Suva Planina


Suva Planina is a mountain in southeastern Serbia. It lies between the towns of Niška Banja to the northwest and Babušnica to the southeast, with a ridge branching towards Bela Palanka to the north. It was previously called Kunovica.
The mountain is the location of the first discovery of Neanderthal remains in Serbia, recorded in April 2019.

Geography

The highest peak is Trem at 1,810 m, the second highest being Golemo Stražište at 1,714m, as well as Litica at 1,683m on the southeast side of the mountain.
The name stems from the fact that there are only a few springs in the whole mountain. The two biggest are Bojanine Vode and Rakoš Česma.

Wildlife

The Divna Gorica range is known for feral horses. They also roam to the other, higher parts of the mountain, above.

Human history

The Pešturina cave, nicknamed the "Serbian Atapuerca", is located on the northern slopes of the mountain. Since 2006 the cave has been archaeologically surveyed and artifacts from the Middle and Upper Paleolithic periods have been discovered. The artifacts belong to the Neanderthal Mousterian culture, and are dated from 102,000 BP+ 5,000 to 39,000 BP + 3,000, making Pešturina one of the longest surviving Neanderthal habitations. In April 2019 it was announced that Neanderthal remains were discovered, which marks the first discovery of such in Serbia.
Traces of the Roman military road Via Militaris, connecting Singidunum and Constantinople are still visible from the mountain.

Tourism

The slopes of this mountain are popular with skiing.
Every final weekend in February there is a mountaineering event, Zimski uspon na Trem, which gathers over 600 mountaineers from all parts of the Balkans. It is also the regions's biggest mountain winter event. It started in 1997 and is currently under the organization of mountaineering club Železničar, based in Niš.

Protection

As of 2010, Suva Planina is undergoing a process of declaration of as a special nature preserve.

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