Quaternaire, Hors-série, (4), 2011, p. 107-116 NEW INSIGHTS ON THE CAVE BEAR POPULATION FROM THE URŞILOR CAVE, ROMANIA n Marius ROBU 1 , Alexandru PETCULESCU 1 , Cristian PANAIOTU 2 , Doris DÖPPES 3 , Vlaicu MARIUS 1 , Virgil DRAGUŞIN 1, 5 , Marius KENESZ 4 , Oana Teodora MOLDOVAN 6 and Silviu CONSTANTIN 1, * ABSTRACT The first two palaeontological excavation campaigns held in 2010 at the Urşilor Cave, Bihor Mountains, Romania brought new information concerning the cave occupation by Ursus spelaeus during the Upper Pleistocene. The excavation is located in the Lower Passageway (Scientific Reserve) and extends over 7 m 2 with the lowest point reached during the campaigns at ~125 cm below surface. The overwhelming majority of the fossil material extracted belongs to the cave bear of all age categories. The skeletal elements found in anatomical connection, the analysis of the long bones orientation, and their relatively good preservation indicate that the bones were deposited under a low-energy hydraulic regime and subsequently covered by lacustrine sediments during at least three flooding episodes. The morphodynamic analysis of the fourth cave bear premolars from the uppermost three layers indicates an MIS 3 age. The P4 index however comes in disagreement with the K-index value for the 4 th metatarsal which indicates a low evolutionary level for the cave bear population from Urşilor cave. Key-words: Ursus spelaeus, taphonomy, biochronological estimation, magnetic susceptibility, Upper Pleistocene, Urşilor Cave, Romania. RÉSUMÉ NOUVELLES DONNÉES SUR LES OURS DES CAVERNES D’URŞILOR CAVE, ROUMANIE Les deux premières campagnes de fouilles paléontologiques, qui ont eu lieu en 2010, dans la Grotte Urşilor, Monts de Bihor, Roumanie, ont apporté de nouvelles données concernant l‘occupation de la grotte par Ursus spelaeus pendant le Pléistocène supé- rieur. La fouille est située dans la Galerie Inférieure (Réserve Scientifique) et s’étend sur 7 m 2 . Le point le plus bas atteint pendant les campagnes est à 125 cm en-dessous de la surface. L’écrasante majorité des fossiles récoltés appartient à l’ours des cavernes appartenant à toutes les catégories d’âge. Les éléments de squelettes trouvés en connexion anatomique, l’analyse de l’orientation des os longs, le degré de conservation des os indiquent que le niveau ossifère a été lentement recouvert de sédiments lacustres pendant au moins trois épisodes d’inondation. L’analyse morphodynamique des quatrièmes prémolaires d’ours des cavernes provenant des trois premières couches indique le MIS 3. L’indice pour la P4 est, cependant en désaccord avec la valeur K-indice du quatrième métatar- sien d’ours des cavernes, qui indique un faible niveau d’évolution de la population d’ours des cavernes de la Grotte Urşilor. Mots-clés : Ursus spelaeus, taphonomie, susceptibilité magnétique, estimation biochronologique, Pléistocène supérieur, Grotte Urşilor, Roumanie. 1 - INTRODUCTION Urşilor Cave (Peştera Urşilor = Bears Cave) in Bihor Mountains, North-Western Romania is an important cave bear site in South-Eastern Europe. Its reputation owes to the large number of cave bear remains as well as to cave bear activity traces such as scratch marks, footprints and claw marks, hair imprints, bear nests, and polished rocks (=Bärenschliffe). Manuscrit reçu le 06/12/2010, accepté le 01/06/2011 The first excavation campaigns at Urşilor Cave were carried out in the late 1970s and early 1980s by Terzea (1978) and Jurcsak et al. (1981) in test-pits located within the Bones Passage (fig. 1), close to the actual entrance of the cave. A rich Würmian and Holocene fauna was found both within the sediment and on the cave floor: Talpa europea Linnaeus 1758, Glis glis (Linnaeus, 1766), Apodemus sylvaticus (Linnaeus, 1758), Clethrionomys glareolus Schreber, 1780, Arvicola terrestris Linnaeus, 1 “Emil Racoviţă” Institute of Speleology, 13 Septembrie 13, Bucharest, Romania 2 Bucharest University, Faculty of Geology and Geophysics, N. Bălcescu 1, Bucharest, Romania. 3 Reiss-Engelhorn-Museen, Zeughaus, C 5, 68159 Mannheim, Germany. 4 “Babes-Bolyai” University, Faculty of Geography, Mihail Kogalniceanu 1, Cluj-Napoca, Romania. 5 “Babes-Bolyai” University, Faculty of Biology and Geology, Gheorghe Bilaşcu 44, Cluj-Napoca, Romania. 6 “Emil Racoviţă” Institute of Speleology, Cluj Branch, Clinicilor 5, Cluj-Napoca, Romania. * Corresponding author; Silviu.Constantin@iser.ro