Betal Rock Shelter

The Betal Rock Shelter, a karst cave located on the south-eastern edge of the Lower Pivka Valley on a slope just above the road from Postojna to Bukovje, is a site where rich cultural sediment layers with remains of stone tools, artifacts, and numerous fossilized bones of contemporary animals were found. Its entrance was formed by the collapse of the 174 m (571 ft) long cave's ceiling, carved out by the waters of the Pivka River. The first excavations were carried out by Franco Anelli from 1933 to 1939. He excavated both in the cave and in front of it and found many Palaeolithic artifacts and numerous faunal remains, although this work remained mainly unpublished. Systematic recording of the archaeological sequence was begun anew by Srečko Brodar from 1947 to 1953. In the more than 10-meter (33 ft) deep profile of eight cultural horizons, five separate strata revealed the bones of over 2,400 animals and stone tools. However, much of the material in the Late Pleistocene and early Holocene sediments found by Anelli is of limited value for scientific research and cannot be put into its correct stratigraphic context because the excavation records of these layers have been lost. The oldest strata are attributed to the warm Mindel-Riss interglacial period followed by the Riss glaciation period, that consisted of rock debris mixed with loam and pieces of sinter.