Ludwig Reisch’s research while affiliated with Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nürnberg and other places

The site of Hunas is a cave ruin, filled with bedded sediments up to the roof. About 20 m sediments from the top down were excavated and yielded Middle Paleolithic artifacts as well as numerous faunal remains, including Macaca. With a single human molar, the site is one of the rare Neanderthalian localities in Germany. New TIMS-U/Th dating of speleothems at the base of the profile indicate that the whole sequence was not deposited during the late Middle Pleistocene as previously thought, but during the last glacial. According to the new chronological results, Hunas is the only place which shows the coexistence of man and monkey in the Würmian of Central Europe. The Macaca remains are the most recent evidence of magots in Central Europe so far. Keywords Homo neanderthalensis - Macaca -Late Pleistocene-TIMS/U-Th-Enviromagnetism-Bavaria-Cave

In this paper, we present a well-preserved isolated human molar found in 1986 in the Hunas cave ruin, south-east Bavaria. The tooth was located at the bottom of layer F2, which belongs to a long stratigraphic sequence comprising faunal remains as well as archaeological levels (Mousterian). A stalagmite from layer P at the base of the stratigraphic sequence was recently dated to 79.373+/-8.237 ka (base) and 76.872+/-9.686 ka (tip) by TIMS-U/Th (Stanford University). We identified the tooth as a right (possibly third) mandibular molar. Characteristic parameters such as crown and root morphology, fissure pattern, enamel thickness, occlusal and interproximal wear, dental dimensions and indices, and radiological features indicate that the Hunas molar represents the tooth of a Neanderthal. This is corroborated by both the palaeontological and archaeological findings (Mousterian) of layer F2.

The first dating of a speleothem from the locality Hunas was carried out in 1979. The sample originated from a layer below Heller's excavations. A detailed sample documentation doesn't exist. The age of 260+60/ -40 ka was used as one important argument for a Middle Pleistocene chronostratigraphical position. In 2002, a flowstone layer could be identified at the base of the recent excavation. The layer is in contact with the sediment series above without showing an obvious hiatus. A stalagmite from the layer was recently dated by TIMS-U/Th method and yielded an Early Wurmian age. Geochemical analyses indicate that the results can be accepted without reservation in a methodological point of view. The new age was confirmed by dating a second stalagmite from the same layer.