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Kapova Cave is a famous Russian Palaeolithic cave. It has painted mammoths, rhinos, horses and a bison on its walls. They were dated by O. N. Bader as being from the end of the Upper Palaeolithic. The cave has two levels, the paintings are mainly in the upper level at some distance from the entrance. This fact is typical for palaeolithic paintings and a source for speculation about the meaning of the paintings. Excavations revealed a layer with human remains, debris from the wall paintings, animal bones and charcoal. The charcoal was dated with the 14C method to be 14 680 ±150 years old. Among the animal bones were cave bear bones. Kapova Cave is a complex natural monument with multiple grottos and halls connected by passages on various levels. The walls of the cave are rich in calcite deposits of all kinds of forms and sizes. An underground river flows out of the cave and forms the Blue Lake at its entrance. It is named after the blue colour of the water, caused by the high amount of lime in the water, which is best seen on sunny days around midday, when sunlight shines into the cave and on the lake.
Photo: Horse, Kapova Cave, Abramov et al. (1984)
Text above adapted from http://www.showcaves.com/english/ru/caves/Kapova.html
This is the sharp bend of the Belaya River in the Shulgan-Tash nature reserve, near where Kapova Cave is situated.
Photo: drews via Panoramio.
Kapova Cave marked with its latitude and longitude on the Belaya River in the Shulgan-Tash nature reserve.
Photo: Google Earth
Kapova Cave entrance.
Photo: Ivan Shkalikov via Panoramio.
Mammoth, Kapova Cave.
Photo: Abramov et al. (1984)
Kapova Cave Blue Lake, the lime in the water making the lake blue when the sun shines on it.
Photo: Ivan Shkalikov via Panoramio.
Mammoth, Kapova Cave.
Photo: Abramov et al. (1984)
Kapova Cave, paintings of mammoths.
Photo: Ivan Shkalikov via Panoramio.
Horse, mammoth and rhinoceros painted in red in Kapova cave.
Photo: http://www.istmira.com/foto-i-video-pervobytnoe-obschestvo/3923-iskusstvo-predystorii-pervobytnost-1.html
Kapova Cave, paintings of mammoths, a horse, and a rhinoceros.
Photo: Ivan Shkalikov via Panoramio.
Photo taken in Burzyanskiy, Republic of Bashkortostan, Russia
Wooly Rhinoceros, Kapova Cave.
Photo: Abramov et al. (1984)
Horse, Kapova Cave.
Photo: Abramov et al. (1984)
References
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