Ursus spelaeus hand bone (44,5 x 30,5 x 27 mm)

Pleistocene age (approx. 35,000 - 70,000 years old) Ursus spelaeus (cave bear) hand bone. Origin of the bear bone: Austria, Mixnitz, Stmk. The dimensions of the bone are approximately: 44.5 mm x 30.5 mm x 27 mm. Weight approx.: 13 grams + packaging. The bone is in its natural state, not preserved.

During the extraordinary period after the First World War, the cave sediments around Mixnitz began to be mined because of their magmatic phosphate content. Due to guano (phosphate) mining, a huge amount of cave bear bones came to the surface. The amount of barren rock excavated from the Sárkány cave is estimated at 24,000 tons, of which about 500 tons were cave bear bones. Of the 500 tons of bones, 4,000 kg were sent to museums and universities for scientific processing. The remaining debris and bones were used to build the railway embankment leading up to the cave in order to transport the excavated guano layers with a high phosphate content. After the end of the mining, the sines were picked up, the several Km long railway embankment was a favorite place for fossil collectors for a long time. Today, the mountain is a protected area, so further collections are not possible. The cave bear is a typical example of an animal that had an ecological relationship with caves. The cave bear spent its winter hibernation in caves, gave birth there and in many cases died there. Death often overtook him during the winter months.

The caves provided very good conditions for the preservation of bones. The vast amount of bones was left behind by relatively small bear families over millennia.