# Neanderthals in the caves of the Kraków-Częstochowa Upland (-115000)

URL: https://poland-history.com/timeline/-115000-neanderthals-in-the-caves-of-the-krakow-czestochowa-upland
Location: Ojców, Kraków-Częstochowa Upland

Ciemna Cave near Ojców and other limestone caves of the Polish Jura preserve hearths, bones and Middle Palaeolithic tools left by Neanderthal hunters. Within the broader Prehistoric Poland period: From the first Palaeolithic hunters to the Bronze Age, the lands between the Oder and the Vistula saw waves of migration, the arrival of farming and the growth of ever more complex communities long before any state existed. At this point in the timeline (c. 115,000 BCE), the governing authority was Prehistoric communities (No single ruler). The lands of present-day Poland were inhabited by successive Palaeolithic hunters and Neolithic and Bronze Age farming communities; there was no state or single ruler. Neanderthals in the caves of the Kraków-Częstochowa Upland mattered because it offers material evidence of how people lived on Polish soil long before written records, and helps date the region's earliest cultures. The event is placed here so readers can follow it alongside changes in government, warfare, society, religion and culture across Polish history.

## Why it matters
Neanderthals in the caves of the Kraków-Częstochowa Upland mattered because it offers material evidence of how people lived on Polish soil long before written records, and helps date the region's earliest cultures.

Ruler at the time: [Prehistoric communities](https://poland-history.com/rulers/prehistoric-communities)

## Sources
- [Wikipedia — Ojców National Park](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ojc%C3%B3w_National_Park)
- [Encyclopaedia Britannica topic lookup — Neanderthals in the caves of the Kraków-Częstochowa Upland](https://www.britannica.com/search?query=Neanderthals+in+the+caves+of+the+Krak%C3%B3w-Cz%C4%99stochowa+Upland)
- [Wikipedia — Prehistory and protohistory of Poland (period overview)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prehistory_and_protohistory_of_Poland)