THERE WAS OR THERE WASN'T A BEAR CULT - A CASE STUDY OF URSUS ARCTOS ARCTOS (LINNAEUS, 1758) TOOTH PALEOPATHOLOGY FROM THE PLEISTOCENE OF POLAND (SILESIA, SE POLAND).

The analyzed specimen was found in the 1930s by Zotz, in Wschodnia cave (German name Hellmichhöhle, now W Sudeten Mts, Poland). Currently, it is housed in the Archaeological Museum of Wrocław. It is a well preserved splanchnocranium with teeth of an adult Eurasian brown bear. Integral part of the skull is also an intact mandible. Several postcranial skeletal bones were also found for this specimen, including one rib with a human-drilled hole. For the above-mentioned specimen, three C14 datings were made using the AMS method. All three dates gave similar results, allowing the age of the find (after calibration) to be estimated at 14.8-13.8 KY BC, i.e. the Bølling phase of relatively older Dryas. Taxonomic assignation, based on the morphometrical analysis, was confirmed by DNA analysis. It represents subclade 1b, recently identified in Carpathian Mts. The degree of wear of his tooth crowns, especially his incisors and canines, is remarkable, which is completely inadequate to the wear of the remaining teeth and to the individual's age. German researchers suggested that the procedure was performed by a human for ritual purposes. However, the anthropological nature of this find was questioned by Polish researchers, who said that the process was natural and that the abrasion of the front teeth was the result of a malocclusion. Our analyses confirm the earlier assumptions of German scientists that the pathologies visible on the teeth are the result of anthropogenic effects, which was the aim of our research. It is also indirect evidence of the presence of Homo sapiens in the Late Pleistocene of the Sudeten areas of Poland. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]