Shulgan-Tash, or Kapova cave, needs no special introduction. This is one of the most famous and popular both among researchers and tourists, a natural landmark of the Southern Urals in the area of the Belaya River. The cave was recognized as an architectural monument of world importance, after the rock paintings of the Paleolithic times were discovered in it.
The glorious and greatest
Oddly enough, but for the first time the cave was described in his writings not by a scientist at all, but by an official Pyotr Ivanovich Rynkov. In 1760, on behalf of the Orenburg Chancellery, the dignitary toured the Bashkir volosts "for some acquaintance." On January 7, “prompted by curiosity,” despite the snowstorm and the impassable roads, Rychkov set off for the cave. The statesman stayed there for only 3 hours, but in such a short time he managed to do a lot. I walked through and carefully examined the entire first tier up to the Northern Dead End, found a human skull, recorded on paper the location of underground halls, grottoes, galleries and drift formations. And in March of the same year, in one of the domestic scientific journals, he published "Description of the cave located in the Orenburg province by the Belaya River, which of all the caves in Bashkiria is revered for the glorious and greatest."
Rychkov suggested a man-made origin of the cave. In his opinion, the local population built underground "chambers" in order to hide in them from government troops during times of turmoil and unrest. Indeed, the Bashkirs often sought shelter in caves, went there in whole villages, lived there for a year or more. But over time, it became clear that Pyotr Ivanovich's hypothesis did not correspond to reality.
To be continued
The cave slowly revealed its secrets. Serious work on its study was undertaken in 1896 by a member of the Russian Geographical Society F. P. Simon. Fyodor Pavlovich was the first to compile a map of the first tier and tried to explain the name of the cave from the "cap-like influxes along the walls, giving it a special charm." He, like Rychkov, was lucky to find another human skull in the bowels of the cave, which was later transferred to the Orenburg Museum of Local Lore.
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The development of Shulgan-Tash also continued under Soviet rule. Geologist G. V. Vakhrushev visited the cave in 1923 and gave a description of all its "floors". He first expressed the idea of the karst nature of this phenomenon. Georgy Vasilyevich discovered wooden boards with figures carved on them. On two boards, fish were captured, on one - a five-pointed star, and several more boards depicted geometric shapes. The discovery of Vakhrushev became a new milestone in the study of the cave, but scientists could not answer the questions, what kind of art is it, who does it belong to and how did you get into the underground? (later a similar board depicting a hexagon was fortunate enough to be found in 2001 by caver Yu. S. Lyakhnitsky).
The finest hour for the cave struck in 1959, when the biologist A. V. Ryumin found wall paintings in it. The discovery had the effect of an exploding bomb: it turned out that these drawings appeared in the Paleolithic era. The oldest of them were made 36,400 years ago.
I sing what I see
The artists of the Kapova Cave can be safely called masters of the brush. Mammoths, bison, horses, rhinos, wild boars, huts, various geometric shapes … All images are made in a very realistic manner. The ancient Rublevs and Rubens were not devoid of a poetic gift: a rhinoceros with a thick belly militantly put forward a crooked horn and arched its back, clearly preparing to repel an enemy attack. A horse with a disheveled mane and a sad muzzle, as if fell into thoughtfulness. The favorite animal of the ancient painter is the mammoth. At least there are more drawings of these extinct animals in Shulgan-Tash than pictures of all other animals. Here, after an adult mammoth, a little mammoth walks with a dejected trunk drooping. Agree, it's delightful: to see the world the way a man saw it during the Ice Age!
A real sensation in the scientific world was caused by a drawing of a camel discovered in 2017. How did the desert ship “sailed” to the Ural Mountains? Scientists are inclined to believe that the people who lived in the cave came from the Caspian territories, where these humpbacked animals lived. This is confirmed by the shell jewelry found during the excavations, which the ancient people brought with them from their "small homeland".
For a long time, scientists were agitated by the question: how did the ancients paint in pitch darkness? There is no soot on the walls at all, so they didn't use torches. The question disappeared by itself when a fat lamp was found in the Kapova cave.
Most of the drawings are made in red: the artists painted with red ocher, which was obtained from clay. Scientists even found vessels of stone and clay with remnants of paint at the bottom of the cave. However, the "everyday writers" of the Paleolithic did not refuse the black paint, which was mined from coal. The sizes of the images are also striking - from 44 to 112 centimeters! Such a large-scale wall painting can hardly be seen anywhere.
Spirit of the Urals
During further study of Shulgan-Tash, scientists found several more human skulls, but there were no skeletons with them. Probably, the skulls belonged to especially revered shamans or tribal leaders. According to their beliefs, the ancients preferred to bury the skeletons separately. Apparently, the Kapova cave was a sacred place for them, where they performed various rituals. For example, the ritual of initiating young men into hunters or the ritual of summoning spirits. By the way, there is an opinion that the cave got its name for a reason: the word "temple" just means a temple.
The Shulgan-Tash cave caused genuine horror among local residents. They tried to bypass her. On the other hand, according to one of the legends, the spirit of the Urals lived in the cave - the huge horseman Batyr on the winged horse Akbuzat. It was believed that whoever sees him at least once will be lucky all his life. Another belief was that some underground people, led by Div, lived in the Kapova cave. Noble miners, they possessed a myriad of gold, and their blacksmiths made excellent weapons. The Bashkirs believed: if you somehow serve Diva, you will not know grief in gratitude all your life.
Cultural heritage site
Of course, it would be strange to think that such a unique place will go unnoticed. Tourists and amateur cavers flocked to see the rock paintings of Shulgan-Tash. The cave did not benefit from the glory. There were unfortunate visitors who wished to decorate the walls of Shulgan-Tash with their own scribbles or to take away stalactites, stalagmites, cave pearls and other calcite formations as a keepsake.
Not without vandals, shamelessly ruining the priceless painting. Scientists and simply not indifferent citizens began to ring all the bells, until they achieved that an iron door was installed at the entrance to the cave and a lock was hung. Now the entrance to the Kapova Cave is closed, and the ancient paintings can only be seen in the form of life-size copies.
For greater safety of the drawings, no one is allowed to see them just like that. The territory of Shulgan-Tash has been declared a nature reserve, the cordon is guarded round the clock, excursions are conducted accompanied by specialists. However, the already unique microclimate of the cave is violated, the drawings are destroyed, and it is not known whether our descendants will be able to enjoy the masterpieces of ancient artists.
Yulia AGAFONOVA