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Kapova cave (Капова пещера), Shul’gan-Tash ( капающая вода), dripping water, or Шүлгәнташ in Bashkir
It is a limestone karst cave in the Burzyansky District of Bashkortostan. About 200 km (120 mi) south-east of the city of Ufa, above Kazakhstan. It is in the southern Ural mountains.

In Bashkir tradition. Shulgan was mostly negatively attributed. To the owner of the underworld, or underwater king
Given the history and geology, both of the lake and cave also bear part of his name. To some it is considered a significant part of Russian folklore and tradition.

Today, this area of wild dense forest, and high white rocks, has changed
It is the habitat of deer, bear, and bashkort bee. Around 10-20 thousand years ago the climate and the landscape was different though. Summer was short, while winter months were very long and cold. Much of the landscape was Tundra. In the clefts and caves among the rocks, humans huddled together to keep warm.

The entrance to the cave is situated on the southern slope of the ‘Sarykuskan mountain’
It forms a huge arch, of 30 m (98 ft) height.

To the left of the entrance is a lake from which the river Shul’gan originates

Inside the cave flows the underground Shul’gan river. That created the cave

This three-storey cave system is huge
Its about 3 km (1.9 mi) long, with a vertical amplitude of 165 m (541 ft). Inside includes siphon underwater cavities, large halls, galleries, underground lakes and the river.

The mouth of cave is also called ‘the portal‘
Deep in the portal, the Shulgan stream comes up through the earth, forming a pool named Blue lake. It’s believed the lake is bottomless. Below 33 Meters, (108ft) in depth, it joins a gigantic underground water cavity.

A passageway leads from the portal, to the succession of the ground level halls, and galleries. Some are as high and wide as 20-30 meters
The halls and galleries are connected by tunnels of various lengths and shapes. Some of the walls too are covered with calcite sinter. Which is quite deep and intricately shaped.

According to scientist P.I. Rychkov, Bashkirs (Bashkorts) usually hid here withtheir famiIies, and horses during wars, and their uprisings
The cattle naturally stayed in the lower floor of the cave, while women, children and old men went upstairs. Food was always stored here.

Cave drawings:
These Russian cave drawings, discovered in the late 1950s were the first of there age, beyond France and Spain. And, unrivaled versus anywhere else on earth. For many centuries all the thousands of year old cave drawings here had been covered with a semi-transparent calcite crust.

In 1976, a known archaeologist O.N. Bader was asked to begin cleaning some of the pictures off Traces of primitive, human life, spread, red paint, as well as, ornament of geometrical figures.

Paleolithic signs of human life are in the large cave system
Two-coloured pictures of long-haired horses, beside them, a trapezium like geometrical figure, and a little further, a group of geometrical signs.

There is a picture of an anthropoid creature

Ancient people, various animals: horses, rhinos, bulls, bisons, and mammoths

Geometrical signs and figures.

In all, there are many drawings in ‘Kapova, Shul’gan-Tash, dripping water or Шүлгәнташ cave’. It is still being analyzed.

Did you know? Uranium-thorium dating showed that the oldest drawings in the Kapova cave were made 36,400 years ago.

Due to the geology of the gave. Silvery fringe of calcite icicles hang from some of the ceilings. And, among the sublime decorations of the cave are “milky rivers” composed of there crystals Fragile and crisp. They haven`t become solid like pearls yet. They do add a discrepant beauty to the somewhat dark underworld place.

Did you know? On some of the walls are crusts of marble onyx, in some places half a metre deep.

Discovery, excavation:
It had long been said, locals were afraid to visit or document about the cave. The first written information was in 1760. Initial Russian academy of sciences member, P.I. Rychkov gave a detailed description of the cave ground level in his article: “Description of a cave located in the Orenburg province near the Belaya River, which of all the caves in Bashkiria are the most glorious and revered”

From then on, other scientists, foresters and locals begin documenting and taking explorations into the cave. Even offering tours for explorers and those so inclined
Around the 1960s, employees of Bashkir state university begin compiling a accurate map of the cave. A number of years later, in 1979, when some of the scientists died, they decided to close the cave.

When re-opened in the 1980s, dating technology had also increased. Scientists were able to analyze the drawings greater. And, in addition, find a clay fat lamp; stone, mostly flint tools; pieces of ocher, jewelry in the form of beads; and, pendants made of stone and small shells of fossil mollusks.

There was also bones of animals from the pleistocene: mammoth, cave bear, fox, hare, and marmot Even pikas, and jerboa (hopping desert rodent).

Many archaeologists agree Kapova (Капова пещера), Shul’gan-Tash ( капающая вода), dripping water, or Шүлгәнташ cave was a unique sanctuary. A significant pieces of Russian history. Check it out with some more neolithic architecture today!

Bibliography: Lawson, Andrew J. (2012). Painted Caves. Palaeolithic Rock Art in Western Europe. Oxford University Press. p. 197. ISBN978-0-19-969822-6.

Silberman, Neil Asher, ed. (2012). The Oxford Companion to Archaeology. Oxford University Press. p. 176. ISBN978-0-19-973578-5.

А. Д. Столяр. Происхождение изобразительного искусства. — М.: Искусство, 1985. — С. 35.

Соколов Ю. В. “Перечень подземных полостей Республики Башкортостан длиннее 50м”. Сайт Уфимского спелеоклуба им. В. Нассонова. Retrieved 2011-04-13.

Башкирия: новые исследования «состарили» наскальные рисунки Каповой пещеры в два раза