Amazing Caves When we think of caves most of us think of large empty spaces inside mountains and such, but to our distant ancestors, caves meant home. They were protection from wild animals and the elements and some of them became places which were used to protect the art of the time. They were great places to create drawings of what the inhabitants saw in their everyday live, such as the different animals the humans of the time were familiar with. Sometimes our ancestors had to kill dangerous animals which were already occupying the cave they needed to live in. You have to wonder how many people died clearing out these caves. All these people had were sticks and primitive spears which made the job of ridding the cave of animals like bears, extremely risky. It is a good thing no one lives in caves anymore, right? Well this wouldn’t be right, because over 30 million people in China live in caves. Bet this was a real surprise. If you ask one of the people who live in a cave they will tell you its cool in the summer and warm in the winter. That is because the cave system has been improved. Many of these cave dwellers live in Shaanxi province. The province has cliffs of porous soil making digging easy. The caves come in many different styles and the better caves are reinforced with brick masonry. Some have rooms which are connected like an apartment. There is even electricity and running water in some of them. This type of cave living is a far leap from the way our ancestors had to live in caves. The president of China Xi Jinping lived in a cave for several years when he was exiled during the Cultural Revolution. One cave dweller said, "It's like living in a villa. Caves in our villages are as comfortable as posh apartments in the city.” Caves seem to have many uses and I found one which had a use I never expected. The name of the cave is Mega Cavern Bike Park. I guess the name gives its use away. The cave is located in Louisville, Kentucky and is the home for those who enjoy mountain biking, but want to try it on the inside. This cave is the world’s first underground biking course. It just happens to also be the world’s first biking park. The ceiling is 90 feet high allowing for all sorts of bike tricks without the worry of hitting one’s head. Maybe one day a BMX competition will take place inside this cave. If I said to you think of the inside of a cave, what would you think of? I bet I know, it would be a large dark room with maybe tunnels of varying sizes branching off. Now if I said to you think of Er Wang Dong cave in China, what would you think of? Probably the same thing or nothing, because you would have never heard of it. It is surprising this cave isn’t more famous, because it is really out of the ordinary. This cave is so huge it has it own weather system. It sounds like something out of the story “The Journey to the Center of the Earth.” It is said to have been explored, but I have read this was only a partial exploration. To get to it you have to climb down 640 feet. Another part of it is 958 feet deep. As the weather changes inside the cave sometimes fog is formed. Parts of the cave sport vegetation. This cave makes one wonder if there are similar caves located in other parts of the world which might still contain primitive life. There is a cave located in Bulgaria which is named Devetashka cave. One of the things which makes this cave so interesting is the fact it is said to have had over 70,000 years of human habitation. There are no humans living in it today, but there are a lot of bats who like it. When the cave was explored it was found to have been filled with all sorts of artifacts from the Neolithic period. Unfortunately, the cave had been used as a military base in the 1950s and the remnants are still there. Inside the cave in one of its chambers the light causes us to see a pregnant woman who as the months change seems to give birth to a seed. Who created this incredible image and how did they acquire such a great knowledge of astronomy? The area around Israel and Jordan seems to have a lot of caves. These caves are very dry and because of that they had preserved the dead sea scrolls. The preservation certainly wasn’t perfect and caused the scrolls to have to be pieced together sometimes in very small bits, but the point is the scrolls were not completely destroyed. Another cave was found in the area which had a treasure of gold objects and was only recently discovered. This cave is being kept secret because it has not been fully explored and there might be more treasures in it. Even though the treasure is gold, it is probably worth far more as antique historical objects. There are a couple of different ways to look at caves. One way is to look for the most beautiful. There are some which are truly breathtaking, such as the Onondaga Cave in Leasburg in Missouri National Park. Another way to look at a cave is its history and some have the longest historical trail of anything else. Then there is the art. Some have beautiful artwork on their walls and had to be closed most of the time to the public, because there were so many people walking through them the fumes began to destroy the pictures. Who knows what else we might find one day inside a cave? |
