With the beginning of the early Late Pleistocene glacial period (or even
earlier: ?late Saalian/Eemian) and Ailsbach terrace elevation 415 m a.s.l., small cave
bears penetrated only a side branch (Bear’s Passage) the Sophie’s Cave and used it as
den. Nine cave bear nests Ursalveolus carpathicus Diedrich 2011 were documented
with larger to medium-sized round-oval depressions in the deepest cave bear den part
of the Millionary Hall. Autochthonous cave bear skeletal parts, especially partly
connected vertebral columns were found in all den areas of the Bear’s Passage,
Reindeer Hall bone field and the Millionary Hall, partly being in place. A systematic
excavation of the bone field, which was left in the cave in situ (also for visitors)
demonstrate a mainly adult population within this hall. Using a combination of the
skull shape morphology, P4 tooth morphology and C14 dated teeth from other
German/European cave bear dens, the small cave bears of those cave areas can be
identified as small cave bears U. spelaeus eremus/spelaeus Rabeder et al. 2004. A new
composite skeleton including male/female adult-senile bone material from different
individuals was arranged for “U. s. cf. eremus” which is presented in a show case
within the cave, which is anatomically nearly complete including in Europe unique for
a “skeleton” all nine “tongue bones”. These small cave bears also being known from
the nearby Große Teufels Cave, Zoolithen Cave inhabited in Upper Franconia the
Sophie’s Cave and other caves between approx. 113.000-32.000 BP dated
biostratigraphically with the P4 tooth morphology. With the P4 morphotypes blocking
events can be coarsely estimated, whereas most primitive three-coned forms appear in
the deeper Millionary/Reindeer halls and Bear’s Passage. Only in the latter higher
evolved forms demonstrate a longer use of this branch which was blocked to the
Reindeer Hall most probably during an interstadial (possibly around 42.000 BP). At the
end of the middle Late Pleistocene, finally the former still unknown entrance was also
blocked, which did not allow smaller cave bears to use the cave as a den anymore.
Keywords: Early/Middle Late Pleistocene, sedimentology, terrace gravel infill,
Ailsbach Valley geomorphology, small cave bear species/subspecies, cave bear
clock, cave bear den, hibernation nests, bone taphonomy, scavengers, cave bear
pathology.
