📋 Tender Overview
At todays meeting, the government adopted a decree declaring the Divje Baba Archaeological Park a cultural monument of national importance. With this, one of the most important Paleolithic sites in our country and in the world is guaranteed the highest level of protection and long-term planned management.The Divje Baba Archaeological Park comprises the northern part of Sebreljska Plateau and the karst cave system above the Idrijce Valley. Divje babe I cave is an exceptional Late Pleistocene paleontological and paleobotanical site and a key archaeological site of the Middle and Late Paleolithic. Between 1980 and 1999, systematic research was carried out there, which revealed well-preserved archaeological and paleontological remains and several successive settlement horizons.
Among the most important discoveries is the approximately 60,000-year-old flute made from the femur of a young cave bear, which is considered one of the oldest known musical instruments in the world. At the same time, the site is the richest source of data on the Pleistocene fauna, flora and climate in Slovenia, which is why it is extremely important for understanding the natural and cultural history of the area.
The status of a monument of national importance determines the protected components of the monument, the extent of the area and the protection regime. Among other things, the decree regulates:
preservation of cave sediments, archaeological, paleontological and paleobotanical remains,
preservation of the spatial and content context of the archaeological site,
dedicated use of the area as an archaeological reserve,
the possibility of scientific-research and teaching-demonstration work,
conditions for public accessibility and presentation of heritage.
The monument will be managed by the Cerkno Tourism Institute, which will prepare a management plan with the Institute for the Protection of Cultural Heritage of Slovenia. This will define the long-term development of the park, ways of presenting it to the public, management of visits to the cave and coordination of conservation and tourism aspects. Visiting the interior of the Divje babe I cave will continue to be possible exclusively within the framework of guided tours with professionally trained guides, in a way that does not endanger the protected components of the monument and complies with nature conservation guidelines.
The Institute for the Protection of Cultural Heritage of Slovenia, the Nova Gorica Regional Unit, land owners and managers, and the local community participated in the preparation of the draft decree. The majority owner of the land in the area of the monument is the Republic of Slovenia, managed by the company Slovenski drzavni gozdovi and the Agricultural Land and Forest Fund of the Republic of Slovenia.
The declaration of the Divje Baba Archaeological Park as a cultural monument of national importance is an important step towards the comprehensive protection and thoughtful management of one of the key archaeological sites in Slovenia, and strengthens its place on the map of the most important Paleolithic sites worldwide.
