Fig. 1

a Map of the Žumberačko Gorje region in northwestern Croatia. The Bedara cave is located on Mt. Žumberačka Gora. The area lies at the transition between the southeastern Alps, the northwestern Dinarides and the Pannonian Basin. Altitudes range from 180 to 1,178 m above sea level, with Sveta Gera (1,178 m above sea level) as the highest peak. b Schematic representation of the Bedara cave. From the entrance (1) measuring 0.4 × 0.8 m to the location of the find, the passages are of mostly knee-shaped and pit-like morphology. The current entrance and passage are located at a depth of 16 m (2). The cave features several vertical passages without connection to the surface, such as the one at the discovery site, at a depth of 47 m (4), where also a constant flow of drip water exists (5). Further skeletal remains may have been washed away into the deeper parts of the cave (6)