Trinkaus, ErikZilhão, João2018-01-292018-01-292013Trinkaus, E., & Zilhão, J. (2013). Paleoanthropological Implications of the Peştera cu Oase and Its Contents. In E. Trinkaus, S. Constantin, & J. Zilhão (Eds.), Life and Death at the Peştera cu Oase: A Setting for Modern Human Emergence in Europe (pp. 389-400). Oxford: Oxford University Press.978–0–19–539822–9http://hdl.handle.net/10451/31142The initial discovery and exploration of the Pe ş tera cu Oase by Ş . Milota, L. Sarcin ă , and A. B î lg ă r in early 2002 was in the context of the exploration and documentation of the Plopa-Ponor karstic cave system (Chapter 2). However, with the discovery of a human mandible on the surface of (what became) the Sala Mandibulei, its subsequent removal and eventual dating to ~35 ka 14C BP (~40.4 ka cal BP) by fall 2002, the focus of the work in the Pe ş tera cu Oase became a paleoanthropological one. This shift in focus led to the 2003 short fi eld season with the discovery of the Oase 2 facial skeleton and partial neurocranium and then to the substantial 2004 and 2005 fi eld seasons, with the excavation of the Panta Str ă mo ş ilor and the sampling and mapping of the other passages above and below it (Chapter 3). Indeed, the decision to excavate in the Panta Str ă mo ş ilor and to leave the other passages largely undisturbed was made in part with the goal of recovering the remainder of the Oase 2 cranium and possibly other elements of the Oase 1 and 2 skeletons. It was also oriented toward being able to determine how the human remains came to be included among the plethora of cave bear bones in the cave.engbook part