Cave in Ojców National Park with a large main chamber, an archaeological site with Palaeolithic tools and Neanderthal remains.
Ciemna Cave lies in Ojców National Park, on the slope of the Prądnik Valley, in the Góra Koronna massif. It is about 230 metres long and is one of the most important archaeological sites in Lesser Poland (Małopolska).
The two openings are at an altitude of about 410 m above sea level, roughly 65 metres above the valley floor. The largest part is the main chamber: it is 88 metres long, 23 metres wide and more than 10 metres high. The entrance can be seen from afar, because the opening is large and clearly marked in the rock.
The cave's deposits have been studied since the early 20th century. In 1901-1909 and in 1912 excavations here were carried out by Stanisław Jan Czarnowski, in 1918-1919 by Stefan Krukowski, and in 1963-1970 by Stanisław Kowalski of the Archaeological Museum in Kraków. Since 2007 research has been carried out by a team from the Institute of Archaeology of the Jagiellonian University together with the Archaeological Museum in Kraków.
The finds include Palaeolithic flint tools of the Micoquian-Prądnik culture, about 120,000 years old, and bones and teeth of the cave bear, cave lion and cave hyena. In 2018 the discovery of phalanges of a Neanderthal child from about 115,000 years ago was announced, regarded as the oldest human remains found in Poland. The cave has been a protected monument since 1924.
It is about a kilometre to Łokietek Cave, and less than two to Ojców Castle. A few hundred metres further stands the rock Deotyma's Needle, and knowledge of the valley's nature is supplemented by the Ojców National Park Museum.
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