The most mysterious caves of our planet. Ancient grottoes and mining machines
Caves are underground cavities that communicate with the surface by one or more
inlet holes. Most large caves have complex systems of passages and halls, often with a total length of up to several tens of kilometers.
Today we will visit some mysterious caves.
Tham Lod limestone cave. This is one of the oldest caves in Thailand. It is very popular with archaeologists. A human skeleton was found here, which is more than twenty thousand years old. Visitors to the cave will be able to see the dwelling of primitive people. Caves were generally used by ancient people as comfortable dwellings.
Inside this cave, the walls are covered with massive formations over 20 meters high that make you feel very insignificant in this world. There is no artificial lighting in the cave, so you need to move around with a lantern inside. The very name of the cave - Nam Lod, which in Thai means "water passing through" - speaks of its essence.
Cave on the beach in New Zealand.
In most caves, the air is breathable due to natural circulation, although there are caves in which you can only be in gas masks. For example, guano deposits can poison the air. However, in the vast majority natural caves air exchange with the surface is quite intense.
Cave under Uluwatu Temple, Bali.
View of northern lights from a cave in Northern Norway.
In addition to caves that have access to the surface and are accessible for direct study by humans, there are closed underground cavities in the earth's crust. The deepest underground cavity (2952 meters) was discovered by drilling on the coast of Cuba
And it's just a cave and a beautiful lake. Unfortunately, the photographer forgot to leave the name of the area.
This is rather not a cave, but an artificial bridge in Morocco.
Castor cave Olsztyn in Poland. Caves according to their origin can be divided into five groups: tectonic, erosional, ice, volcanic and, finally, the most large group- karst. Most of these caves. It is karst caves that have the greatest length and depth. Karst caves are formed as a result of the dissolution of rocks by water, so they are found only where soluble rocks occur: limestone, marble, dolomite, chalk, as well as gypsum and salt.
Cave Reed Flute in China. This iconic place in Guilin City, China, located in a picturesque area with karst formations. This natural limestone cave got its name from the reeds that grow around it. locals made old wind instruments.
Read more in the article "Reed Flute Cave in China".
Caves appear in many fantastic works (both in fantasy and science fiction). Caves (more precisely, bunkers) in science fiction mainly serve as shelters after a global catastrophe that made life on the surface impossible. In fantasy, caves are inhabited by gnomes, kobolds, goblins, dragons; V role playing they often play the role of dungeons. In Russian folk tales among the inhabitants of the caves - Mistress copper mountain and Serpent Gorynych.
ice cave in state park Matthiessen, Illinois.
Krubera-Voronya is the deepest (at the beginning of 2014) cave in the world (depth 2196 meters), located in the Arabica mountain range in Abkhazia. The entrance to the cave is located at an altitude of about 2250 m above sea level in the Orto-Balagan tract. karst cave subvertical type, is a series of wells connected by stiles and galleries. The deepest plumb lines: 115, 110, 152 m:
Among the most famous literary characters who ended up in the caves are Tom Sawyer along with Becky Thatcher, as well as Bilbo Baggins.
Crystal Cave, Iceland. The cave can be entered from the shore, through a 7 meter hole. The tunnel gradually narrows, and at the end its height is no more than 1.2 meters. ice caves generally unstable and could collapse at any moment. They are only safe to visit in winter when the cold temperatures harden the ice. Crackling sounds are constantly heard in the cave. They are heard not because the cave is about to collapse, but because the cave is moving along with the glacier itself. Every time the glacier moves a millimeter, loud noises are heard.
Primitive people used caves all over the world as a dwelling. Even more often, animals settled in the caves. Many animals died in the cave-traps, starting from steep wells.
Cave and view of Gibraltar.
Marble Mountains - beautiful and mysterious place near Da Nang city, Vietnam. Huyen Khong cave with statues and altars inside.
The longest Mammoth Cave in the world (USA) is karst, laid in limestone. It has a total length of passages of more than 600 km. Examined length cave system- more than 587 km. In the surveyed part, there are 225 underground passages, about 20 large halls and more than 20 deep mines:
The extremely slow evolution of caves, their constant climate, and protection from the outside world have preserved a huge number of archaeological finds to us. These are pollen of fossil plants, bones of long-extinct animals (cave bear, cave hyena, mammoth, woolly rhinoceros), rock paintings of ancient people.
Luray Caverns in Virginia. There is even an underground organ.
The cave monastery is located in Moldova. The archaeological complex "Old Orhei" is located 60 km northeast of Chisinau.
Rainbow and frozen waterfall in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Although the living world of caves, as a rule, is not very rich (excluding the entrance part, where sunlight), however, some animals live in caves or even only in caves. First of all, these are bats, many of their species use caves as a daily shelter or for wintering. Moreover, bats sometimes fly into very remote and hard-to-reach corners, perfectly orienting themselves in narrow labyrinth passages.
Cave system in Halong Bay, Vietnam.
Cave off the coast of San Francisco, California.
Birds, sunlight and temple. Batu Caves is a complex of cave hills and Hindu shrines in the Gombak region, at a distance of 13 km from the center of Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia. (Photo by Danny Xeero). The Batu Caves were created by nature over 400 million years ago. In the 19th century, a merchant from India built a temple to the god Muruga in this secluded place.
Caves throughout history have served as dwellings, shelters, and places of worship for people. But being inaccessible and, in connection with this, little studied, they still keep many secrets and still represent big interest for archaeologists.
1. Stone python altar
In the 1990s, a cave was found in Botswana, inside which is a stone resembling the head and body of a giant python, covered with scratches similar to its scales. Among the representatives of the San tribe living in these places, the python is considered one of the most revered animals and, perhaps, in this cave, representatives of an ancient African tribe performed a ritual of worshiping the python god. Thus, already 77 thousand years ago, a religion was created, today the oldest of all known.
2. Finds in the Liang Bua cave
In 2003, on the Indonesian island of Flores in the Liang Bua cave, the remains of ancient people of unusually small stature (about a meter), called Flores, also referred to as "hobbits", were discovered. Heated disputes about the species of these people are ongoing to this day. Most scientists consider "hobbits" to be a separate, previously unknown, species of hominids, which became smaller in the conditions of island living, and their opponents attribute them to the sapiens species and explain the unusual anatomy of "hobbits" with congenital diseases.
However unique features the structure of the skeleton, skull, shape of the bones of the wrist of the "hobbits" testify in favor of their independent species status, along with Cro-Magnons, Neanderthals and Denisovans. In 2014, near the same cave, anthropologists discovered a fragment of the lower jaw, a piece of the skull and several teeth, the owners of which were also dwarfs. The study of the structure of the found teeth and their comparison with the teeth of other ancient people also testifies in favor of the uniqueness of the Flores people. According to modern theory, Floresian man is the last descendant of more primitive hominids. The "hobbits" died out 12 thousand years ago due to a volcanic eruption.
3. Ancient winery
In one of mountain caves In Armenia, archaeologists have discovered the remains of equipment for large-scale production of alcohol, used approximately 6,000 years ago. The installation consisted of a shallow earthen basin where the grapes were trampled under foot, after which the juice was collected in chutes into a vat, in which it was left to ferment. The finished wine was stored in flasks in the same cave, the conditions of temperature and humidity of which turned it into a wonderful cellar. Such a scale of winemaking means that grapes were already domesticated in those days. Since this entire installation was surrounded by burials, it is possible that wine was used as a ceremonial drink at funerals.
4. "Cursed" island
With sinister secrets enshrouded in the island of Bloe Jungfrun. Here, according to legend, before Easter, witches gathered for their annual sabbat to worship the devil. And once during the next sabbat there was a cruel reprisal against the witches who had flown together. In ancient times, sacrificial rituals were also performed in these caves, about 9 thousand years ago. In two caves on the island, archaeologists have discovered an altar-like structure, a fire pit, and seal bones.
5. Ancient casino
In one of the caves in Utah, many artifacts related to gambling were found, indicating that there was an ancient casino that was used more than 800 years ago. Dice were carved from reeds, small hoops for throwing darts from juniper bark. Perhaps people came here not only for the purpose of entertainment, but disputes between tribes could also be resolved here. Valuable items could be used as bets in games instead of money.
6. Hellenistic city of Petra
In Jordan, near famous city Petra, there is a cave complex known as Little Petra, in which an amazing find was waiting for researchers in the form of wall paintings of a 2000-year-old Hellenistic style, previously considered lost. It took three years to restore the drawings. The quality and rarity of these drawings are unique. Their exquisite realism made it possible to identify plants, birds and insects. Children play flutes, pick fruit, birds flutter. The play of colors becomes more luxurious with the addition of gold leaf and glaze.
7. Cave of Lupercal
Lupercal, most sacred place the city is part of Rome's intricate past, where legend and history are intertwined. According to legend, it was here, in the cave, that the founders of Rome, the babies Romulus and Remus, were fed and raised by a she-wolf. Subsequently, the cave was turned into underground temple. In 2007, Italian archaeologists located the famous sanctuary, which is located underground at a depth of 16 meters. It is a room 8 m high and 7.5 m in diameter. The ceiling depicts the symbol of Rome - a white eagle, and the walls are decorated with sea shells, mosaics and colored marble.
8 Neanderthal Builders
While exploring the Bruniquel cave in France, archaeologists discovered two enigmatic circle, built 177 thousand years ago from four hundred fragments of stalagmites. The total perimeter of the circles is more than 112 m, and their purpose is still unknown. All fragments show traces of heating by a flame. At that time, only Neanderthals inhabited this territory. Since the construction of such structures is impossible without a sufficiently advanced level of communication and social organization, the finds can significantly change modern ideas about the level of development of Neanderthals and allow us to put them on a higher level.
9. Life of the Buddha
In 2007 in Nepal, a local shepherd led a team of archaeologists to one of the caves, inside which they discovered 55 frescoes created before the 13th century AD. e. The frescoes depict various episodes from the life of the Buddha. It can be seen that the paintings were painted under the strong influence of Indian culture, and not Tibetan. The exact location of these paintings is still kept secret to protect them from robbers.
10. The fleet of ancient Egypt
In 2004, archaeologists in several caves in Egypt discovered the remains of an ancient fleet - ropes, masts, fragments of ships made of cedar, more than 80 parts in total. All parts of the ships were perfectly preserved and were transferred to museum workshops for the purpose of reconstruction. Finds indicate that the ancient Egyptians achieved significant success in shipbuilding and used their fleet for trade relations with other countries.
And in some caves today you can find.
Source: listverse.com
This is the most famous site of primitive people in Sochi. They lived here from the time of the Lower Paleolithic to the Bronze Age. The cave is located in the Akhshtyr Gorge at an altitude of 120 m above the water level. It is the result of the thousand-year work of the Mzymta River. In prehistoric times, it flowed at the level of the tops of the trees. Gradually the water eroded and deepened the valley. A cave has formed on the right bank. The gorge got deeper and deeper. 70 thousand years ago, the cave was above the water level. And people populated it.
Around french village Saint-Acheul was the first to find tools made by people who lived 400-350 years ago. Therefore, this period of history was called the Ashelian era. Or the early (lower) Paleolithic (from the Greek paleos - ancient, lithos - stone). The people who lived in the vicinity of Sochi at that time led a semi-nomadic lifestyle. They lived in one place for no more than two seasons. The men hunted, often making long hikes. They made tools and weapons. They caught fish. Women guarded dwellings, maintained fire, took care of children and the elderly, prepared fuel and collected plant food. Ancient hunters made weapons from wood. Animal skins and harvested plants were processed with stone tools. They hunted mainly cave bears. Since the beast was large and strong, and the weapons were very primitive, they gathered in groups. They made trapping holes. But most often they were on the lookout for paths and pastures. "Went to the bear" with clubs and spears, threw darts.
The fossil humans of the Lower Paleolithic were not like modern humans. They are called Neanderthals, or Paleoanthropes. The mental activity of these "semi-humans" was very primitive, although human speech began to form in them and sentence words began to appear.
The Akhshtyrskaya cave was discovered by the French scientist E. Martel at the beginning of the 20th century. Then Russian scientists took up its study. It turned out that the thickness of the cultural layer in it reaches five meters. Studying this layer of deposits of clay, rubble, animal bones and flint tools, scientists learned a lot of interesting things about the life of our ancestors and the world around them.
Neanderthals were the first to settle here. They ate mainly the meat of the cave bear. Of the bones found in the layer corresponding to this period, 92% belong to the "ancient bear". The diet of primitive people also included bison, wolves, goats, foxes and other animals, but in much smaller numbers.
Scientists have found that around the cave then grew coniferous forest. Such as is now growing at an altitude of 1200-1800 m above sea level. In the future, it was replaced by leafy.
The cave bear was a slow and peaceful animal. But huge - it weighed about 900 kg (a modern brown bear weighs 120-150 kg). Ate plant foods. He grazed in the meadows and attacked animals, only severely starving. The cave was everything for the bear. He was born and lived in it. Came here for winter hibernation. Here he bred offspring and died here. Traces of his stay, "bear polishing" - ledges of the walls, smoothed by bears to a mirror shine, have survived to this day.
Life in the caves was fraught with many dangers. It was easy to fall into a hole or a well. From dampness, the animals caught colds and suffered from rheumatism. Scientists find many bear bones disfigured by diseases. It was especially difficult for bears at the end of the last ice age. Dry cold was replaced by damp warming. The snow melted quickly and the caves were flooded with water.
Zoologist N.K. Vereshchagin wrote: “If there were no cave bear, there would be no European humanity. The latter was literally fed and brought up on the meat, fat and skin of this meek giant.
Geologists, having explored the cave, found that the higher the layer of earth, the more rubble in it. This indicates a cooling of the climate. IN very coldy stone arches cracked and pieces of silicon broke off from them. Due to glaciation during the Middle Paleolithic, the cave was uninhabited for about 20 thousand years. Apparently, she became unfit for life.
People returned to the cave about 30-35 thousand years ago, during the Early Bronze Age. These were the Cro-Magnons, whose level of development was higher than that of the Neanderthals. And they looked more like a reasonable person.
New "new settlers" improve their homes. They cover the floor with a layer of burnt red earth. Traces of foci are clearly visible on it. Stone structures are erected in order to protect themselves from the cold air coming from the depths of the cave. They make pottery.
In the cave, they found a molar and part of the foot of a person already belonging to the modern type. But the most interesting find- Children's burial of the Bronze Age. The position of the skeleton and its orientation indicate that the child was buried according to a certain ritual.
There is evidence that caves in prehistoric times served as sanctuaries, where sacrifices were made, rituals were performed, and the dead were buried. This tradition continued into later times. For example, the highlanders from time immemorial on the mountain range above the Akhshtyrskaya cave had a sanctuary Latsu-Nykha (the place of prayer of the Lats clan).
Some are sure that the Akhshtyrskaya cave served as a prototype of the cave one-eyed cyclops Polyphemus on the island of the Cyclopes. Odysseus and his companions end up in the dwelling of Polyphemus. He discovers uninvited guests and takes them prisoner. Odysseus waits for the giant to fall asleep and gouges out his only eye. The captives leave the cave, hiding in a herd of sheep.
Indeed, the highlanders have a legend reminiscent of this famous ancient Greek myth. She says that in old times in the surrounding forests lived a mighty tribe of cannibal giants Adau. Each of them had one eye in their forehead. They terrified the inhabitants of the surrounding villages, until the heroes-narts appeared and defeated them.
The exploration of the cave continues. And who knows, maybe further research will confirm that legendary story The Odyssey and the Cyclops Polyphemus took shape right here, in the Akhshtyrskaya cave.
Your own tour guide
How to get to the Akhtyrskaya cave? From Adler we go along the Krasnopolyanskoe highway 15 km. Before reaching the trout farm, at the fork we turn left following the sign "Akhshtyrskaya cave". We pass the village of Cossack Brod. After 4 km to the left of the road we will see a car park where you can leave your car. Further - on foot according to the index.
If you prefer public transport, then by bus from Adler you need to get to the village of Kazachiy Brod. Exit near the first tunnel and go down to the river. A little before reaching the bridge over the Mzymta, we turn left. And we climb for about twenty minutes along the path.
Along the cornice of a 120-meter cliff, a narrow path leads to the first observation deck. It offers a breathtaking view of the Akhshtyr Gorge, the Mzymta River and Ship Rocks. Then we go down through a narrow corridor to the second platform, just before the entrance to the cave. There is a fee to visit the cave.
Malaya Vorontsovskaya Cave
The cave is located in the upper reaches of the Eastern Khosta River in the cliff of the right bank at a height of 50 m above the water level. Consists of three halls and six galleries. It was inhabited by people in the Middle and Upper Paleolithic era. Archaeologists have found many traces of their life, tools made of flint, sandstone, shale, limestone, and very rare - from the fang of a cave bear, utility pits for storing food.
The inhabitants of the Malaya Vorontsovskaya Cave had a large selection of meat dishes. The bones of a wolf, a marten, a tour, a roe deer, a red deer, a mountain goat, a wild boar, and a vole were found in the cave. Although the main object of hunting was still a cave bear. He owns 98% of the bones found. The ancient people were engaged in fishing. This is evidenced by the salmon bones found.
In the cave, scientists found the remains of several hearths at different distances from the entrance. Most likely, a large community of several dozen people lived here.
A hundred thousand years ago, a mixed forest grew around. Fir, spruce, pine, linden, oak. In the "cold years" only coniferous trees remained. Warming came, and beech, hornbeam, oak, elm supplemented the fir and pine.
Glaciation began in the Middle Paleolithic 115 thousand years ago. It reached a maximum 18–20 thousand years ago and ended 10 thousand years ago. Arctic ice covered the north of the Russian Plain and Siberia. The height of the ice in the place of Moscow, New York, Oslo and Murmansk was 1.5 km. Over Canada and Stockholm - even thicker. In some places it reached 4 km.
The causes of cooling and warming on our planet have not yet been identified. Some are sure that they are cosmic. The radiation of the Sun and the nature of the movement of our Galaxy in space are changing. Others blame the Earth for everything - the movement of its crust and so on.
The ice cover did not reach the Caucasus. But the climate has changed here too. As a result, many evergreens and those animal species that are characteristic of the tropics and subtropics have become extinct.
Big Vorontsovskaya cave
Scientists believe that in the Bronze Age, the Big Vorontsovskaya Cave was a staging post and a refuge for merchants traveling from the coast to mountain passes on North Caucasus. This is confirmed by the finds of archaeologists - shells of sea mollusks, imported ceramics, bracelets made in the North Caucasus.
Vorontsovskaya cave
20 km from the sea in the upper reaches of the Kudepsta River there is a giant Vorontsovskaya cave. It is named after Illarion Ivanovich Vorontsov-Dashkov, viceroy of the tsar in the Caucasus (1905–1915). These places were his hunting grounds. The name of the count was also given to the nearby villages - Vorontsovka and Illarionovka.
The entrance to the cave looks like a big shell. If you go to the left in the depths, we will come to a huge hall thirty meters wide. To the right - into the grotto, whimsically decorated lime icicles. Large and small corridors extend from it in different directions, each of which leads to a new grotto. In one of them, bell-shaped limestone hangs from the ceiling. If you hit them with a stick, the grotto will be filled with a muffled sound. Each "bell" sounds in its own way.
The cave has countless branches, dead ends, halls and grottoes. New grotto- a new impression. It seems that there is no end to the numerous labyrinths. There are many underground streams and small but deep lakes in the cave.
During the Civil War, red partisans hid in these underground labyrinths.
Since 1957, in the Vorontsov caves, they began to conduct archaeological excavations. Prehistoric “barbecues” were found in the Ochazhny Grotto – massive high clay ring-stands on which primitive people cooked food. And, of course, a lot of stone and bone tools, ceramics, and even a golden temporal scroll. In the Buried Grotto, the ancient inhabitants built a wall from large fragments of limestone, which completely blocks the entrance to the ceiling and protects from cold air.
Still a lot unsolved mysteries left to us by people who lived in Vorontsovskaya cave from the Middle Paleolithic to the Bronze Age. It is a unique geological and archaeological monument of national importance.
Your own guide: how to get to the Vorontsov cave
From Khosta from st. Glazunov to the cave there is a highway (about 20 km). It leads to the village of Kalinovoye Ozero and further across the bridge to the village of Vorontsovka. Behind him, at the monument to the fallen pilots, there is a parking lot. The last 1.5 km to the cave will have to be driven along a narrow gravel road.
If you prefer public transport, take the bus from railway station Khosta to the village of Vorontsovka. Further - about 3 km on foot. There is a fee to visit the cave.
Navalishenskaya cave
The cave is located on the right bank of the canyon of the Kudepsta River at an altitude of about 100 m above the water level. It was opened in 1936 by M.Z. Panichkina. Since that time, scientists have been periodically working in it.
In front of the main entrance to the cave there is a small platform, behind which there is a cliff right away. Behind him is a narrow and very deep gorge. The cave consists of a corridor and several halls. During excavations, archaeologists found many flint tools and bones of a cave bear, wolf, goat, and other animals. Researchers believe that the cave was not a permanent dwelling, but a temporary camp for bear hunters who lived during the Middle and Upper Paleolithic.
In the Navalishensky gorge there are the 1st and 2nd Khostinsky caves. In the 1st Khostinskaya cave there was a site of a primitive man. In the 2nd - during the Great Patriotic War kept the most valuable exhibits of Sochi local history museum. Therefore, the cave is also called the Museum.
Ancient grottoes and mining machines
I will start this article with a picture. This photo shows a golden figurine found among others in Panama. The golden treasure belongs to the unknown science of civilization. We draw our own conclusions.
Official explanations of the origin of the huge Longue Grottoes in China, during the creation of which about a million cubic meters of stone were somehow removed, do not stand up to scrutiny. What is their similarity with the workings made by special mining equipment today?
For archaeologists and historians, of course, all this is cut down by hand. Then in the comments I made an assumption:
The working out of the material is similar to the traces that were left when trying to cut down the Aswan obelisk in Egypt. It seems that the material was scooped up or a huge cutter went through layer by layer in stages.
Now I will try to compare this ancient object with the one (or rather, the traces in it on the walls and ceilings) that is obtained in the mines when the milling cutters go through the tunneling machines.
But first, remember Longue Cave:
These caves were accidentally found by one of the local peasants, who wrote about them to the authorities. Many researchers, employees of various institutes, and then tourists immediately rushed there. And what is surprising: although these are the largest caves in China, created not by nature, but by man, there is no information about them in ancient chronicles. Who created them and why? Where did this disappear a large number of stone? And if the goal was precisely the extraction of stone, then why are the caves made to look like temples?
Footprints on the walls taken close up
Grottoes before pumping water 
I will not write official nonsense about these lines-drawings. I will write dry data on the caves. Let me remind you that there are 24 caves (according to other sources - 36), the first were found (water was pumped out) in 1992. The volume of excavated rock: a little less than a million cubic meters!!!
Huashan caves are located in the rocks in the south of Anhui province. 
At one of the caves with the name Huanxi, the area reaches 4800 square meters. m, and the length is 140 meters. Inside there is a spacious hall, columns, pools and several small rooms on both sides of the cave tunnel.
The most big cave became known as the "underground palace". Its dimensions are amazing: 12600 sq.m. The artificial origin of the caves is confirmed stone bridges across the river, stairs, passages and large columns.
There is one feature: the builders managed to determine the angle of inclination of the inner walls so that it exactly coincides with the angle at which the outer surface of the mountain is inclined. What technologies did the ancients use to create such an unusual interior? How and with what was the interior space illuminated?
The total area of only two of the second and thirty-fifth caves exceeds 17,000 sq.m. The volume of rubble and soil removed from these caves reached 20 thousand cubic meters. It took three pumps and more than 12 days to pump out 18 thousand tons of water. Now these caves are open to the public, in cave No. 35 there are 26 stone columns, all rooms have a bizarre multi-tiered shape.
Cave number 35 has a depth of 170 meters, an area of about 12 thousand square meters. meters. The entrance to the cave is small. From it comes a tunnel 20 meters long and then suddenly a huge underground palace appears in front of you. In the middle of the palace there are 26 tall huge stone columns, the circumference of which is more than ten meters. These columns diverge, forming the shape of a triangle.
In cave number 35 there is another place that involuntarily evokes admiration from visitors. This is a wall stone cave, stretching to the ground at an angle of 45 degrees. It is 15 meters wide and 30 meters long.
The caves are between the following coordinates: 29°39'34" and 29°47'7"
This is what archaeologists call wall carving! The question is why? It does not make sense, trying to make exactly parallel lines when working with a chisel is a complication of work. official explanation it doesn't really explain what we see.
End of the first part....
SECOND PART -
There is something magically attractive and at the same time sad in petroglyphs. We will never know the names of talented ancient artists and their history. All that remains for us are rock paintings, by which we can try to imagine the life of our distant ancestors. Let's take a look at 9 famous caves with rock paintings.
Cave of Altamira
Discovered in 1879, Marcelino de Sautola in Spain is not without reason called Sistine Chapel primitive art. The techniques that were in service with ancient artists, the Impressionists began to use in their work only in the 19th century.
The painting, discovered by the daughter of an amateur archaeologist, made a lot of noise in the scientific community. The researcher was even accused of falsification - no one could believe that such talented drawings were created millennia ago.
The paintings are made realistically, some of them are voluminous - a special effect was achieved using the natural relief of the walls.
After the opening, everyone could visit the cave. Due to the constant visits of tourists, the temperature inside has changed, mold has appeared on the drawings. Today the cave is closed to visitors, but there is a museum not far from it. ancient history and archaeology. Just 30 km from the Altamira cave, you can get acquainted with copies of rock paintings and curious finds of archaeologists.
Lascaux cave
In 1940, a group of teenagers accidentally discovered a cave near Montillac in France, the entrance to which was opened by a tree that had fallen during a thunderstorm. It is small, but there are thousands of drawings under the vaults. Some of them were painted by ancient artists on walls as early as the 18th century BC.
It depicts people, symbols and in motion. The researchers divided the cave into thematic zones for convenience. Drawings of the Hall of the Bulls are known far beyond the borders of France, its other name is the Rotunda. Here is the largest rock art, of all discovered - a 5-meter bull.
Under the vaults there are more than 300 drawings, including here you can see animals ice age. It is believed that the age of some paintings is about 30 thousand years.
Cave Nio
In the southeast of France is located, about the painting inside which the locals knew back in the 17th century. However, they did not attach due importance to the drawings, leaving numerous inscriptions nearby.
In 1906, Captain Molyar discovered a hall with images of animals inside, which later became known as the Black Salon.
Inside you can see bison, deer and goats. Scientists believe that in ancient times, rituals were performed here to attract good luck on the hunt. For tourists, next to Nio, the Pyrenean Park of Prehistoric Art is open, where you can learn more about archeology.
Koske Cave
Not far from Marseille is located, which can only be entered by those who can swim well. To see the ancient images, you have to swim through the 137-meter tunnel, located deep under water. opened unusual place in 1985 by diver Henri Koske. Scientists believe that some images of animals and birds found inside were made 29 thousand years ago.
Kapova Cave (Shulgan-Tash)
Cueva de las Manos Cave
In the south of Argentina in 1941, ancient paintings were also discovered. There is not one cave here, but a whole series, the total length of which is 160 km. The most famous of them is Cueva de las Manos. Its name is translated into Russian as "".
There are many images of human palms inside - our ancestors made prints on the walls with their left hands. In addition, here you can see hunting scenes and ancient inscriptions. The images were taken from 9 to 13 thousand years ago.
Caves of Nerja
The caves of Nerja are located 5 km from the city of the same name in Spain. Cave drawings were discovered by accident by teenagers, as happened earlier in the Lascaux cave. Five guys went to catch bats, but accidentally saw a hole in the rock, looked inside and found a corridor with stalagmites and stalactites. The find interested scientists.
The cave turned out to be impressive in size - 35,484 square meters, which is equivalent to five football fields. The fact that people lived in it is evidenced by many finds: tools, traces of a hearth, ceramics. Downstairs are three rooms. The hall of ghosts scares guests with unusual sounds and strange shapes. The hall of waterfalls was equipped under concert hall, it can accommodate 100 spectators at the same time.
Montserrat Caballe, Maya Plisetskaya and other famous artists performed here. Bethlehem Hall impresses with bizarre columns with stalactites and stalagmites. Rock paintings can be seen in the Hall of Spears and the Hall of Mountains.
Before the discovery of this cave, scientists assumed that the most ancient drawings are in the Chauvet cave. According to recent studies, our distant ancestors began to engage in creativity even earlier than modern science believed. The results of radiocarbon analysis showed that six images of seals and fur seals were supposedly made 43 thousand years ago - respectively, they are even older. rock art found in Chauvet. However, it is too early to draw conclusions.
Magura Cave
The images in all these caves and the methods of applying drawings are completely different. However, there are also common features. The artists of antiquity conveyed their perception of the world with the help of creativity and shared their outlook on life, only they did it not with words, but with drawings.
