The article presents a series of five cultural renaissances which took place in the Western World from the 3rd century BC to the 15th–16th centuries AD. One feature which all these renaissances had in common was a type of technological turn which either triggered or helped to spread renewed interest in literature. The end of the 20th century and especially the beginning of the 21st century has been witness to a major technological revolution. Some signs of literary and philological renewal can also be observed, especially in the field of classical studies. All this has led some scholars to believe that we are currently heading for the sixth Renaissance.

The objective of this paper is a review of data on reconstruction of the Pleistocene palaeogeography (environment) and stratigraphy based on studies of karst sites in the Świętokrzyskie (Holy Cross) Mountains. Although the number of known Pleistocene karst sites in this region is small, the investigations of them have played a crucial role in a research of the Pleistocene. The study of the Kozi Grzbiet site provided the first evidences for new climatostratigraphy and classification of glaciations in Poland. The explanation of genesis of cryogenic calcite crystals discovered in Chelosiowa Jama-Jaskinia Jaworznicka cave system started a new direction of palaeoenvironmental reconstructions of the last glacial period. Kadzielnia palaeontological site was one of the first Early Pleistocene fossil assemblages in karst studied in Poland, whereas Raj cave provided abundant palaeontological and archaeological material from the Last Glacial. Other sites are of less scientific importance, however some of them can be used in education and popularisation of geosciences. Small number of already studied sites does not exclude discoveries of next sites of high scientific importance.