The Šandalja II site has yielded skeletal remains of at least three individuals found in association with numerous Late Upper Paleolithic (Epigravettian) stone tools and animal bones. It is the only Epigravettian site in Croatia that has yielded human remains. Analyses of the Šandalja discoveries add to our understanding of the morphological and behavioral patterns of the Late Upper Paleolithic inhabitants of this region. They provide us with a basis for comparison with not only contemporary humans of the Italian coastal region, which in the Late Pleistocene formed a single ecological zone with the Croatian coast, but also with Upper Paleolithic humans from other adjacent regions, which belonged to different ecological zones. Based on dental, cranial and postcranial metrics, the Šandalja II people were rather small compared to the comparative Upper Paleolithic samples and specimens. The associated late Epigravettian industry from the B/s layer of the site shows similarities in basic tool types with other comtemporaneous sites of the Adriatic region, while some noted differences are most likely a result of variation in site function. Continuing research on the Šandalja materials focuses on better understanding of morphological and behavioral variation, as well as contact patterns in the Late Upper Paleolithic of south Central Europe.
INTRODUCTION AND SITE HISTORYT he site of Šandalja II is a part of a larger cave structure in a quarry near Pula, Istria, Croatia (44˚ 52' 57'' N, 13˚ 53' 48'' E, at about 72 meters at above today's sea level) (Figures 1 and 2). The site is located on the hill of St. Daniel and served as a quarry in Roman times when the Colloseum was built in today's Pula, and was reopened in 1954. The first cave was discovered during mining in 1961 (Malez and Vogel 1969), while a larger cavern was unearthed the following year. The two caves were given the names of Šandalja I and II respectively, although later analyses showed that both localities are a part of a single, larger cave (Karavanić 1999;Malez 1979; Miracle 1995). Therefore the name "Šandalja I" refers to a Villafranchian breccia from which only one artifact (a chopper), of presumably Lower Paleolithic age, was extracted (Malez 1975), while Šandalja II refers to the Upper Pleistocene and Holocene sediments of the site. It is in these sediments that an Upper Paleolitihic sequence was found. Two additional localities, Šandalja III and Šandalja IV are most likely also a part of the cave complex. In the vertical crevice (Šandalja III), a deer skull and several faunal fragments were found in 1963. While Malez and Vogel (1969) mention the existence of the Šandalja IV site, no detailed data on the site exists (Brajković 1998).The Šandalja II site is one of the most important archaeological and paleontological localities in Croatia. The cave is an oval cavern 13.5 meters in length and 18 meters in width, that was filled with over 8 meters of Upper Pleistocene sediments. The entrance to the cave was to the north. Excavations under the direc...