A team of speleologists has stumbled upon a previously unknown cavern in the Stara Planina mountain range of eastern Serbia, containing some of the most complex Upper Paleolithic cave art found in the Balkans. The murals, executed in red and yellow ochre, depict what researchers describe as shamanic figures wearing antlered headdresses, surrounded by extinct species such as cave bears and steppe bison.
The gallery also includes rare negative hand stencils and abstract geometric symbols that resemble star charts. Preliminary carbon dating of charcoal fragments found on the cave floor suggests the art was created approximately 20,000 years ago, during the Last Glacial Maximum. This discovery establishes the Serbian mountains as a major center for prehistoric ritual activity and human artistic expression in Europe.