Mladeč caves

It is located in the Třesín National Nature Monument within the Litovelské Pomoraví Protected Landscape Area.

The complex labyrinth of fissure corridors and caves can be found inside the calcite hill of Třesín.

These caves represent a predominantly horizontal and very broken labyrinth of corridors, domes and high chimneys with remarkable modelling of walls and ceilings, with stalactite and stalagmite decoration and with numerous block cave-ins, with some steep corridors which extend even below the level of the underground water.

The minimum for the visit is a group of six visitors and there is an exhibition of photos and interesting information about the caves.

Along with Jan Knies, a local schoolteacher and amateur archaeologist, the two began to excavate the cave.

[8][1] The discovery of human fossils was big news at the time in the Austro-Hungarian Empire and thus attracted a lot of attention.

[1] In the intervening years, the Museum Society in Litovel, under the supervision of Jan Smyčka,[8] ordered the removal of large amounts of sediment from the Mladečské Caves without the guidance of archaeologists, destroying a lot of valuable potential information on the cave.

[8] Many of the discoveries at Mladeč have been lost or destroyed over time, due to unauthorized looting and excavations, disappearances into private collections, and the large destruction of artefacts stored at Mikulov Castle, which was set on fire by the Germans at the end of World War II.

Out of the 60 human fossils from Mladeč stored at Mikulov Castle, only 5 could be recovered following the fire.

[9] The bone points at Mladeč have been found at other Central European sites in an Aurignacian context.

Perforated animal teeth used as pendants are frequently found at Aurignacian sites.

[11] The perforated teeth from Mladeč came from wolves, bears, and uncommonly, beavers and moose.

[9] 632 bones from large mammals remain from the fossil assemblage discovered at Mladeč.

Approach to the caves
A bone point from Mladečské Caves, Vienna Museum of Natural History
Perforated pendants from Mladečské Caves, Vienna Museum of Natural History