A cave lion tooth has been discovered during excavations at the cave dwelling ''Chaya'' near the town of Chepelare, announced Marin Gospodinov, director of the Museum of the Rhodope Karst. According to him, this is an exceptionally valuable and rare find for Bulgaria, which is unique for the Rhodope region.

According to Marin Gospodinov, an exact dating of the find cannot be made at this stage, but it is certainly more than a hundred thousand years old. The discovered cave lion tooth indicates that this predator once inhabited the Rhodope region at this altitude.

''This is an extinct species of cave lions that roamed the territory of Europe and Bulgaria from 370,000 years ago to 14,000 years ago", clarified Marin Gospodinov.

The lion's tooth was found during the final stage of the excavations at "Chaya" this summer. Although the expectations to find evidence of earlier human presence in the cave were not met, the team uncovered a large number of finds related to prehistoric animals.