07-10 I кор. Доклади на Българската академия на науките Comptes rendus de l’Acad´ emie bulgare des Sciences Tome 69, No 7, 2016 GEOLOGIE Pal´ eontologie PRELIMINARY RESULTS OF THE ANALYSIS OF PLEISTOCENE RODENT FAUNA FROM THE HAD ˇ ZI PRODANOVA CAVE NEAR IVANJICA (WESTERN SERBIA) Katarina Bogi´ cevi´ c, Draˇ zenko Nenadi´ c, Dragana Duri´ c, Jelena Milivojevi´ c, Zorica Lazarevi´ c (Submitted by Academician T. Nikolov on February 25, 2016 ) Abstract The Hadˇ zi Prodanova Cave near Ivanjica (western Serbia) is a multilayered Pleistocene site which has yielded, beside some Palaeolithic artefacts, a rather rich fauna of small and large mammals. In total 13 species of rodents have been found. The rodent fauna has a mixed character and includes species both of open and forest habitats, the first being more numerous. According to its overall composition, it is tentatively ascribed to a relatively mild and wet period of the Last Glacial, probably MIS 3. Key words: small mammals, rodents, Quaternary, Late Pleistocene, Ser- bia, Balkan Peninsula Introduction. The Hadˇ zi Prodanova cave is located in the valley of the Raˇ s´ canska river 7 kilometres away from Ivanjica (western Serbia) (Fig. 1a). The entrance of the cave has an altitude of 630 m a.s.l., 40 metres above the floor of the valley [ 1 ]. The total length of the cave channels is 345 m (Fig. 1b)[ 1 ]. The cave was formed in thick-bedded to massive Senonian (Late Cretaceous) limestones. Its morphological characteristics, genesis and hydrological evolution are described in detail in a separate paper [ 1 ]. During preparatory archaeological excavations some Palaeolithic artefacts and remains of Pleistocene fauna (especially cave bear Ursus spelaeus ) were found in it [ 2 ]. In 2003 an excavation trench (with an area of 16 m 2 and a maximum depth of 2.5 m) was dug in the internal part of the cave plateau, the cave entrance and the part of the cave hall [ 2 ]. The stratigraphic sequence of this cave is investigated to the depth of 2.5 m and it has been subdivided in five geological layers from top to bottom (Fig. 1c). This work was supported by grants from the Ministry of Education, Science and Technolog- ical Development of the Republic of Serbia, project numbers 176015 and 177023. 889