Podcast in English
Text size
Bulgarian National Radio © 2025 All Rights Reserved

Archaeologists find a cave lion tooth during excavations at the cave dwelling ''Chaya''

Photo: archive

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.




Последвайте ни и в Google News Showcase, за да научите най-важното от деня!
Listen to the daily news from Bulgaria presented in "Bulgaria Today" podcast, available in Spotify.

More from category

Photo: Holy Trinity Church in Madison, Ilinois

Bulgarian Orthodox community in Madison needs a priest for the Bulgarian Holy Trinity Church

The church board of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church “Holy Trinity” in Madison, Illinois (USA), has announced on its Facebook page that it needs a priest to serve in the church. “We humbly ask all brothers and sisters in Christ – in the wider..

published on 8/27/25 1:34 PM

Bronze statuette of a goddess from the Greco-Roman pantheon discovered on Kaliakra

An archaeological expedition led by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Boni Petrunova – Director of the National Museum of History, discovered a massive bronze statuette of a goddess from the Greco-Roman pantheon. The artifact was found in residential premises in the..

published on 8/26/25 6:10 AM

Archaeologists uncover 13 ancient graves in central Sofia

13 ancient graves were discovered during archaeological excavations conducted on the premises of the National Academy of Art in Sofia.  The excavation is led by archaeologist Elena Nikolova from the Regional History Museum. The excavations began on..

published on 8/22/25 9:44 AM