Hadži-Prodan's Cave

Hadži-Prodan's Cave (Хаџи-Проданова пећина) is a Paleolithic archaeological site and a natural monument, located near the village of Lisa, not far from Ivanjica in Republic of Serbia. The cave has a narrow and high entrance facing south, forty -meter long corridor and two chambers. It is named after Hadži-Prodan.

Conserving excavations began in the year 2003, with the intention to renew the Church of the Holy Archangel Michael, located in front of the cave. During the work on the arrangement of the entrance to the cave, the workers discovered the remains of prehistoric pottery and Pleistocene fauna. The aim of the excavation was to evaluate the stratigraphic position of the findings. Excavations were carried out on an area of 16 m², the beginning of the cave hall and in front of the cave. Five layers were investigated, where they found the remains of cave bears, wolves, ibex and various rodents and birds. Most Paleolithic finds were discovered in front of the cave.

Paleolithic finds

In total, sixteen findings had been revealed. In the layer 5, side scrapers and artifacts of quartzite, two cushions and one end-scraper were found. In layer 2, upper Paleolithic findings were discovered: a tool with a steeply retouched sides, a tool with a retouched fracture and retouched and unretouched blades and deductions, which were estimated to date from the Gravettian or Epigravettian period. In the middle Paleolithic layer were discovered objects of pure quartz: a small crystal and a side scraper.

Haji Prodan’s cave, together with saltpeter cave is the only Gravettian or Epigravettian site in the mountainous areas of the central Balkans.^[1]

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