, and injuries, elucidating mobility challenges. The cave's silts exhibit a high zinc concentration, potentially derived from successive bear generations consuming zinc-rich plants. This study illuminates the lives of late cave bears, elucidating unique environmental hurdles faced near their species' end., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Peopling of Central Europe by Middle Pleistocene hominids is highly debatable, mainly due to the relatively harsh climatic and environmental conditions that require cultural and anatomical adjustments. At least several archaeological sites certify human occupation in the region dated back to MIS 13-11, but they represent open-air settlements. Based on the new fieldwork conducted in Tunel Wielki Cave, we can date the human occupation traces in the cave to MIS 14-12. Bipolar-on-anvil knapping technique prevails in the lithic assemblage, made exclusively in flint. The obtained results have given ground for studying the frontiers of human oikumene and the required cultural adaptive abilities., (© 2022. The Author(s).)