EXPLORATIONS IN REDAKA 2 CAVE (Aleta Guadelli – aleta.guadelli@gmail.com, Ivailo Krumov) Sondage 3 was carried out in the beginning of the cave entrance. The litho-stratigraphic situation is identical to the other sondages. More secure diagnostic finds were discovered: a set of flint plates and artifacts indicative of developed technology of producing plates in layer 4; the use of Middle Paleolithic debitage concepts (Levallois, discoidal) in layer 5. A bone awl with parallels in layer 7 in the Kozarnika Cave was found in the lowest part of layer 4. Two dates in Sondage 1 were specified: 38170+/-490 ВР in layer 4 and more than 46000 ВР in layer 5. The osteological material shows that the predators dominate over the herbivorous, which is typical of the hyenas’ lairs. Bovinae and Equus cabalus cf. germanicus are well attested among the herbivorous, and Vulpes vulpes, Crocuta crocuta spelaea, Canis lupus and Ursus spelaeus were attested among the predators. The taphonomic analysis of the faunal remains shows the domination of anthropic traces in layer 4. The paleontological analysis shows cool and humid climate. The data testify that the cave was a lair of foxes and hyenas whose main pray includes Bovinae, Caprinae, Equinae and Cervinae. It was visited by Paleolithic people. At least three episodes of short duration human presence are supposed: at the end of the Middle Paleolithic period, in the Upper Paleolithic period (layer 4) and in the developed stages of the Upper Paleolithic period (layer 3). The visits of hunters during the end of the Middle and the beginning of the Upper Paleolithic period coincided with the invasion of Homo sapiens sapiens. The finds from the cave testify that cultural traditions, probably related to the preceding Middle Paleolithic period, participated in the transition. Probably, the process in the Balkans was not necessarily related to the total disappearance of Neanderthals, without part of their DNA being inherited by the populations of Homo sapiens sapiens.