The Koněprusy Caves: Depositional context of a human skeleton and the first radiocarbon dating

The Koněprusy caves in the Bohemian Karst represent a case of otherwise uninhabited underground system, where Upper Paleolithic human fossils were found in 1961 in a redeposited position, in the upper part or on the surface of a debris cone under vertical chimneys. Due to this situation, and with respect to the general archaeological and palaeontological context, Koněprusy were often compared to the site of Mladeč, Moravia, and the both depositions were intuitively dated to the Early Upper Paleolithic. Recent 14 C datings, however, confirmed an Aurignacian age for Mladeč only, whereas the date for Koněprusy suggets rather a Magdalenian age. New series of samples is actually being prepared in order to confirm this first dating. Finally, this paper discusses the term funeral caves