Mladeč

Mladeč (German: Lautsch) is a village and municipality (obec) in Olomouc District in the Olomouc Region of the Czech Republic. The municipality covers an area of 12.08 square kilometres (4.66 sq mi), and has a population of 761 (as at 3 July 2006). Mladeč lies approximately 21 kilometres (13 mi) north-west of Olomouc and 191 km (119 mi) east of Prague.

The Mladeč caves are located near Mladeč.

Mladeč is an Aurignacian archaeological site with directly dated remains of early modern human dating to about 31,000 radiocarbon years. The site contains remains of at least half a dozen individuals, including children. They are the oldest bones that indicate a human settlement, or community in Europe. The Mladec collection also includes Aurignacian tools and art associated with early modern humans. The remains appear to show some Neanderthal-like features.

The presence of remnant [rear skull] bones that are not present in the early modern Africans and Near Easterners do not necessarily indicate inter-breeding with Neanderthals. In National Geographic, Theodore Schurr, an anthropology professor at the University of Pennsylvania, notes: