In Siberia, in the Altai Territory, there is an interesting archaeological site: Denisova Cave.
Located on the right bank in the Anui River valley. 28 m above its current level. The cave is horizontal, 110 m long and has an approximate area of 270 m2.
The cave is unique in that there are 20 archaeological layers and about 80 thousand finds and more than a hundred species of remains of various ancient animals and ancient people were found. The official data on the dating of age deposits is 280 thousand years (the oldest layers).
Part of the finds. It can be seen that in those days the local ancient inhabitants knew how to make jewelry.
It was found that Neanderthals and later representatives of the Afanasyev culture lived here. But there was also a sensation. From the remains of DNA, scientists found out that a representative of a hominid lived here, different from both Neanderthals and modern humans. He was named Denisovsky man. He was allegedly dark-skinned.
According to this logic, it can be assumed that the Neanderthals did not become extinct, but assimilated with the Cro-Magnons. Only now it is not clear how a larger species could turn out to be weaker genetically. There are a lot of questions about this cave. But in this article we will touch upon only the topic of the formation of cultural layers that have accumulated in the cave.
Promotional video:
Here you can clearly see the layers in the Denisova Cave several meters high.
Layers elsewhere in Denisova Cave.
The work of archaeologists. It's always cold in the cave, that's why they are in such overalls.
I propose to think about the question: how could these layers have formed? Archaeologists say that this is the fault of the glacial and interglacial periods. But if you listen to them, then 20 times (from the number of layers) a glacier advanced and retreated here. Somehow it is hard to believe that there have been so many ice ages in the last 280 thousand years.
My versions, hypotheses are as follows:
1. Since the cave is located in a river valley, huge floods, similar to mudflows, could pass through this valley. There may be several reasons for their formation:
The river valley was flooded and sediments accumulated in the cave. And since people were hiding in the cave, they probably found their last minutes here. Moreover, together with animals, whose bones were also found in the same layers.
2. The cave itself is a place, a source of groundwater outlet. She was washed with water. The cave cannot be a karst gully of water flowing down from above, because horizontal.
In the cave, the outflows of water and clay happened regularly, covering the shelter of people and at some times the den of animals. These exits made deposits of clay.
3. In the Altai mountains in antiquity volcanic eruptions occurred regularly. Ash, and maybe pyroclastic flows, regularly covered the river valley. People and animals were hiding from this element in a cave. But not everyone managed to survive.
As I said above, glacial deposits cannot explain such a picture of a multitude of layers. Alternative versions, in my opinion, are more convincing.
Author: sibved