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In February 2002, during speleological exploration of a karstic system in the southwestern Carpathian Mountains, Stefan Milota, Adrian Bılgar and Laurentiu Sarcina discovered a previously unknown karstic chamber with abundant remains of Ursus spelaeus, occasional other mammalian skeletal elements, and a largely complete human mandible on the paleosurface. The karstic chamber was designated the Pestera cu Oase (Cave with Bones) and the human mandible Oase 1 (Trinkaus et al., 2003). The site served primarily as a hibernation chamber for Late Pleistocene cave bear, but the presence of the human mandible and several unusual arrangements of cave bear remains, including placement on raised rocks, indicates some human involvement in the accumulated deposits.

Oase 1 was directly 14C AMS dated to> 35,200 years BP (OxA-11711) and 34,290,+ 970, 870 years BP (GrA-22810), which together provide a finite age of 34,950,+ 990, 890 years BP (Trinkaus et al., 2003). Since the mandible has a distinctive modern human feature, a prominent tuber symphyseos, and a suite of discrete traits and overall proportions which place it close to European early modern humans among Late Pleistocene samples, this directly dated specimen is the oldest known diagnostic early modern human fossil from Europe. From a location close to the Iron Gates in the Danubian corridor, it may represent one of the earliest modern human populations in Europe. In this context, it is of note that Oase 1 exhibits a very wide ramus, unilateral lingular bridging of the mandibular foramen, and in particular, exceptionally large distal molars for a Late Pleistocene …